A QUICK TRIP TO THE MERRY OLD LAND OF OZ REMINDed me that success involved a number of participants, with different skills, weakness, and roles. But they all needed a central
rallying point, a focus, a vision, and a mission, with a leader to
get behind. At the end, they were all winners—no one had to be
sacrificed for the greater good. And Dorothy, the leader, did not
have to plead for help or beg for support.
Today’s topic is persuasion, and you are
already seeing that persuasion is not entreating,
groveling, abject begging, or pitiable pleading.
In our supply chain management roles, we
often need to persuade others to make decisions or take action. But we are frequently not
very good at the task, and we wind up as the
ones quaking at the prospect.
SPELLBINDERS AND DREAMWEAVERS
It seems as if the sales and marketing folks can
pry money and support out of senior management for almost any hare-brained scheme. And
the IT mafia dons have a particular genius for
securing funding and human resources for technology that costs
twice as much and takes twice as long as promised to implement,
with every likelihood of either failure or suboptimization.
Meanwhile, we scratch and claw for enough scraps to keep the
ship afloat and the trucks running. Those few among us who succeed in aligning both the stars and the C-suite elicit wonder and
envy. How do they do it—and without breaking a sweat?
It’s not all that mysterious. It’s not, as my friend says, rocket
surgery. Nor is it too difficult to master, given practice and an
understanding of what traits and behaviors make some people
“naturals” at persuasion. Hold tight. The secrets are about to be
revealed. Here’s what you have to do:
b Understand the audience(s). You have to know whom you are
trying to persuade of what. Identify all those who need to come
around to your position. Craft your message to resonate with all
of them. Know—and push—their hot buttons, without losing
those with different motivations. Create a scenario and story line
that unify all of your selling points to all audiences.
b Be assertive. Display confidence, but don’t be a know-it-all. Be
firm, without pushing people away with aggressiveness. In-your-face quickly becomes out-of-the-room. Be patient. Give people
BY ART VAN BODEGRAVEN AND
KENNETH B. ACKERMAN basictraining
The yellow brick road to the
shining city on a hill
time to absorb your message, even if it means
coming back later after some “cook” time.
While you want to avoid being a jerk and generally behaving like a used car salesperson, don’t
shrink back into the paneling and go all wishy-washy either. Make statements; don’t ask questions. Don’t feel, think, or hope; know, believe,
and have the data. Never undermine your message with modifiers such as “possibly,” “
hopefully,” “with luck,” and the like.
b Connect—and keep connecting. Start off with personal references, not just blather
like “How’s the short game
coming?” Revealing a bit of
your authentic personal self is
enormously empowering and
generates trust, with reciprocal
confidence.
Continue the proactive
connection throughout your discussion. Make
and maintain (without staring) eye contact. Be
enthusiastic, without shaking your pompoms in
mindless cheerleading. Use individuals’ names
throughout, naturally and comfortably. People
love to hear their names and respond positively in
return. Get proficient and positive in all aspects of
nonverbal communications.
b Get to the point, but on a clear path. Be clear;
be concise. Be ready to lay out the vision, the
path, and the end game in terms that a child
could understand. But don’t be terse, and don’t
skip anything mission-critical on the way to the
inescapable conclusion. Above all, when the deci-sion-makers are on board, stop selling. Babbling
on and on can undo—forever—all the good work
you’ve done so far.
Along the way, keep reeling in key audiences,
those you want and need to get the go-ahead from.
Acknowledge their points of view. Respect their
objections. Listen, listen, and listen some more.
