How to get people to do things
Well, I am back home as you read this (just!) so have again prepared in advance.
Following along the theme of using emotion when communicating, we come to getting people to ‘actually do things'!
Storytelling Insight #3 – Nudging people toward action is, I think, where emotion can be more useful, especially in the face of resistance of some kind.
Here are a couple of thoughts on that:
When people need a strong push to do something, revert to the strongest persuasive levers which I discussed last week.
Fears, big and small as well as belonging are the strongest motivators of all.
This possibly explains why the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is ‘quite a thing'. It blends both fear and belonging into the one bundle.
When people need just a bit of a nudge, try a softer touch using aspiration, habits and analogies.
- Make it aspirational by pointing out the benefits of doing something.
- Make it easy by grafting a new idea or behaviour onto an old one.
- Make it clear by using analogies.
I hope that helps. More next week.
Kind regards,
Davina
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PRESENTED BY DAVINA STANLEY
I love what I do.
I help senior leaders and their teams prepare high-quality papers and presentations in a fraction of the time.
This involves ‘nailing' the message that will quickly engage decision makers in the required outcome.
I leverage 25+ years' experience including
- learning structured thinking techniques at McKinsey in Hong Kong in the mid 1990s before coaching and training their teams globally as a freelancer for a further 15 years
- being approved to teach the Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto in 2009
- helping CEOs, C-suite leaders and their reports deeply understand their stakeholder needs and communicate accordingly
- seeing leaders cut the number of times they review major papers by ~30% and teams cut the amount of time they take to prepare major papers by ~20%*
- watching senior meetings focus on substantive discussions and better decisions rather than trying to clarify the issue
My approach helps anyone who needs to engage senior leaders and Boards.
Recent clients include 7Eleven, KPMG, Mercer, Meta, Woolworths.
Learn more at www.clarityfirstprogram.com
(*) Numbers are based on 2023 client benchmarking results.
