When was the last time you effectively persuaded someone? Did you use the techniques I wrote about here, or here? If not, how did you navigate around and avoid the persuasion traps?
If you’re anything like the great managers and leaders I work with, you know the importance of being able to persuade others. And wow, this past year has presented a lot of opportunities to work on this skillset. You see, persuading others is about rethinking. But rethinking is more than a skill set, it’s also a mindset.
As organizational psychologist Adam Grant writes in Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know (Viking, 2021):
Mental horsepower doesn’t guarantee mental dexterity. No matter how much brainpower you have, if you lack the motivation to change your mind, you’ll miss many occasions to think again.
The challenge, of course, is that the greater your mental horsepower, the more likely you are to encounter certain traps. You see, researchers have found that those who are faster at recognizing patterns are more likely to fall for stereotypes. This presents a challenge when it’s time to update your understanding and beliefs, or persuade others to do the same.
When this topic comes up in my coaching conversations, we discuss the persuasion traps to avoid.
Persuasion Traps
- Opening with a hard sell. Passion and enthusiasm matter, but so does making room to listen. Demonstrate your ability to hear, understand, and address concerns or other perspectives.
- Over-focusing (and reliance) on facts and data. Evidence and logic are important for credibility, however, so is emotional intelligence. Communicate in a way that creates an emotional connection.
- Resisting compromise. Persuasion is a mindset as much as a skillset. Signal your ability and willingness to remain flexible, collaborate, and compromise.
- Approaching persuasion as a one and done event. It may be tempting to force solutions, especially when they appear so obvious, but effective persuasion is a process that involves input from others to create shared solutions.
A hallmark of wisdom is knowing when it’s time to abandon some of your most treasured tools, and some of the most cherished parts of your identity.
Adam Grant, PhD
What do you think? How do you avoid these persuasion traps? I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me here, on LinkedIn, or give me a call: 561-582-6060.
