Recently in one of the formation communities where I worked there was a change of administrator/bursar. The old administrator always found it difficult to get volunteers for some work that had to be done. But the new administrator had no difficulty in finding volunteers in similar circumstances. What made the difference? The works were the same. The formees were the same. The difference was in the administrator’s approach.
As superiors there are many occasions when we have to persuade people, e.g. to change a certain type of behaviour (correction), to accept a new idea, to take up a new work. There are principles of persuasion/influence, popularised by Robert B. Cialdini in his books, Influence: Science and Practice (1984) and Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade (2016) which are widely used in the business world which could be a help also for us. Here we will present all the seven principles which he enunciates although all of them may not be equally applicable in the community context.
What is Persuasion?
Persuasion is the process of influencing or motivating someone to adopt a particular idea, attitude, behaviour, or course of action. It involves the use of communication and reasoning to assist people to accept something. It could take different forms like dialogue, written communication, visual presentation or other ways of communicating information. For Cialdini, persuasion or “influence means change. That change can be in an attitude, a perception, or a behaviour. But in all instances, we can’t lay claim to influence until we can demonstrate that we’ve helped create a change in someone.”
Jose Kuttianimattathil, sdb
To read the entire article, click Subscribe
