Learnings from the course

• Persuasion is a very important art  which a manager should learn. there are different kind of people around us with different attitude, different way of behaviour, etc. In order to influence different people, one should use different strategies with each of them. 
  
• Before communicating with anyone we should underatnd him/her first and then communicate accordingly. 
• One should always communicate in such a manner that the communication will end in "win-win" situation.
• Use of right words at right time.
• Using Aristotle's art of persuasion.
• Always deliver what the audience wants.
• Body language is also one of the influencing element in itself.
• Our influencing strategies should differ when we are communicating with our higher and lower authority.

Learnings from "Great Persuader" Project

Great Peruader : Al Gore

• Humour nature adds credibility 
  
• Use of technology to seek attention of the audience
  
• Be prepared with facts and figures
  
• Understand the audience and deliver the presentation accordingly
  
• Emotional appeal
  
• Emphasing on the safety needs of the audience
  
• Instaeding of threating the people with the problem of "Global Warming", he himself is provding sloutin to the problem
  
• Illustarting the effects of global warming with the help of cartoons
  
• soucing the name of the people who have helped him in his work
  
• The use of word "WE"
  

Session 17 & 18

Negotiations in Corporate World

• Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you are in business. There are different people around us like:
  

Procrastinator

Explosive

Rigid

Self-Important

Untrustyworthy

Antagonist

Dampener

Extrovert

If one can have capability of dealing with these people, they can persuade anyone.

• A person's decision making style derives from four psychological states. One of these is the dominat function (S, N, T or F) and it is usually paired with one of the two from the opposite functions, so that it is a combination of the two preferences. The four types are:

Sensing - Thinking

Sensing - Feeling

Intuitive - Feeling

Intuitive - THinking

• Many negotiatiors make the mistakes of confusing the deal with the broader relationship. To improve a strained relationship or to gain a price concession, they may threaten to terminate the relationship. But such an approach almost backfires. This may lead to undermine both deal as well as relationship. The best approach is to separate the deal from the relationship. When the negotiator don't feel as though they need to trade the quality of the relationship for the terms of each individual deal, they exchange information more freely and become more creative and collaborative in their discussion. that leads both to more valuable deals and stronger relationship

Session 15 & 16

Negotiations

"In a successful negotiation, everyone wins. The objective should be agreement, not victory."

Key learning:

1. Don't ask questions, provide solutions
   
2. Plan BATNA before going for negotiations
   
3. Extract knowledge which is required from other party and don't reveal your information which is not required for the purpose 
   

Negotiations:

There are different negotiation techniques like competition, accommodation, compromise, avoidance and collaboration. But one must learn to use these according to the need of the situation. Not every technique works in all environment and situation.

For win-win or Integrative Bargaining, one should focus on following areas:

• Orient yourself towards a win-win approach: your attitude going into negotiation plays a huge role in the outcome
• Plan and have a concrete strategy...be clear on what is important to you and why it is important
• Know your BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Alternative)
• Separate people from the problem
• Focus on interests, not positions; consider the other party's situation:
• Create Options for Mutual Gain:
• Generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do
• Aim for an outcome based on some objective standard
• Pay a lot of attention to the flow of negotiation;
• Take the Intangibles into account; communicate carefully
• Use Active Listening Skills; rephrase, ask questions and then ask some more

Session 13 & 14

Upward and Downward Communications

• Managing upward communication requires the building of a relationship between superior and subordinate which encourages and rewards, disclosures. the subordinate must have confidence that when he "speaks his mind" his superior will not take advantage of him.
• The problem of maintaing efefctive and personal communication in expanding industries is ever present. In order to make downward communication effective one must use different strategies. 
• Personal contact between superior and subordinate can lead to successful communication only when the superior realises and understands that his subordinate's value system and goals may be completely opposed to his own.
• In order to manage one's boss, one has to maintain good relationship with his/her boss. One should understand his boss, his way of behavior and act accordingly.
• Better work between a boss and his subordinate is not just a matter of leadership. It also has to do with boss 'Management', which can stimulate better performance , faster decision making and accomplishment of more by both parties.

Session 11 & 12

Influencing Strategies

• Telephone Telepathy:
  

 to persuade someone over the call, its very difficult as well as challenging because of the fact that both the communicators (speakers as well as receiver) cannot see each other. For telephonic communications, the following points are of utmost important:

1. choice of words
   
2. tone of voice
   

• Influencing Strategies:

1. Influencing is a trigger for persuading
2. the different strategies are reason, friendly, coalition, bargaining, assertive, higher authority and sanction. depending upon the person we are influencing the strategy will change and its weightage will change.

Session 9 & 10

Persuasion and Organization

How does persuasion work?

To be effective there are three major points to be considered.

1. Proposals must be custom-tailored.

The two basic needs of persuasion are “logic and Emotions”. One should use logics and put forth emotions while presenting or communicating. People get influenced by the logics and connect themselves with the environment by means of emotional attachment.

2. The behavior of executives can be decoded.

Some of the distinguishing attributes of the executives are risk, responsibility, competitiveness, rebellion, impulsiveness, persistence, fear and uncertainty, self absorption, playfulness, education, intelligence and facts and bargains. By means of these attributes one can decode the behavior of executives.

3. Persuasion requires an arsenal of tools.

The Primary Goal of persuasion is “To provide a new framework and the tools to prevent mistakes”. For any persuasion we need the various tools ready to use with us so that we can use proper tool at proper place to switch on the perfect button so that the person ahead of you will be persuade from you.

 

Putting persuasion to the test

By testing our assumptions and long-held beliefs, one can fine tune and sharpen his/her persuasion skills. To do so, one should note the following points:

·         Persuasion can be custom-tailored to a large audience

·         Small groups require specific tactics

·         Decision styles affect teams

·         It’s not about you

·         There is no perfect elevator pitch

 

The power of Psycholinguistics:

•      Psycholinguistics is the study of psychological and neurological factors that enable human to acquire, use and understand language.

•      There are thousand of words around us, but we need to select the appropriate ones while communicating. A sender has a image of a object in his mind and then by means of words he conveys that message to the receiver, who in turn builds up a image of the object in his brain.

•      We should always use positive words while communicating with anyone. It increases the chance of persuasion. In organizations, using positive words can motivate the employees.

•      Asking questions is the most important skill while communicating. There are two types of questions.

•      Open questions: these types of questions gives the other party to discuss more.

Eg. Where do you want to see yourself after 2 years?

•      Closed questions: these questions expects specific answers.

Eg. What do you like most, tea or coffee?

•      One should be careful while asking questions with “why”. Asking question with “why requires rational explanation for the behavior. It also shows defensive attitude.

•      Open communication promotes a healthy relationship and encourages other to come around to our point of view. Open communication leads to less offence, less frustration, less defensiveness. Close communication styles can be used sometimes. The different closed communication styles are definitive, exaggerated and forcing.

“Success can depend on saying right thing on the right time”