Six psychological influencing techniques

Six psychological influencing techniques - Larry Reyolds, 21st Century Leader

Larry runs a training course for us on Influencing Skills

Stories

Stories and anecdotes are more convincing than dry facts and bullet points. Good stories often involve a person overcoming great difficulties.

Tell stores that your audience can relate to
Tell stories that establish your credibility
Tell stories that suggest a course of action
Even better than stories are physical experiences that create an emotional response.
Tell stories that are surprising or contrarian

Avoid loss

People are generally more motivated to hang on to what they've got than they are by the prospect of gaining something new. Saying 'you will lose out if you don't take action' is often more powerful than 'here are the benefits if you do'

Demonstrate the consequences of inaction
Face the snags and reduce the risks
Create scarcity

Peer pressure

People are strongly influenced by the behaviour of other people around them; that's why organisational culture really matters.

Give examples of what other people like them have done
Have other people like them make the case, instead of you

Understand their world

Look at the world through their eyes, get on their wavelength, and step into their shoes – talk about the things they care about, not the things you care about.

Ask lots of questions and listen very carefully
Make your argument in terms of the other person's frame of reference, values and beliefs

Build commitment

It's much easier to get people to take a big step if they've already taken a small one.

Pilot everything
Make sure the first step is a small one
Give clear explicit instructions about the next step

Use contrast

People care much more about their relative circumstances than they do about their absolute circumstances.

Help people to make more useful kinds of comparison
Contrast small steps with big ones
Give a small number of options with distinctive reasons for choosing