Leading with Influence | Half-Day Leadership Training | WunderTraining
In 1978, a Harvard psychologist named Ellen Langer sent researchers to cut into a library copier queue. When they asked “May I use the copier?”, 60 per cent of people said yes. When they added a reason, “because I’m in a rush”, yes jumped to 94.
Then came the twist. “May I use the copier, because I have to make some copies?” A reason that contains no information at all. Ninety-three per cent still said yes.
People do not need a good reason. They need a because.
That study opens one of the most enjoyable afternoons we run: Leading with Influence, a half-day leadership training session about the thing every leader already has and almost nobody uses on purpose.
Influence is not a technique. It is a permission your people grant you, and they grant it on trust.
The evidence says leaders start with more of it than they realise. In the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, 79 per cent of Australians said they trust their employer to do the right thing. That makes “my employer” the most trusted institution in the country, well ahead of business, government and the media. Gallup’s research across 2.7 million workers adds the weight: the manager explains 70 per cent of the difference in team engagement. And the Workforce Institute found a manager affects our mental health as much as a partner, and more than a doctor.
Nobody applied for that job. Every leader holds it.
Leading with Influence runs in three parts, in the room or virtually, with a workbook designed to be used, written in and kept.
What influence is made of. The say-do gap and why teams measure it. Where your energy goes: naming the weather you cannot control, and finding the influence edge, the nearest part of any worry you can actually move. And state: why “nervous” is just “excitement” labelled negatively, and the three physical moves that change it.
Words that move people. The because effect, tested live on a colleague. Cialdini’s six levers of an honest yes. And the Power Start: your first ninety seconds, drafted and delivered out loud, because nobody remembers your agenda slide.
Influence one person at a time. Telling creates compliance; asking creates ownership. Leaders coach each other through real challenges using the GROW model, and the best questions asked in the room go home in the workbook.
Every activity works on something real: a conversation each leader actually needs to have. People leave with one tool chosen, one conversation named, and a date on it.
The favourite part, in every group we have run this with, is not a model. It is the reflections: leaders coming back and telling the room what they tried, what worked, and what happened next.
That is the point. Influence is not built in speeches. It is built in small shifts, made consistently: a because attached to an ask, a better first minute, a question held one beat longer.
Your people already trust you more than they trust almost anything else in their world. Leading with Influence is about spending that trust well.
Leading with Influence is a half-day WunderTraining session for leadership teams, delivered in person or virtually, Australia wide, and tailored to your industry with real examples from your world. It pairs beautifully with our strengths programs as a follow-on session.
Book a conversation with Jane or email jane@wundertraining.com.au to find a date for your team.
Stay in the loop with the latest training insights, practical tips, and exclusive offers. Subscribe to the Wunder Training newsletter and receive valuable updates straight to your inbox.
Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.
Jane Wundersitz
© 2025 Wunder Training Austalia. All rights reserved.
