The process improvement was obvious. The positive customer impact was easy to see and even quantifiable. But one of the leaders was having nothing of it. As she dug in further against the logic and rational case, I wanted to "sell her" even more on the business value but decided to take a time out and follow up with her afterwards. Through some probing conversation I found out that her objection wasn't to the logic even though at the time she couldn't really articulate it that way but to the fact that she felt personally responsible for the people she had hired into the roles, and that their lives were going to change in a way she couldn't control.
It was an emotional connection issue and a commitment issue. Once that was on the table, we were able to figure out a way to make the change in a way that felt OK for her. The emotional issue was resolved and she could then focus on the logic, ironically which she fully supported. So it might not be logic or emotion. It just might be emotion and logic together that really works. It has worked for me for years. Top Stories. Top Videos. Then keep reading. But let me set the stage first.
We all know the old story about how our parents had to walk to school…in the rain…and snow…uphill…both ways!! I just had a tool, our Flippen Profile , that had truth about people in it, and I had one hour to get a given client to embrace that truth.
And much of it boils down to this: the ability to anticipate and disarm skeptics. Skeptics are great at exposing ways you may oversimplify something, use a trigger phrase, or overemphasize a certain point. So be ready for skeptics, but also realize that with many topics or decisions a majority of people do not need a series of complex techniques to disarm them. That should be a welcomed relief so take a relaxing breath. So when you convince them that an idea they had was wrong, you have caused them to suffer a capital loss.
I rarely run into people who, when convinced that something they believed was wrong, react with delight. Some years ago, a colleague of mine had his students pair off according to their views on a controversial issue, one student on one side of the issue and the other on the opposite. Many hands went up. Many fewer hands went up.
He then asked the persuaders who incorrectly thought they had convinced their partners to tell what their strategy had been. Invariably, they said that they had been at their rhetorical best, using logic and evidence to make their case.
He then asked the persuaders who had succeeded to explain their strategy. Almost invariably, they said that they had simply asked questions. Why do you think what you think? Have you ever thought differently? Do you remember when you thought that way? What kinds of evidence would persuade you? If you thought this particular fact was not a fact, would that change your mind?
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