Influencing

Using your behaviour to get people to want to do what you want them to.

In a sense, all conversations between people at work involve influencing. Just think how many times people 'lobby' you in an attempt to influence a decision, get you to change your mind about something or persuade you to do something. Explicitly or implicitly the aim of most communication between people is to influence. Whenever, therefore, people attempt to persuade you, it automatically provides a learning opportunity - if only you can get them to see it that way.

There are a number of influencing techniques you can develop which will stand you in good stead as a persuader. For example, do you

• ask questions to establish the other person's starting position?
• set a realistic objective in the light of your starting position?
• capture the other person's interest with an initial benefit statement, ie say how they stood to gain?
• describe other potential benefits?
• offer 'evidence' to back up the benefits being claimed?
• attempt to defuse some objections before they were raised?
• finish with a summary of the idea and its main benefits?
• sound enthusiastic?
• look at the other person for about half the time and make plenty of eye contact?

Any or all of these aspects are excellent lessons and it is more powerful to use real pieces of persuasion that crop up in the normal working day than artificially contrived role-playing exercises that are typically used on courses.