Communicating with Influence Training Outline

Sell Your Logic

One of the primary tools for any leader is factual evidence that they should be followed. This is done by using logic and investigated facts to support whichever direction you wish to lead them. A leader can appeal to the rationality of the team members, but the presentation or plan has to be well researched and must flow logically from Point A to Point B so that the team members are actually understand where you’re going, and how it’s a good way to go.
For example, if Ken wants to convince his construction team that they should make the building out of a different brand of concrete, Ken can either positively or negatively argue his point. To illustrate, Ken can either point out what is better about his chosen brand of concrete, or why the other one is a poorer choice. Ken could use any number of points or arguments for either, but the point is that he is giving logical reason to listen to his decisions to the people he wishes to influence into following him.
Advertisements work on a similar structure; they show you why their product or service is better than the competition, which influences consumers to follow them and take their products instead. Being capable of selling your logic or arguing your point is the bread and butter of an influential communicator.

Articulate Your Counter-Point Carefully

Being able to argue your point is one thing, but arguing the right way is what locks in capability in mental influence and appeal. The best response to a good counter-point is to give it credit where it is due, and if possible, find a compromise that everyone in the team can agree on. Sometimes, the best way to maintain team confidence is to give a good counter-point. What this does is show that you are as capable of following as you are in leading; team respect for you will grow, especially if you showed respect to their paths and ideas as well. As an example, when utilising the basic pro and con tactic, but don’t only present the cons of your opposition. Be fair, always, and give every idea due credit, so that everyone in your team feels that you validate them mentally, and they’re much more likely to validate your ideas, be influenced by them, and follow them.

Paint Them a Pretty Picture

Emotional approaches are more effective on certain team members than it is on others. Some team members will be driven by logic, and need to see before they believe that a path is better than another. They need to be won over with better logic and arguments, until their brains are satisfied enough to follow. Others, however, need to feel good about a path you lead them on before they follow you. To do this, leaders can “paint them the big picture,” but the primary point is still selling it to them as something pretty, something they would want to work towards. Mentally driven workers need things, because that’s the optimal way to go. Emotionally driven workers want things, because that’s the thing they feel better about following. Knowing the different types and how to influence or sell them your idea is a key roll of a leader.

The Carrot or The Stick Methodology

The advantages and disadvantages of both of these leadership styles will be explained by the trainer. While it is good to stay somewhere around the middle of these, we naturally favour one over the other. By group discussion and personal reflection, participants will see which they tend to lean more towards and how it can help them motivate and build confidence and morale within their teams.

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