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Very small, simple, and seemingly insignificant acts by leaders can have a huge impact on performance, a psychologist and leadership specialist says.

Effective workplace influencing isn't about exerting power, but rather about engaging people in ways that modify their thoughts and actions, Kate Pearlman-Shaw says in The psychology of effective leadership.

Leaders influence – and employees are influenced – both consciously and unconsciously. What's more, she writes, it isn't only what a person says and does that can influence others, it's what they don't say and do.

"Our very presence at a meeting may influence people positively or negatively. The style or nature of our presence, what we say or how we say it and the attitude we project speaks volumes," says Pearlman-Shaw...