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Receptive or Not Receptive – that is the question

Receptive

Receptivity is defined as “Ready or willing to receive favourably”.  Understanding how receptive someone is to your request is a core function of persuasion.

By way of example, many years ago I knew a teenager whose natural response to anyone else’s ideas or requests was pessimistic.  He would highlight the risks, say how hard it would be to implement what was being proposed and he would generally take a non-supportive view. Looking back now it was amazing how much energy was put into this continual resistance.  It must have been exhausting being so unreceptive.

Fast forward 25 years and today I know another guy.  His natural response to everything is “yes” or at least let’s explore it further.   He is open to new ideas and explores every situation for opportunities to collaborate and succeed.

Would it surprise you however to know that the guy I am talking about in both instances is the same person?  Would it also surprise you to know this guy is me?

As a teenager I was a “doer” but I was also a “know-it-all”.  I liked to get things done but I was the one who had to do it.  I had to be right.  I was the one who had to come up with the idea and execute it.  No-one would ever do it the way I thought it should be done so I would do it myself. I was unreceptive to ideas of others.

Today I am not like my younger self.  I am more receptive to ideas.  Others and my own.  I am more willing to explore things and look for a successful outcome.  I know that taking time and exploring the situation in its entirety will create a better solution and it is certainly better than rushing in blindly.  While it has taken me awhile I have learned to be receptive to others and their ideas.  I am not perfect at it by any means but yes is more of the norm now than no.

Upon reflecting on my journey through receptivity I remembered a phrase we used in the police called “escalating commitment to a failing course of action”.  This phrase refers to someone (usually a decision maker) who due to having made a previous commitment to do something would often see them remain committed to that decision.  They would resist the ideas of others, often in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary and usually until it was too late to change the inevitable outcome. History is littered with examples of leaders, and teenagers, who suffered from an escalating commitment to a failing course of action!

On many occasions I have seen good people make poor decisions because they were unreceptive to the ideas of others.

Therefore in any persuasion task you need to:

identify who the Persuadee actually is
set about analysing what is Essential to them
find out their Attitude to what you are proposing
understand how much they do or do not Know about your product, service or idea

This is what I call the PEAK process and it involves stakeholder identification, analysis and planning to ensure you achieve your desired goal, i.e. reach the PEAK!

1. Therefore monitor the reactions of those you are engaging with.  Identify those who have power and interest and engage them. Use their receptivity to your advantage.

2. Similarly identify those who have power but little interest.  Keep them informed but don’t annoy them with too much information.  Sometimes we confuse lack of receptiveness for actual lack of need to know and some leaders while in charge just don’t need to know or need to be involved in what you are proposing.  If they are the person you need to persuade, then this is where your persuasion skills come into play to have them change their beliefs and behaviour and in the process have them become more receptive to your request.

3. Identify those with high interest but no power and use their receptiveness to rally them around you.  Have them convey their support to others and use their passion and drive to get things done.

4. Finally monitor those with no power or interest.  They only need to be monitored because they are outside the Circle of Persuasion, i.e. the inner circle of persuadees that will either impact positively or negatively on your request.  Your only task with these people is to make sure you aware if they move from the outer to the inner circle of persuasion.

IMPLICATION

This week, think about how receptive people are to your requests.  Persuade the persuadable and then set about engaging those Persuadees who need to be involved.

Think about how receptive you are to others and remember saying “yes” or at least being open to the idea maybe all it takes to build a relationship and trigger Reciprocity.

None of us like “All Staff” emails when they don’t relate to us.  Don’t alienate leaders or decision makers by continually updating them when they don’t need to be.  That way when you do include them they are far more likely to be receptive to your ideas!

 

The post Receptive or Not Receptive – that is the question appeared first on Social Influence Consulting Group.

Why Nudges Work?

The inaugural Behavioural Exchange was held in Sydney, Australia earlier this month and it had a great line up of academics, policy makers, business leaders and everyone in between.  Unfortunately due to previous commitments I was unable to attend but I have been following the news and articles that have spawned from the exchange, including one written by Ben Newell exploring the question of Why Nudges Work.

Why Nudges Work

 

For the readers of this blog you are not new to the fact that Governments have been exploring the field of Behavioural Economics and how they can use them to change behaviour in the payment of tax bills, option taking in health care, and the use of energy.  For the most part many of the articles I have read about the exchange have quoted the success of Behavioural Insights and how Nudge Units all over the globe are changing behaviour one nudge at a time.

The interesting thing about Newell’s article is he asks the question, why do nudges work?  In a connected sort of way I delved into his article because this is the same premise behind my interviews with leaders, to find out not so much about what works but if they know why it works.

In the article Newell referenced Academic and author of Nudge, Richard Thaler and his reminder to the conference that the issue of failing to replicate successes and learning from failed nudges is critical.

Therefore knowing there are 6 Principles of Persuasion is one thing.  But in understanding Dr Cialdini’s methodology behind them, knowing there are certain triggers for each principle and things that amplify thir use starts to get you into the why that Newell was discussing.  Going deeper still though by understanding Dr Neidert’s Core Motives Model you now know when to use each principle and why it is more likely to work than not.  So my friend, as a graduate of the Principles of Persuasion Workshop you are miles ahead of others who are just attempting to replicate what they read or observe.  Because you not only know what is happening but why it is happening.

But before we pat ourselves on the back too solidly, let’s return to Dr Thaler’s comment about failure to replicate.  It is great to have a persuasive success but how often are you delving into why it worked and even more importantly if you have persuasion failure why it occurred?  When I speak to many POP graduates they are always happy to tell me about their successes and not so keen to explore the failures; and it is through asking questions that I have discovered and that many of them don’t know why a particular approach was not successful.

Error based learning is a fantastic tool to evolve and hone our persuasive skill set.  To employ it effectively however you mustn’t just put your failure away in a drawer and blame the tools.  Instead pull it apart, look at why your approach didn’t have the impact or result you were hoping for and dig into the “why”.  It is this process of reviewing your persuasion activities and learning why things work and do not work that will make you an infinitely better persuader.

As Newell points out in his article “ It is worth remembering that much of the pioneering work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky – on which Behavioural Insights are based – focused on situations when people’s reasoning did not “work”.”

The key problem I see is all too often once something is seen to work there is a temptation to scrap the testing and measuring that identifies why it works or doesn’t work and in Newell’s words leaders just want to“run with it”.  It is crucial, however, for the continued success of the field that these replications are done (despite the clear practical challenges), and that failures to replicate are reported.

Focusing a little more on the “why” and “why not” questions might just provide the kinds of insights necessary to nudge the field forward.

Thanks Ben Newell for writing a great and though provoking article.  If you want to check it out have a look below:

Source: Newell, B (2014) Comment: ‘Nudging’ people towards changing behaviour, what works and why? 

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/06/05/comment-nudging-people-towards-changing-behaviour-what-works-and-why   

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Practical Persuasion

The more you know about Persuasion the more you see it.  I have seen a couple of advertisements recently on television.  Some good, some could be improved.  So here is you test.  I have put a couple of videos into the post and see if you can see what is good and what would be done to improve them.

OPSM Ultra Wide Digital Retinal Scan

Below is the OPSM advertisement for their Ulta Wide Digital Retinal Scan.  I like the use of CONTRAST but I think something could be done to improve the persuasive of the advertisement.

HINT: It has to do with the order and the use of SCARCITY.

ANSWER: Instead of starting with what competitors do and show how much more the Retinal Scan offers, what do you think the impact would have been if they had started with the wider scan and then retracted to show how much their competitors are missing?  It is a small thing but one I think would have been very impactful.

ADF Recruitment Ad

Tell me what two principles the ADF are using in this advertisement.  One obvious and one not so obvious.

Answer: Obviously the first is Consensus showing you what many other Australians are doing by joining up.  The second is that of Consistency, tapping into people’s identity and labeling setting to show if you are this type of person then the ADF is for you.  Subtle and sophisticated but if you are that type of person, very effective.

Audi – What Defines Us

Finally Audi – they are diving deep into Liking as you can see yourself as the teenager.  Consistency because of the things we stand for.  Scarcity because of the things we have lost, regrets we have, things we could lose in the future.  Finally Contrast – well because not many car makers have taken this route before saying that what you do defines you – of course it does – but in this case drive an Audi and remove all the regrets you ever had a kid – why?  Because you can!

Very clever.

Type your ideas in the comments box below.  I will provide my comments on Thursday.

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