Do You Know How to Get People to Change?
Do You Know How to Get People to Change?
April 9, 2013 by Taylor Studios
The book can teach you how to influence others to do something different. Rarely a day goes by when you don’t need the skill to convince someone to do something. Maybe it is as simple as deciding which movie you will watch. Or it can be as complicated as getting a team to get a project done on time, in budget with high quality. How about getting your own behavior to change, like losing weight or spending more time with family? Here are some interesting tips from the book on how to be an influencer.
Identify The Vital Behaviors
Usually a few or one behavior change will lead to the greatest amount of change. Instead of focusing on the results focus on the few behaviors that will help you get the results. They found that the number one behavior change to help people lose weight was to track what you eat every day. People that did this one behavior lost weight and consistently kept it off more than any other behavior. One behavior that helped teams successfully complete projects together was to have a session before the start of the project where everyone could candidly express their concerns.
Identify the Exact Results You Want to Achieve
These results should be measurable. However, even when entering a tough discussion, make sure you know exactly what you want in order for it to not get side tracked.
Tell Stories
Ernest Shackleton the Antarctic explorer of the early 1900s once put out an ad that read something like this: MEN WANTED for dangerous trip, brutal cold, low wages and unlikely chance you will come home. He had 5,000 applicants. He was able to paint a picture of an adventure of a life-time. He was going to give them one hell of a personal experience. Paint a story of the potential future in those you are trying to influence and it will encourage change.
At Yellowstone, there were often fatal accidents from visitors stepping off the path into hot pools or getting to close to animals. Most of their signs said things like, “stay on the path” or “don’t get close to the animals.” Once they started to tell stories of the fatal accidents that had happen people started changing their behavior. The number of accidents drastically reduced.
Don’t pummel them with facts and figures, tell them stories. People remember stories.
Give Personal Experiences
When people can see others using the behaviors you want them to use that often helps change the behavior. Take them to a company that uses the techniques you aspire to. Take a diabetic that won’t track their numbers to a ward in a hospital where a diabetic is on lung dialysis. If you can’t take them there show them a video. Look at other groups and look at the differences in behavior.
Other quick tips:
What do you do to influence people, change or success?