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”

Session 7 & 8

Art of Persuasion

The Necessary Art of Persuasion

Effective persuasion is the negotiating and learning process through which a persuader leads collegues to a problem’s shared solution. It incorporates discovery, preparation and dialogue. It is about testing and revising ideas in concert with your collegues’ concerns and needs. Persuasion also demands compromise. The four essential steps to effective persuasion are-:

Ø  Establish persuaders establishes credibility

o   Credibility grows out of expertise and relationships. Persuader shows strong emotional characteristics and integrity. 

Ø  Frame for common ground

o   Effective persuader must be adept at describing the position in terms that illuminate the person’s point advantages that he/she is trying to persuade. It is a process of identifying shared benefits.  

Ø  Reinforcing position using vivid language and compelling evidences

o   Persuaders supplement numerical data with examples, stories, metaphors, and analogies to make their positions come alive. 

Ø  Connect emotionally

o   Good persuaders are aware of primacy of emotions and are responsive to them. They know how to maintain a balance between professionalism and their own emotional commitment to the position they are advocating.

 

How to frame a Message: the Art of Persuasion and Negotiation

“A frame is to a persuasive argument

as the picture of a completed puzzle is to the jumbled pieces of the puzzle.”

A frame orients a reader or listener to examine a message with a certain disposition or inclination. The four steps to build a frame are as follows:

1.      Determine your specific objective

2.      Conduct a focused SWOT analysis of the other party’s current status

3.      Determine the other party’s core values

4.      Write a simple, vivid, evaluate statement that links steps 1, 2 and 3

 

Mind your body language:

Body language or body postures are important elements while presenting or communicating with anyone. People do get persuaded or influenced by the body language of the speaker. A speaker needs to have continuous eye contact with the audience. Whenever and wherever he can make use of his hands to show the significance of particular word, he or she should use them. The volume of the speaker should depend upon the message he/she is conveying.

 

Memory Magic!!!

Using brain as a computer is good approach, but the flaw here is that the brain cannot store the data until it is deleted. Human brains can store data or information up to a certain time period. To remember particular information lifelong, he/she has to repeat that information. Remembering facts, figures and names of individuals can act as a magic while presenting or communicating. In order to remember something about a person or place, one should associate it with any other thing.

Session 5 & 6

Process of Persuasion

Good Listener

His thoughts were slow,

His words were few,

And never made to glisten,

But he was a joy

Wherever he went

You should have heard him listen.

Listening is an essential part of communication, and it is different from hearing. Being a good and patient listener helps you not only solve many problems at work or home, but also to see the world through the eyes of others, thereby opening your understanding and enhancing your capacity for empathy. Besides which, you learn a lot from listening. As deceptively simple as listening to and acknowledging other people may seem, doing it well, particularly when disagreements arise, takes sincere effort and lots of practice.

Steps for active listening:

Ø  Place yourself in the other person’s shoes

Ø  Remove all distractions

Ø  Practice the empathetic sounding back technique

Ø  Do not interrupt with what you feel or think about the topic being discussed

Ø  Ask meaningful and empowering questions

Ø  Wait for the person to open up

Ø  Use body gestures and facial expressions to express your interest and to unearth what is left unsaid

Ø  Be patient and respect pauses

Ø  Try to reassure the speaker that all is well

Ø  Accept that everyone has a unique thought process and ways to express himself/herself

Ø  Just because someone is speaking to you, do not presume that they are asking you for your input

Ø  Most information is not remembered because we are thinking of our response to the speaker and therefore missed what was said

Attention Please!!!

It is very necessary to grab the attention of the listener when you want to communicate or pass on a particular message. Keeping the audience’s attention or interest is probably the bedrock of any successful conversion or meeting. No attention means no communication and no communication will lead to no result. It is difficult to maintain the attention level of the audience. There may be many gains and falls, etc.  In order to avoid these, one should have some ways to grab the attention of the audience again. Some of the ways to win more attention are as follows:

Ø  Change the seating (if possible)

Ø  Avoid breaks

Ø  Say what you are going to say

Methods of persuasion:

The three main methods of persuading the audience are:

1.      Using evidence and logic skillfully

a.       Presenting evidences is one of the most crucial points while persuading. There are four principal ways of persuading evidence, which are as follows:

                                                               i.      Assertion + Evidence + Source

                                                             ii.      Assertion + Evidence

                                                           iii.      Assertion + Evidence + Source + Qualification of source

                                                           iv.      Assertion + Firsthand experience

b.      Presenting logical reasoning to the audience is also of great importance. Following are the four patterns of reasoning:

                                                               i.      Deductive (from general to specific)

                                                             ii.      Inductive ( starting from proven facts)

                                                           iii.      Analogical (explain, comparison)

                                                           iv.      Causal (establishing relationship between cause and effect)

Unfortunately, not all reasoning is logical reasoning. Some speakers, knowingly and unknowingly use various types of fallacious reasoning.

2.      Establishing credibility:

A speaker’s credibility results from trustworthiness, competency, dynamism and objectivity

 

3.      Appealing to listener’s physiological needs:

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the listener’s concern is the safety needs. So the successful approach for any speaker is to indentify the safety needs of its audience and make the approach.

 

Becoming a persuader

Some of the common tactics to become a persuader are as follows:

·         Knowing the audience

·         Demographic and audience analysis

·         Forms of organization

·         Forms of proof

·         Building your credibility

·         Wording your message

·         Delivering your message