The Art of Persuasion: How to Present Options for Better Outcomes

Episode Transcript

Hello and welcome to the Daring to Succeed podcast.

My name is Julianna Yau Yorgan and I’m a workplace strategist who teaches leaders how to show their value and increase their impact through compassionate strategy.

I work with a lot of leaders who want to be known for being influential–who want to be able to be persuasive.

Whenever we start getting into the strategies, I find that what they’re looking for is a way to convince a group of people of something.

Of an idea they have or a better way to do something.

The problem is that their goal is too narrow.

It might seem counterintuitive, but by trying to get a group of people to decide on a specific outcome, they’ve set themselves up for failure because anything BUT that decision would have been a failure.

What I do with them instead is broaden the goal to the best or most basic outcome.

I’ll take myself for example.

I’ve managed a LOT of projects, and most of them to a completely unrealistic deadline.

There was one where they wanted my team to lead a product roll-out in 8 months.

I knew it wasn’t possible, but I also knew from speaking to the stakeholders that moving the deadline was simply not an option.

So rather than trying to convince them to move the date, I asked myself what I really wanted.

And that was to protect my team, and myself, from being blamed when the project didn’t meet the deadline.

That new goal allowed me to get creative with how I approached my next move.

So instead of doing what most people would do and give all the reasons why the deadline was impossible…

…I worked out what was needed to meet the deadline.

This then gave my sponsor a decision: help my team get what they need to make this happen, or move the date.

The trick is that I didn’t actually ask them to make that decision.

The decision was NECESSARY for us to move forward. It was a question that hung in the air like smoke, and we couldn’t move forward unless he dealt with it.

It was also different than trying to convince him to decide on A, not B.

Because we all know that we can’t MAKE someone decide on a specific thing.

We’re just too smart to be won over by charm or big words or time pressures.

Especially in a business setting, where the decision makers can change their mind at any time.

No, they had to be presented with options—and all of the options need to serve your ultimate goal.

And in this case, the options weren’t even to move the date or get what my team needed.

It was to move the date or take responsibility for getting my team what they needed.

Even if he agreed to get what my team needed and failed to, my team was off the hook because all the things they needed were things they couldn’t get for themselves. 

So the next time you’re trying to persuade someone, ask yourself what it is that you want out of it.

This is some of the daily tips and insights I send to leaders and professionals who are looking for better strategies for work and their careers–all for free.

People on the list also get access to my clients-only workshops where I go deeper into topics just like this one.

So if you’re ready to get serious about your career, you can find the link to join in the show notes and on all of my socials.

Okay, that’s it for now. I’ll see you next time.