Preparation

Over the past month I wrote a series on the elements of persuasion. A brief recap:

1) The persuader’s credibility and reputation gives them standing, making them a voice worth listening to.
2) The persuader’s ability to show a mutual purpose and benefit to the person being persuaded and thereby giving a basis for the parties to agree to become interdependent and work together in each other’s interest.
3) The persuader’s ability to create an “emotional acceptance” of the content of the perspective being presented. That is, presenting a perspective that is ‘likeable’ OR presenting alternatives that are somehow more ‘unpleasant’, leaving the persuader’s perspective as the most desirable course of action in achieving the mutual purpose. Cialdini’s six laws of persuasion help show how to attach an emotional element.

In closing on persuasion, I will begin a discussion of the last element – content. The content of your perspective consist of several parts:

1) The way you structure your presentation of your perspective (this week)
2) Your conclusions and justification (next week)
3) The benefits provided by your perspective (in two weeks)
4) The WAY you say things (in three weeks)

Structure - Learn a few ways to describe perspectives, and you are well on your way to being MUCH more persuasive than you are today. Experiment with these structures:

Problem and solution – Describe a problem, and then its solution. Sounds simple, but to be much more successful that you currently are, remember to help the listener make a negative emotional connection with the material. One way is to remind them of how difficult this problem makes it for them to succeed. Another is to explain what the consequences of doing nothing are. There are many other examples of making the listener ‘feel real dislike’ for the problem, too many to list. Next, describe the solution. Be realistic and truthful – you always want to maintain and protect your credibility. Help the listener ‘like’ the solution. Be vivid in your description and help the listener see themselves as not only benefitting from the solution, but benefitting by being part of its successful implementation. Their help on the team will be invaluable and you should help them imagine how grateful everyone will be. This is a good structure when the listener has not already developed an opinion.

Present both sides – In a case where there is already a controversy, it is useful present both sides. Present the opponent’s side first. You want to make sure that at the end of that part of the presentation, you have their agreement that you have presented their perspective accurately and that you have described the evidence they have to justify their perspective (statistics, facts, etc). This is key in establishing your credibility, showing your understanding of the issue, and will help them be more receptive to listening to the other perspective. When presenting the other perspective, concentrate on challenging their justifications – the facts are not as they think, or the evidence is either inaccurate or somehow suspect. Please refer to the blog posts from November 2008 for a more info on this activity. I will cover it in detail next week (conclusions and justifications). Obviously, this structure assumes that the discussion is taking place after competing perspectives have been developed.

Cause and Effect – Describe the problem, its cause, and any contributing factors. Describe how your solution fixes the problem by mitigating or removing the causes and contributors. This structure is useful when all parties agree that the best outcome is to return to some status quo and you are merely trying to agree on the means to do so, rather than changing the status quo.

Call to Action – Use this structure when most people tend to support your perspective. Start by describing a pressing common need, and describe how your perspective will satisfy that need. Make it clear how we ALL experience the need – this is a galvanizing description of a mutual purpose. You are describing what we are changing from AND why we MUST. Next, provide a clear and positive vision of the future state. After we implement this perspective, we will have tangible benefits. I will cover describing benefits in two weeks. Close this presentation with specific actions to be taken, and who will take them. Be grateful for their support.

Insist on great business results! Go to Pathfinder Communication