Brilliant Influence

138 brilliant influence

Beliefs

We have beliefs about everything and many of these are carried

for a long time without challenge.

It is easy to influence me to do something that is consistent with

my beliefs. Getting me to do something which conflicts with my

beliefs requires that you first change the belief or, at the very

least, shake it up enough.

It is election time and, for example, if I believe that “all politi-

cians are on the make, in it only for themselves and that one

lot are very much the same as the other”, then persuading me

to vote is going to be a tough job. But this is what you set out

to do.

The path of least resistance

The easy route is to influence my thinking in a way that is con-

sistent with this belief, without challenging it. Here are a couple

of tactics:

 If politicians are pretty much the same, why not look for

one small difference and vote for the candidate that is a tiny

bit better?

 If you think politicians are on the make, register your

protest by spoiling your ballot paper.

 Approach: Emphasise how training will give Francis more energy to get

things done, and how he will enjoy the training activity as a leisure

pursuit.

 Leigh has moved to a new area to take up an exciting new job. She

is working long hours, to avoid going home and feeling alone. She is

taking her mind off her need for social relationships by focusing too

much on her work.

 Approach: Stress to Leigh how many new people she can meet as she

prepares, and the social opportunities that will arise.

Focus on the question: “What’s in it for me?” 139

Shaking up the belief

Beliefs are anchored by two things: an initial experience, which

creates the belief, and a series of confirming experiences. You

can shake up the belief by offering some experiences which will

not confirm the belief. Here are a couple of tactics:

 You say that politicians are pretty much the same; take a

look at their election literature and tell me three things

that are different. If you were to vote, which one would you

choose?

 You say politicians are only in it for themselves; what things

have politicians done that have benefited other people? If you

were to vote, what would you look for?

Challenging the belief

The hardest approach is to challenge the underlying belief in

order to influence the behaviour you want. For this, you will

require compelling evidence and a persuasive approach. Here

are a couple of tactics:

 Your children are at school, so I am sure their education is

important to you. Candidate A says this about education in

our area. Candidate B says something different. If you could

influence things, which would you prefer?

 In the last four years, Candidate A has done this for the

community here and Candidate B has done that. On that

evidence, which candidate do you think would do more

good if elected?

Values

The deepest level of our motivation is our values. These are

the ultimate principles we live by and therefore the drivers

of our decisions. Our values tell us what is important to us

and are therefore very difficult to change. Most people do

not consciously examine their values as adults; instead, they