Chapter 6 - Persuasion
Persuasion is an essential skill in human interactions of any kind. The author suggests it is a method by which one person can "alter or affect" the attitudes and actions of others. Persuasion is necessary to work cooperatively with others requires enlisting their support and coordinating activities.
Trust
Trust is essential to persuasion, as persuasion is often an exchange of promises and each party must trust the other will keep their promise if they are to keep their own. The author's explanation of the concept is quite sloppy, but includes some of the more salient features of trust: it requires honesty, integrity, and dependability, and we generally look to a person's character and past behavior for evidence of their trustworthiness.
Understanding Others
Trust is also based on understanding the needs and motivations of others. In general, the more interested they are in receiving the benefits we will deliver to them, and the less inconvenience it is for them to deliver the benefits we want in return, the more likely they are to carry through on their promises.
A previous chapter mentioned interests in terms of bringing other people to the table, and it remains important to engage their interests throughout the process: they must either be interested in the benefits they will derive from a collaborative effort, or they must be interested in the value you will provide in exchange for that which they will provide
Understand How Decisions Are Made
The author suggests that the first task is to identify the key decision maker and other parties within an organization who influence his decision, recognizing that some principles of old hierarchical businesses apply (the bigger the impact, the higher in the org chart the decision will be made), but beyond that, he fumbles around a bit and offers some random and possibly bad advice.
A Credible Case
Another important factor is presenting a credible case based on logic and supported by evidence. In general, people expect that others who wish to convince them of something will say anything in order to have their way - and presenting reliable evidence that is logically connected to your suggestion leads the other party to give it more serious consideration. The author asserts that "too many people" fail on this account. Their idea makes sense to them and expect it to be self-evident to others, and do not provide adequate information to support their case.
(EN: The author provides a couple examples that also demonstrate the importance of presenting a case that the action is beneficial to the other party's interests - or in the case of negotiating with coworkers, the firm's interests - and not purely your own.)
Rephrased: people find it easy to bat down an unsupported suggestion without investing time in giving it due consideration - but when the presenter shows that he has invested time in developing his idea, "a fair-minded person" is willing to give it better consideration.
Some random tips are provided:
- Check your assumptions - A case falls apart when an assumption is identified and the presenter has to reconsider on the fly
- Consider alternatives - The specific plan you have in mind may not be the only way to go about it, so consider alternatives and be prepared to defend against them
- Consider contingencies - Things do not always go as planned, and you should have at least one backup to avoid critical failures
- Get endorsements - If you are unfamiliar with the other party, get buy-in from others whom they trust and respect
- Heed language - A proposal phrased in technical or accounting language is only understandable by people who speak that language, and others are suspicious of being bamboozled when a proposal is couched in jargon
- Emphasize benefits - Describing what will be gained, rather than must will be done, is more appealing.
- Avoid qualifiers - Many people use qualifiers words in everyday speech to save face. When making a proposal, "I think" and "maybe" and similar terms weaken confidence.
Emotional Appeal
In some instances, the author suggests that a presentation can be more persuasive when it "speaks to the heart" rather than the brain. Some people, in some situations, are more vulnerable to an emotional appeal. The author provides a few examples of when it has been done. But no advice for how it can be done.
(EN: More significantly, there is the notion of when it should be done. People are fairly savvy to emotional manipulation and generally distrust them immediately. As such it is likely worthwhile to consider the subject and the audience, and deliver a logical case with emotional overtones, not an emotional case devoid of logic.)