Personal Effectiveness

The Art of Persuasion

Mastering the art of persuading people is essential to achieving great results. As a leader, one of the main responsibilities is to develop sound strategies. But no matter how good a strategy is, the results gained will be proportional to the amount of buy-in people have for that strategy.

Over the years, I’ve seen many leaders resort to one of two approaches in an attempt to “persuade” people to get behind an idea. The first approach is to argue the facts to make their case. (This is especially popular with analytical people.). The thinking behind this is that if you present enough facts and do it with more passion, the other person will eventually come around to your way of thinking. Unfortunately, this approach rarely works. (I’ll explain why in a bit…)

The second approach leaders sometimes resort to is to use “the hammer”. By that, I mean that because the leader is in charge, they can always resort to saying, “We’re going to do it this way because I say so.” And because they’re the boss, everyone agrees to do it that way. The problem is that there is a big difference between compliance and commitment. The results achieved by a committed team are far greater than those gained by a team that is simply compliant.

The key to gaining buy-in for and commitment to an idea or strategy lies with understanding how people make buying decisions. Although many people think that decisions are made based on evaluating the facts and features, that’s not quite true. People buy emotionally.

It’s not that facts and features don’t matter. They do. But the truth is that people buy a thing or an idea because of how they feel about it. Once they make that decision, they’ll use the facts and features to rationalize it.

Therefore, the key to persuading people and gaining buy-in is to shift their perspective so they feel yours is correct. The two most effective approaches for changing someone’s perspective are the use of questions and the use of analogies.

The Use of Questions
Asking the right questions can be extremely effective in persuading people. The key to asking the “right” questions is to be curious rather than to be challenging. Questions need to be worded and delivered in a manner that doesn’t cause the other person to become defensive.

As a simple example, consider two people see things differently. If one of them asks, “How can you say that?”, it would clearly put the other one on the defensive. In contrast, consider taking a curiosity approach by asking, “OK. Help me understand why you see it this way. Why do you think this will work?”

In doing that, they avoid challenging them and instead, asking them to better explain their position. One of two things will come of that. Either you’ll discover their approach has merit, or you’ll see where their thinking or judgment is flawed. Once you have that insight, you can either ask follow-up questions to gain more clarity or ask additional questions to shift how they see things.

The Use of Analogies
When you’re trying to shift someone’s view about a situation or an idea, analogies can be a powerful tool. Arguing your point by discussing the specific situation at hand usually causes people to defend their position. They’re emotionally invested in the outcome.

But when you use an analogy – an example from a different industry or different context – people can stay neutral to the story. Using an analogy that people can relate to evokes an emotional response – one that the two of you can usually agree on. Using the right analogy can make your point very effectively and instantly shift the other person’s perspective. It pays to master the art of storytelling.

The art of persuasion relates to emotions more than facts. By asking good questions and offering effective analogies, a leader can gain more influence within the organization and generate better results.

If you’d like help becoming more influential, please contact me.

Successor Insights: The Need for a Sounding Board

There’s no question that a successful business owner knows his or her business better than anyone else. And as a consequence, there’s no one better to help a successor learn the business. But there are potentially several problems that occur when an owner is the only one to help a successor develop.

The first issue pertains to leadership. Learning the mechanics of a business doesn’t really help hone leadership skills. Although people generally do respect a leader’s knowledge and technical skills, that degree of respect only goes so far.

For people to fully trust and respect a leader, that leader needs to earn that trust and respect. Trust and respect aren’t automatically given because of someone’s title.

In order for a leader to earn trust, he or she needs to demonstrate that they have integrity. In other words, they do what they say they’re going to do and are the kind of person they claim to be. And, in order for a leader to earn respect, he or she needs to treat people with respect in both word and action. For example, a leader needs to treat people like people rather than like things. And they need to treat adults like adults instead of like children.

The second issue pertains to strategic thinking. Knowing how to do things really well simply means a successor has mastered the mechanics – the systems and tactics – of the business. If they don’t learn to think strategically, then several things tend to happen.

One result of not thinking strategically is that improvements will tend to be small, resulting in only modest gains. A second consequence is that a successor will tend to develop tactics that they feel are “strategies”. This also produces results that are mediocre. But the third consequence is the one that is most detrimental. They will develop strategies to address symptoms rather than underlying problems. The result of addressing symptoms instead of problems is that it almost always creates more challenges that cause a decline in revenues and profits.

The third issue pertains to blind spots. If a successor only gets guidance from an owner, they tend to end up with “group think” along with the blind spots that accompany it. Group think is what happens when people think “this is the way we do it around here”. The problem with having blind spots is that a successor can’t see what he or she is missing. Regardless of experience, intelligence or education, we all have these blind spots.

Typically, the only way to eliminate blind spots is to get outside perspective. Someone needs to point them out to us. If we don’t get past our blind spots, we miss opportunities and make poor decisions.

The solution to improving leadership competence, enhancing strategic thinking and eliminating blind spots is to have an unbiased sounding board. Someone who can offer outside perspective and help develop the needed competencies.

3 Strategies for Being Highly Productive

For an executive to be highly effective, they need to be highly productive. Being highly productive not only allows us to accomplish more, it lowers the feelings of stress and anxiety as well.

Although many executives attempt greater productivity through prioritized lists and calendar management, I don’t know anyone who’s actually been able to achieve high productivity on a consistent basis using these strategies. It’s not that the strategies don’t work. They do. But without another critical component in place, they’re only of limited usefulness.

Don’t you find it interesting how much more productive we are in the days leading up to a vacation? We plow through the important phone calls that have to be made, respond to all the important emails, and clear our desk of all the paperwork that needs attention. By the end of the day, everything important has been attended to.

The reason we’re able to achieve so much relates to energy management.

The energy I’m referring to has four components to it, and the management of those energy reserves is essential to high productivity. These four energy reserves are Physical, Emotional, Mental and Inspirational. Let me briefly discuss each energy reserve and then offer some strategies to help keep them full.

Physical energy affects our ability to push forward. It helps our drive and our self-discipline. If you’ve ever had a “mid-afternoon crash”, then you’ve experienced the impact a low physical reserve can have on productivity.

Emotional energy impacts our ability to deal with stress, to communicate well, to think clearly, and to interact with others effectively. For example, it’s not uncommon to become short with people when we’re feeling stressed or tense, both of which are caused by a low emotional reserve.

Mental energy affects our ability to think clearly, to concentrate and focus, to solve problems, and to be creative. Clearly, poor mental acuity hampers productivity.

Inspirational energy is the fuel that moves us to action. It is our passion, purpose, and inspiration that spark self-discipline, extra effort, and new direction. In the absence of inspiration, we end up just going through the motions. Low inspirational energy saps the productive juices out of us.

Maintaining our energy reserves is critical if we’re to be highly productive on a consistent basis. Our energy reserves are like a four-legged stool. We’re all familiar with the analogy of a three-legged stool. Without all three legs being of equal length, the stool is useless. But with a four-legged stool, even if one of the legs is shorter, it can still be used by exerting a bit of effort and balance. It’s not especially comfortable and requires ongoing expenditure of energy to maintain, but it is functional. The same goes for our four energy reserves. We can function even if one or more of our reserves is depleted, but it’s inefficient, draining, and it negatively impacts our productivity.

In order to stay highly productive, it’s essential to develop habits that replenish our energy reserves. Here are three keys that help accomplish this. They’re somewhat counter-intuitive and often overlooked, but don’t be fooled by their simplicity. For years they’ve allowed me to accomplish about 50% more than most people do.

High Productivity Strategy #1: Take Breaks
This is the most counter-intuitive of the three strategies and most people I know struggle with it. After all, how can you become more productive by not working? Here’s why it works:

Most of us have the capacity to stay focused, concentrate well and work hard for about 2-2.5 hours. After that, our focus, accuracy and creativity tend to drop. Ever notice that first thing in the morning you’re able to work quickly, efficiently, and accurately, but as the day wears on, our pace and enthusiasm wane? By taking a 20-30-minute break every 2-2.5 hours, you recharge yourself and return to work with the same enthusiasm you had at the beginning of the day. The secret to maximizing the impact of your breaks is what you do during them. This leads to our second strategy for high productivity.

High Productivity Strategy #2: Eat Strategically
Most people think about what to eat in terms of weight loss or general health, but nutrition also serves another important purpose.

What and when we eat control our blood sugar levels. When our blood sugar drops too low, our productivity, focus, and creativity suffer. Remember that mid-afternoon “crash”? It’s due to a drop in blood sugar (often as a consequence of a carb-laden lunch). Eating strategically means eating protein, fat, and some carbohydrate during your breaks. This mix controls the pace at which nutrition is absorbed, stabilizes your blood sugar level, and provides essential nutrients to your brain and your muscles.

High Productivity Strategy #3: Get Restful Sleep
Getting a sufficient number of hours of restful sleep allows your body to repair itself and your mind to process ideas and problems. Insufficient or restless sleep will cause a lack of mental sharpness, anxiety, and poor emotional control.

In order to get a restful night’s sleep, avoid caffeine late in the day and avoid eating a heavy, fat-laden, carbohydrate-laden meal late in the evening. Caffeine will keep you from falling asleep quickly and eating a late, heavy meal will cause your body to work hard digesting while you sleep instead of attending to the other tasks necessary for recharging and revitalization.

Managing your energy reserves combined with prioritization of tasks will make you a productivity superstar. Get in the habit of taking breaks every couple of hours, eat strategically throughout the day, and adopt a lifestyle that allows you to get restful sleep.