Improving on communication skills and influencing is
extremely important for potential success. A paper
by Johnson and Young (2012) discusses the concepts of influencing others to
achieve objectives. Their advice appears to be practical in the sense that it
continues to expand the network creating more adherents. It also takes into
account the natural resistance people display and how to overcome those
concerns.
Most people tune out a significant amount of daily conversation
and lots of information is lost from one day to the next. To attract someone’s interests
it is sometimes necessary to do or ask something interesting. In sales they may
call this “making the pitch” but in daily conversation it is more of “tuning in”
to potential engagement.
Most people are receptive to things that help them.
Explaining concepts through their vantage point and the potential benefits of
certain actions helps them to visualize the possibilities. Focusing on
encouraging others to engage the solution is helpful to developing personal
influence. You can’t be influential
without other people.
Before one can properly influence others they need to have
the right questions. This is a process of brainstorming and thinking about all
of the alternatives. Asking the right questions can prompt other people to
start thinking about the answers and if their answers logically lead to your
conclusions you are likely to find support.
Each organization comes with other influencers and
connecting them together creates systematic impact. Communicating with opinion
leaders and power brokers creates the ability to render converts to a cause and
then move those ideas throughout an organization. The more people, who hear,
understand and pass on the concepts the more influence that is created.
People want to quantify the concepts. They want to envision,
touch, taste and see the ideas. Speaking in terms of tangibles helps people
understand and create a mental framework that solidifies the concepts. This
allows them to formalize, ponder, and finally conclude with their agreement.
People want to understand your message. Use the language of
your audience. This means using the terms, vocabulary, education level and at
times even the slang others use. Helping people understand the message means
speaking in a way that allows for easy connection to the concepts.
It is beneficial to work in a group and allow multiple
vantage points and perspectives to make their way into the solutions. Doing so
will afford greater allies in your quest. People have varying perspectives and
these perspectives can be used to help ensure that concepts make sense to a
greater amount of people.
Developing greater presentations with graphics, charts, and
content helps people solidify the information. Just like in sales a great
presentation can provide for higher levels of understanding. It can draw
interest and put things in a tangible form.
Don’t believe that you are infallible. Continually learn
from your mistakes to improve upon your influencing abilities. Some things work
while others do not. If you continue to learn you are likely to improve over
time and create greater abilities.
The report doesn’t talk about truth but it should be
included as an influencing argument. People don’t want someone to “pull the
wool over their eyes” or “blow smoke” and will be naturally resistant to those
who have an unyielding agenda. Rightly so, an over demanding agenda means they
have not evaluated the alternatives and their concerns are limited. People want
to hear the strengths and potential pitfalls so that they can understand the
credibility of the speaker. Those who think they know all the answers usually
don’t.
Johns, W. & Young, N. (2012). Power of persuasion:
becoming the influencer. Facilities
Manager, 28 (3)
