|
|
|
Winning 'Em Over: A New Model for Managing in the Age
of Persuasion
Jay Conger, professor of management at the University of Southern California, tackles head on the impact of organizational and societal changes on managerial style. Because more and more people find themselves in positions where they are not the boss, but must rely on the good will of the team, new skills and attitudes are demanded. Conger says that the "John Wayne" style of management won't work any longer because managers simply don't have the power they used to have. "Persuasion skills have become absolutely critical to the job of managing," he maintains, and this is the focus of his book. Conger studied middle and upper managers to observe their styles. He noted two things: some managers are still very much in the old autocratic style of managing, and many of these managers are in the high-tech industry. He writes, "There are places in Silicon Valley that are just as autocratic as the old railroad companies used to be at the turn of the century." At the same time, he found managers who are very good at persuasion, and it is these models that he writes about in the book. Conger distinguishes between persuasion that is manipulative, which he says is self-serving, and contrasts it with "constructive persuasion," which he says serves not only the individual but others. So, how does one engage in constructive persuasion? He lists four components: • Build credibility. Credibility is based on expertise and solid relationships. Writes Conger: "Our coworkers judge our expertise by our history of sound judgments and by how knowledgeable they perceive us to be." Credibility takes a while to build up, but can be achieved more quickly by subtle cues, including posture, tone of voice, sense of confidence. • Search for common ground. Conger says you have to be a good detective to find out where your audience is. "You have to come in with an open mind. You have a position that you're thinking of, but ask questions in a very open-ended manner." Then couch your responses in terms that your staff can understand. • Develop compelling positions. Conger says that managers who are successful at persuasion use stories, analogies and examples to compel their groups to see things a particular way. Don't overwhelm people with facts. Facts aren't very good persuaders for most people. • Connect with people emotionally. Here you have to be careful, cautions Conger. "Relying on emotions alone to convince others will cause your listener to feel manipulated or give him the impression you act without thinking. You must always have a foundation of good reasons and evidence underpinning your emotional appeals." What Conger seems to be saying is that "authentic" connections are always going to work better than "acted" or faked connections. Conger defines persuasion in terms of a feedback look. A true persuader is also influenced by information he or she receives in the process of trying to persuade someone else. "At the heart of successful persuasion there is a continuous feedback loop from our audience to ourselves. To persuade meaningfully, we must not only listen to the other person and understand his point of view, we must also incorporate his perspectives in our arguments." Conger makes a final point about many managers who have learned negotiation skills, which he sees as "the art of the deal," and different from true persuasion. Deal makers are into independence. And that is a paradox, according to Conger, "because at the same time, people are really having to work through other people more than ever before." Our sense about this book is that it is a refinement of communication skills being written about by many authors. The reader will probably not learn a whole bunch that is new with this book. But what it will do is to take knowledge you already have and organize it around a concept that is definitely going to be talked about more and more in the coming years. Next month we are going to review a book about negotiations,
so you can see the difference between these two styles.
Janelle Barlow, President
|
  
   |
|
TMI US 8270 West Charleston Blvd Las Vegas, Nevada 89117 tel: 702 939-1800
Website designed by |
Previous
"Owl Book Review Grove" pages:
