A quick trip to the merry old land of Oz reminded me that success involved a number of participants, with different skills, weakness, and roles. But they all needed a central rallying point, a focus, a vision, and a mission, with a leader to get behind. At the end, they were all winners—no one had to be sacrificed for the greater good. And Dorothy, the leader, did not have to plead for help or beg for support.
Today's topic is persuasion, and you are already seeing that persuasion is not entreating, groveling, abject begging, or pitiable pleading. In our supply chain management roles, we often need to persuade others to make decisions or take action. But we are frequently not very good at the task, and we wind up as the ones quaking at the prospect.
SPELLBINDERS AND DREAMWEAVERS
It seems as if the sales and marketing folks can pry money and support out of senior management for almost any hare-brained scheme. And the IT mafia dons have a particular genius for securing funding and human resources for technology that costs twice as much and takes twice as long as promised to implement, with every likelihood of either failure or suboptimization.
Meanwhile, we scratch and claw for enough scraps to keep the ship afloat and the trucks running. Those few among us who succeed in aligning both the stars and the C-suite elicit wonder and envy. How do they do it—and without breaking a sweat?
It's not all that mysterious. It's not, as my friend says, rocket surgery. Nor is it too difficult to master, given practice and an understanding of what traits and behaviors make some people "naturals" at persuasion. Hold tight. The secrets are about to be revealed. Here's what you have to do:
- Understand the audience(s). You have to know whom you are trying to persuade of what. Identify all those who need to come around to your position. Craft your message to resonate with all of them. Know—and push—their hot buttons, without losing those with different motivations. Create a scenario and story line that unify all of your selling points to all audiences.
- Be assertive. Display confidence, but don't be a know-it-all. Be firm, without pushing people away with aggressiveness. In-your-face quickly becomes out-of-the-room. Be patient. Give people time to absorb your message, even if it means coming back later after some "cook" time.
While you want to avoid being a jerk and generally behaving like a used car salesperson, don't shrink back into the paneling and go all wishy-washy either. Make statements; don't ask questions. Don't feel, think, or hope; know, believe, and have the data. Never undermine your message with modifiers such as "possibly," "hopefully," "with luck," and the like.
- Connect—and keep connecting. Start off with personal references, not just blather like "How's the short game coming?" Revealing a bit of your authentic personal self is enormously empowering and generates trust, with reciprocal confidence.
Continue the proactive connection throughout your discussion. Make and maintain (without staring) eye contact. Be enthusiastic, without shaking your pompoms in mindless cheerleading. Use individuals' names throughout, naturally and comfortably. People love to hear their names and respond positively in return. Get proficient and positive in all aspects of nonverbal communications.
- Get to the point, but on a clear path. Be clear; be concise. Be ready to lay out the vision, the path, and the end game in terms that a child could understand. But don't be terse, and don't skip anything mission-critical on the way to the inescapable conclusion. Above all, when the decision-makers are on board, stop selling. Babbling on and on can undo—forever—all the good work you've done so far.
Along the way, keep reeling in key audiences, those you want and need to get the go-ahead from. Acknowledge their points of view. Respect their objections. Listen, listen, and listen some more. Then, ask good questions—and answer them solidly, even if it takes a followup session to come to closure.
Know when to step back; understand the ramifications of delay and the folly of pushing for action when the decider-in-chief is not yet ready. If your proposition is sound and you've done all the other things right, you will only inspire more confidence in people by respecting others' need to process and internalize.
- Please the masses. Successful persuaders build up loyalty and respect in advance of need. They sacrifice for others, but not in a martyr-syndrome way. They give ground, even give in, when the stakes are not astronomical. They have the backs of those who work for them, for those they work for, and for any executive or function they can help. Those who seem to be the golden children are savvy enough to not waste time winning minor battles if it could cost them the war.
Part of success is being liked. Making people happy is a great continuing strategy, but it begins with the vital first impression. Within the first seven seconds of meeting you, the people you're trying to influence, persuade, or lead decide to like you—or not. Start with upright posture, but not a military brace. Have a firm handshake, but not an iron grip. Smile. Open your shoulders, and use all of your positive body language skills. Then keep it up. After the all-important seven seconds, audiences will be looking for cues to validate their first impression.
- Build and maintain context. Whatever the motivations, preferences, styles, or hot buttons of those in your audience, you must create a vision that encompasses all of what you are promoting or proposing: the bigger picture, the end-to-end scenario, the position and impact in a model of corporate performance, the frame that wraps around the picture. All the facts, data, and business cases in the universe are weakened without a context that makes the new conveyor, the ERP system, the new product line, or the functional reorganization within supply chain management sizzling hot and easy to buy into.
Throughout the process, practice and use your evolving emotional intelligence (EQ) skills. Be aware of yourself and of your audiences. Adjust and respond in ways that you may discover on the fly as you genuinely interact with an audience you are in the act of persuading. And do this without stammering, hesitating, or displaying uncertainty or weakness.
IS THAT ALL?Pretty much. And the total package is easier to outline than to execute. But as you consciously develop and apply these key tools in the art of persuasion, you will get better and better.
And you'll be on the way to being envied and admired as "one of those people" who can get things done.
