To influence people is to get people to do things on their own free will.
People will do it for you happily without any fear or pressure.
This positive influence will draw people to you and work with you.
Hence, influencing skill requires a good mix of people skills, communication techniques and a certain degree of assertiveness.
Having good people skills will make people feel comfortable working along with you.
They will not feel pressured when they work with you.
They will feel the need to contribute ideas and their effort to make whatever you get them to do a success.
One way of getting people to be comfortable with you is not to be too opinionated.
Encourage people to voice their opinions and ideas.
Show them respect by acknowledging their opinions and ideas.
Do not disagree with them openly and don't point out their mistakes even when they are wrong.
They make take this personally and will not feel comfortable working with you.
Whatever you do, try to find a common ground where everyone can agree.
Always be ready to praise or others when they do something good.
People like they effort or contribution to be acknowledged or complimented.
By complimenting others, you will win them to your side.
Criticizing them will make them avoid you.
When you communicate with others, make sure the choice of words is pleasant and nice.
Choice of words is crucial to ensure the message is properly understood.
Tone of voice is equally important to.
Rather than saying someone is wrong, try to find a middle path to solve the problem like saying 'let's try to explore other alternative'.
This will save the other person embarrassment and he will not take things personally if the other ideas are better than his or hers.
Assertiveness can get people to work for you when you have the authority to do so.
However, assertiveness can be used without being commanding.
People will feel at ease working along with you.
You need to be able to present your case clearly to people to win them over to you.
With these characteristics, you should be able to influence people around you and make them work with you willingly.