Influencing Skills

1. Influencing Skills

2. today's aim and objective The Ipswich Insurance Institute is providing high quality, relevant training for the continuous development of its active membership You each take away two ideas that you can deploy before Easter

3. radius 360 ltd

4. An insight into Influencing How are we influenced? Dr. Robert Cialdini’s - Six Principles of Influence

5. Six Principles of Influence • Seminal work of Dr. Robert Cialdini • Book ‘Influence : The Psychology of Persuasion’ • Explains the six psychological principles that drive our powerful impulse to comply to the pressures of others • It also explains how we can avoid being manipulated or unconsciously manipulating others “The materials in Cialdini's Influence is a proverbial gold mine” Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology

6. Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Influencing • Reciprocity • Consistency • Social Proof • Liking • Authority • Scarcity

7. 1 Reciprocation • One person is required to repay in kind what another person has provided • “One good turn deserves another”

8. 2 Consistency • Most people have a desire to look and be consistent with their words, beliefs, attitudes and deeds because: • Good personal consistency is highly valued by society • Consistent behaviour provides beneficial approach to daily life • “Doing what you said you would do”

9. 3 Social Proof • People often decide what to do or believe in a certain situation by looking at what other people are doing and believing • “it’s the way things are done around here”

10. 4 Liking • People prefer to say ‘YES’ to those they know and like • “I like you so….why not!”

11. 5 Authority • People have a deep-seated obedience and compliance towards requests from authority

12. 6 Scarcity • According to the scarcity principle, people assign more value to opportunities when they are less available

13. Influencing Others - Activity Working in small groups discuss how you could each influence a colleague using one of Cialdini’s six principles Reciprocity Consistency Social Proof Liking Authority Scarcity

14. Networking Have a purpose Introduce yourself clearly Use a memory stack to prime conversation Learn about people by asking questions Have your 30 elevator speech ready Listen actively Use Cialdini’s principle of reciprocity Try not to stay in the same place too long Be prepared to follow up

15. Memory stack

16. Elevator speeches Pain – customer discomfort Premise – how you might help People – Britain's got talent Proof – where you've succeeded Purpose – what should happen next

17. Describing and influencing Conflict

18. Consider your response to conflict Turn to the person next to you and discuss a recent, specific conflict situation explaining… • How assertive was I? How actively do I work to satisfy my own needs and concerns? • How cooperative was I? How actively do I work to satisfy the other person’s needs and concerns?

19. Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model. 5 key responses to conflict: • Competing • Collaborating • Compromising • Avoiding • Accommodating

20. Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model

21. Competing • Competing is assertive and uncooperative • An individual pursues their own concerns at the other person’s expense • This is a power-oriented mode, in which one uses whatever power seems appropriate to win one’s own position—one’s ability to argue, one’s rank, economic sanctions • Competing might mean “standing up for your rights,” defending a position which you believe is correct, or simply trying to win

22. Accommodating • Accommodating is unassertive and cooperative - the opposite of competing • When accommodating, an individual neglects their own concerns to satisfy the concerns of the other person • There is an element of self-sacrifice • Accommodating might take the form of selfless generosity or charity, obeying another person’s order when one would prefer not to, or yielding to another’s point of view

23. Avoiding • Avoiding is unassertive and uncooperative • The Individual does not immediately pursue their own concerns or those of the other person • They do not address the conflict • Avoiding might take the form of diplomatically sidestepping an issue, postponing an issue until a better time, or simply withdrawing from a threatening situation

24. Collaborating • Collaborating is both assertive and cooperative – the opposite of avoiding • Collaborating involves an attempt to work with the other person to find some solution which fully satisfies the concerns of both persons • It means digging into an issue to identify the underlying concerns of the two individuals and to find an alternative which meets both sets of concerns • Collaborating between two persons might take the form of exploring a disagreement to learn from each other’s insights, concluding to resolve some condition which would otherwise have them competing for resources, or confronting and trying to find a creative solution to an interpersonal problem

25. Compromising • Compromising is intermediate in both assertiveness and cooperativeness • The objective is to find some expedient, mutually acceptable solution which partially satisfies both parties • It falls on a middle ground between competing and accommodating • Compromising gives up more than competing but less than accommodating • Likewise, it addresses an issue more directly than avoiding, but does not explore it in as much depth as collaborating • Compromising might mean splitting the difference, exchanging concessions, or seeking a quick middle-ground position

26. Reflective review In groups discuss and identify stories from the news that demonstrate one or more of the 5 levels of conflict • Competing is assertive and uncooperative • Collaborating is both assertive and cooperative • Compromising is intermediate in both assertiveness and cooperativeness • Avoiding is unassertive and uncooperative • Accommodating is unassertive and cooperative

27. Reasons for Competing (Aggression) in Conflict • You want to engage in quick, decisive action. • You have to deal with an emergency. • You are responsible for enforcing unpopular rules or discipline. • You see the issues as vital and know you are right. • You need to protect yourself against people who take advantage of collaborative behaviour. (Source: Cloke, K. & Goldsmith, J.: Resolving Conflicts at Work)

28. Reasons for collaborating or using teamwork to resolve the conflict • You believe it is possible to reach an integrative solution even though both sides find it hard to compromise. • Your objective is to learn. • You believe it is preferable to merge the insights that come from different perspectives. • You need a long-range solution. • You want to gain commitment and increase motivation and productivity by using consensus decision-making. • You want to empower one or both participants. • You see it as a way to work through hard feelings and improve moral. • You nee to help people learn to work closely together. • You want to end the conflict rather than put paper over it. • Your goals require a team effort. • You need creative solutions. • You’ve tried everything else without success.

29. Reasons for Compromise • You goals are moderately important but can be satisfied by less than total agreement. • Your opponents have equal power and you are strongly committed to mutually exclusive goals. • You need to achieve a temporary settlement of complex issues. • You need a quick solution and the exact content doesn’t matter as much as the speed with which it is reached. • Your effort at competition or collaboration has failed, and you need a backup.

30. Reasons for Avoiding the conflict • You regard the issue as trivial. • You have no power over the issue or can’t change the results. • You believe damage due to conflict outweighs the benefits. • You need to cool down, reduce tensions, or regain composure. • You need time to gather information and can’t make an immediate decision. • You can leave it to others who are in a position to resolve the conflict more effectively. • You regard the issue as tangential or symptomatic and prefer to wait to address the real problem.

31. Reasons for Accommodating or giving in to the conflict • You realise you were wrong or want to show you can be reasonable. • You recognise that the issue is more important to others and want to establish good will. • You are outmatched or losing and giving in will prevent additional damage. • You want harmony to be preserved or disruption avoided. • You see an opportunity to help a subordinate learn from a mistake.

32. Objective: two ideas you can deploy Influence with reciprocity Influence with consistency Influence with social Proof Influence with liking Influence with authority Influence with scarcity Actively network Use memory stacking Create an elevator speech Be more assertive Be more cooperative