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Motivation
Franklin defines motivation as "the general desire or willingness to do
something." She links it to control of tasks. Typically, you are motivating someone to
do something, not just take a particular view. In this respect, the person being
motivated has direct involvement with the task at hand, and the technique is more
direct than influencing.
Motivation techniques depend on whom you are motivating. As you would
expect, different people are motivated by different things. Some project team
members will be motivated by reward, so you may want to explain how participation
links to a bonus scheme. Others could be motivated by responsibility, so you could
focus on how this increases their remit or helps them develop professionally. Still
others may be motivated by enjoying their work, so you could discuss how this new
change or project removes some of the not-so-fun activities in their role.
Unfortunately, you rarely know what people will find motivating, so one
strategy is to take a broad brush approach and make your communications
appealing to all groups. If you can tap into what motivates individuals through your
discussions with them and being alert to clues, you can better understand how to
motivate the people in the project team and the wider stakeholder group.
Persuasion
"Persuasion is a process designed to change the attitude or behaviour of a
person or group from their current view to a view that the persuader wants them to
hold," writes Franklin.
Who is doing the persuading is an important factor. Persuasion is impacted by
a number of things and in my view, the 'who' is critical. If the person being persuaded
holds the persuader in high regard and likes them on a personal and professional
level, it is usually easier to have persuading conversations. Equally, if the persuader
has authority over the person being persuaded, it is likely that the resistance to
change will be lower. Mapping these relationships in a tool like Drop Mind is one way
to work out who to involve on your communications planning.
In every part of your life, you have a choice of either doing it yourself or
delegating it to others. Your ability to get someone else to take on the job with the
same enthusiasm that you would have is an exercise in personal persuasion. It may
seem to take a little longer at the beginning, but it saves you an enormous amount of
time completing the task.
The first "P" is power. The more power and influence that a person perceives
you have, whether real or not, the more likely it is that that person will be persuaded
by you to do the things you want them to do. For example, if you appear to be a
senior executive, or a wealthy person, people will be much more likely to help you
and serve you than they would be if you were perceived to be a lower level
employee.
The second "P" is positioning. This refers to the way that other people think
about you and talk about you when you are not there. Your positioning in the mind
and heart of other people largely determines how open they are to being influenced
by you.
In everything you do involving other people, you are shaping and influencing
their perceptions of you and your positioning in their minds. Think about how you
could change the things you say and do so that people think about you in such a way
that they are more open to your requests and to helping you achieve your goals.
The third "P" is performance. This refers to your level of competence and
expertise in your area. A person who is highly respected for his or her ability to get
results is far more persuasive and influential than a person who only does an
average job.
The perception that people have of your performance capabilities exerts an
inordinate influence on how they think and feel about you. You should commit
yourself to being the very best in your field. Sometimes, a reputation for being
excellent at what you do can be so powerful that it alone can make you an extremely
persuasive individual in all of your interactions with the people around you. They will
accept your advice, be open to your influence and agree with your requests.
The fourth "P" of persuasion power is politeness. People do things for two
reasons, because they want to and because they have to. When you treat people
with kindness, courtesy and respect, you make them want to do things for you. They
are motivated to go out of their way to help you solve your problems and accomplish
your goals. Being nice to other people satisfies one of the deepest of all
subconscious needs--the need to feel important and respected. Whenever you
convey this to another person in your conversation, your attitude and your treatment
of that person, he or she will be wide open to being persuaded and influenced by you
in almost anything you need.
Again, perception is everything. The perception of an individual is his or her
reality. People act on the basis of their perceptions of you. If you change their
perceptions, you change the way they think and feel about you, and you change the
things that they will do for you.
You can become an expert at personal persuasion. You can develop your
personal power by always remembering that there are only two ways to get the
things you want in life: You can do it all yourself, or you can get most of it done by
others. Your ability to communicate, persuade, negotiate, influence, delegate and
interact effectively with other people will enable you to develop leverage using other
people's efforts, other people's knowledge and other people's money. The
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development of your persuasion power will enable you to become one of the most
powerful and influential people in your organization. It will open up doors for you in
every area of your life.
science of habits to help other people create or change habits, so you can get them
to do stuff. Heres a little bit of information about the science of habits:
The easiest way to create a new habit is to anchor it to an existing habit.
If you use anchoring, you can get people to create a new habit in less than a
week.
An important part of getting someone to create a new habit is to break things
into really small steps.
The Power of Stories
What kind of person are you? Are you someone who helps those in need? Do
you keep up on the latest trends and fashions? Are you a family person who spends
time and energy to nurture family relationships?
We all have self-personas. We tell ourselves, and other people, stories about
who we are and why we do what we do. Some of our self-personas and our stories
are conscious, but others are largely unconscious.
If you understand these self-personas, then you can communicate in a way
that matches those self-stories and thereby get people to do stuff. For example:
If you can get people to take one small action that is in conflict with one of
their self-personas, that one small step can eventually lead to big behaviour change.
You can prompt someone to change their own story by having other people
share their stories. If someone hears the right story you can get people to change
their own self-stories in as little as 30 minutes and that one change can alter their
behaviour for a lifetime.
Writing something down (in longhand, not typing) activates certain parts of the
brain and makes it more likely that people will commit to what they wrote.
Carrots and Sticks
Have you ever been to a casino? Think about this: You spend a lot of time and
energy trying to get people to do stuff; you may even offer rewards or pay people to
do stuff. And yet a casino gets people to pay them!
Casinos understand the science of reward and reinforcement. Here are just a
few things the science of reward and reinforcement tells us about how to get people
to do stuff:
If you want consistent behaviour dont reward people every time they do
something, just some of the time.
People are more motivated to reach a goal the closer they get to it.
When you punish someone it only works for a little while. Giving rewards is
more effective than punishment.
Instincts
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Imagine youre driving down the road and theres an accident ahead. You tell
yourself not to slow down and look, and yet you feel the irresistible urge to do exactly
that.
Being fascinated by danger is one of our basic instincts. Instincts are strong
and largely unconscious. They affect our behaviour. Sometimes you can get people
to do stuff just by tapping into these instincts. For example:
People are more motivated by fear of losing than the possibility of gaining
something.
We are basically all control freaks. The desire to control starts as young as 4
months old.
When people are sad or scared they will want is familiar. If theyre happy and
comfortable theyll crave something new.
The Desire for Mastery
Even stronger than giving an external reward is the desire for mastery. People
are very motivated to learn and master skills and knowledge.
Certain situations encourage a desire for mastery, and others dampen the
desire for mastery. You can use what we know from the research on mastery to set
up conditions that will encourage and stimulate the desire for mastery, and, by doing
so, get people to do stuff. For example:
Giving people autonomy over what they are doing will stimulate them to
master a skill and will motivate them to work harder.
If people feel that something is difficult they will be more motivated to do it.
Dont mix praise with feedback if you want to stimulate the desire for mastery.
Just give objective feedback.
Tricks of the Mind
Youve probably seen visual illusionswhere your eye and brain think theyre
seeing something different than they really are.
What you may not realize is that there are cognitive illusions, too. There are
several biases in how we think. Our brains are wired to jump to quick conclusions.
This is useful in reacting quickly to our environment, but sometimes these fast
conclusions and decisions lead to cognitive illusions. You can use these tricks of the
mind to get people to do stuff. For example:
If you mention money, then people become more independent and less willing
to help others.
People filter out information they dont agree with, but you can get past those
filters by first agreeing with them.
People are more likely to do something if you can get them to phrase it as a
question to themselves (Will I exercise each week?) than if you get them to say a
declarative statement (I will exercise each week.)
If you understand what motivates people, then you can change and modify
what you do, what you offer, and how and what you ask of people.
You can change your strategies and tactics to get people to do stuff.
CONCLUSION
Understanding the theories of persuasion, motivation, and influence will put
you in life's driver's seat. Why? Because everything you want, or will want, in life
comes from these three simple concepts. Did you know that less than 1 percent of
the world's population understand and can actually apply the twelve Rules of
Persuasion? If you know the secrets of influence and science of persuasion, you will
be able to persuade and influence with complete accuracy. You will gain instant
influence over others and inspire others to take action, all while getting exactly what
you want from life. You will win people to your way of thinking and will empower
yourself with an unshakable confidence. You will triple your prosperity in sales and
marketing. You will become a captivating magnet of success.
Therefore motivation is essential while considering persuasion
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Seiter, Robert H. Gass, John S. (2010). Persuasion, social influence, and
compliance gaining (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. p. 33. ISBN 0-20569818-2.
2. "Persuasion". Business Dictionary. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
3. Fautsch, Leo (January 2007). "Persuasion". The American Salesman 52 (1):
1316. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
4. Schacter, Daniel L., Daniel T. Gilbert, and Daniel M. Wegner. "The Accuracy
Motive: right is better than Wrong-Persuasion." Psychology.; Second Edition.
New York: Worth, Incorporated, 2011.
5. < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasion>
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