Video production: Andrew Kennedy Lewis
The power of persuasion is critical for any leader. Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Management Zoe Chance says there is an art to persuasion. Time your request for when people will be most receptive, give them an opportunity to take action in that moment and make it as easy as possible for them to take that action.
Read the full transcript of Chance’s interview below:
I find that a lot of the nicest, smartest, most respectful people have a complete misconception about influence and persuasion in that they believe that what we should be doing to influence people is to give them the facts because they try to step into the other person’s shoes and say, “I would like to have all the information and then make the best decision.” But the reality is that we’re not even paying attention. We’re not paying attention to the facts until we’re interested.
It’s really important to keep in mind whenever you’re trying to influence people, whether it’s going to be influencing your employees to be engaging, participating and enrolling in learning and development programs or whether it’s influencing senior management to be investing in those programs, to consider how are you going to get their attention and when will they be most interested, when will they be most receptive and can you give them an opportunity to take action in that moment and also how can you make it as easy as possible for them to take action. So, the power of persuasion is critical for any leader and certainly for any CLO.
