How to persuade…?
How often have you needed to persuade & influence others to do something?
It’s a situation that arises almost every day, whether it’s getting your teenager to tidy their room, or a colleague to attend a meeting on your behalf. Some people seem to be able to do it effortlessly, and almost without anyone noticing, whereas others fall back on the power of their position to enforce what they want.
We could go for:-
- nagging
- coercion
There is a better way – “Get them to buy into the idea, and they want to do it your way…”
The fable of the sun and the wind is a good example:
The wind and the sun decided to have a competition to decide once and for all who was stronger. They agreed that the winner would be the one who could persuade a man to take off his coat. The wind blew and blew, but the man only held on more tightly to his coat. Then the sun shone gently down, and within minutes, the man took off his coat.
The moral here is that you can’t force someone to do what he or she don’t want; instead, the art of persuasion is to get them to want what you want.
“Persuasion is often more effectual than force” Aesop
For a workshop on Persuading and Influencing, please contact bev@nuggetsoflearning.co.uk
