Amata recently hosted speaker Anne Smith, founder of Neuro Focused, at our Michigan Avenue location for the insightful lunch and learn event The Power of Persuasion. Anne explained how our brains are social and actually crave social connections, a fact that we can use to persuade others, particularly in our business communications. The trick is learning how people think when they are in social settings.
Key Tactics for Persuading People in a Group Setting
Mitigate People’s Bias
It is hard to recognize conformational biases within ourselves, but working in groups and communicating makes it easier to recognize these in others and mitigate. Once you know someone’s biases, you can use the tips below to work around them. Below you will find the most common biases people have and how you can mitigate them to create influence:
- Similarity: People who feel as if they resemble another person and are better than others. A solution would be to find commonality between yourself and that person.
- Expedience: A person feels and believes that if a certain belief or idea is right then it must be true. To overcome this, try to paint a complete picture to open up their thinking.
- Experience: People who relate to your experience. Try presenting new perspectives through narration or visualization.
- Distance: People tend to defer to those who are near them, rather than further away. To overcome this bias, try leading with a simple suggestion or invitation. You can also incorporate the solution for a similarity bias because finding a common ground will encourage them to overcome the distance.
Learn How People Visualize
People are more likely to update their belief when information is presented in graphic form. The brain is able to easily recognize pictures and interpret images before interpreting the text. Any time you can add graphics to your argument, do so to boost your persuasive power.
Make It Short
The human working memory is limited- so carefully explain important details you want others to retain and keep it short. Our brain can only focus on one concept at a time. Therefore, we best digest information in brief chunks- such as seven to eleven words in a sentence.
Now you know the three most important applications to use in a business communication, simply follow these three applications above to persuade your audience in the direction you choose.
Who Is Neuro Focused?
Anne Smith, is a certified professional coach who specializes in brain-based approaches to create a new way of thinking. This approach is a three-step process that includes reflection, insight, and action while learning about the brain. If you want to enhance your thinking and improve your communication with clients and key stakeholders, learn more about Neuro Focused.
Watch the full video of guest speaker Anne Smith: The Power of Persuasion.
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