Influencing & Persuasive Communication Skills

Introduction

How often have you needed to influence and persuade others to do something? How much time do you spend every week presenting new ideas? Working to get buy-in from a customer, someone in a different department, or a boss? Competing for limited resources? Convincing your team to support a new project?

These are situations that arise almost every day. We all spend an increasingly significant portion of our work days drawing on our persuasive and influencing skills. Your ability to communicate effectively, to influence and persuade directly affects your success at work as these skills expedite sales, articulate plans, accelerates work performance, diffuse conflicts and handle concerns with competence and tact.

Learning Outcomes / Benefits

Upon completion of this program, the participants should be able to:

• Exercise influence and persuasion skills across a range of situations
• Influence and persuade workplace interactions up, down, and across organizations
• Secure ‘buy-in’ even before you present your plan or idea
• Practice the steps of active listening
• Reduce and handle objections to your proposal, idea, and suggestion
• Confidently persuade or influence decision makers

Key Content

Module 1: Persuasive & Influencing Communication

Self-Assessment: Your Strengths and Areas for Improvement in Persuasion and Influencing Skills

• Analyse and Apply Persuasive and Influencing Behaviours and Models
  • Identify your Sphere of Influence
  • Populate Your Universe
  • Hitch a ride! - to serve your purpose
  • Note the imbalance in the power of influence ratings – Convert the imbalance
  • Invest in Trust Bond (Make regular deposits)

• Credibility = Positive Purpose (Skills + Qualities): Identify
  • Personal qualities that you possess that help you to function successfully
  • Practical skills you have – colleagues rely upon you to deploy
  • You have the right and power to influence (belief)

• ACTIVITY: Non-verbal Impact in Communication
  • Objectives:
    • Allow us to liberate you from the Don’ts
    • Communicate influentially – ‘PLAY THE SPACE BETWEEN YOU AND THEM’
    • Clear the path – Put down any emotional baggage you are carrying
    • Eyes of the Tiger – Use it
    • Get out of your head – Into your body

Module 2: Communicate To Negotiate – Get What You Need Without Getting Mad!

• WORDS: Power to Build or Break the Human Spirit! (THINK – FEEL – DO)
  • Words and Voice creates the intention
• Resolving a Conflict (time frame, resources, budget etc) : Collaborative approach
  • Common Ground
  • What in it for you/me?
  • Empathy (Understanding and listening to each person’s position)

Module 3: What Makes A Influencing & Persuasive Communicator?

• What Is Your Preferred Style?
  • Identify And Flex It When Necessary To Get The Results You Want In An Interaction
  • How to modify your style to manage the other party’s preference
• Tight Organization Of Contents (Presentation)
  • Prepare The Points Of Persuasion – Tool: Force Field Analysis

Methodology

• Guided Introspective Learning
• Sharing A Systematic, Disciplined approach in harnessing the value and unleashing the power of communication in the workplace
• Self-Assessment, Case Studies, Application Exercises