We are persuaded and cajoled all the time without even realizing it.
Inclusive persuasion… Does it exist?
I did a lot of research on this term and couldn’t find anyone using it. But it was very present in me and gained more and more strength and meaning when I met someone with good persuasion skills.
We are persuaded and cajoled all the time without even realizing it. We see it in personal and professional relationships, in advertisements, in approaches to real estate agents, at school, etc.
But my focus here will be only on professional relationships.
I took stock of some memorable situations and people I interacted with in the corporate world. I selected those with the best persuasion skills or a good command of the art of speaking well.
I remembered my admiration for them, my desire to one day be able to speak and discuss like them. For me he was the ideal role model who should serve as an inspiration for anyone who wanted to make a career.
Today, after delving into psychology, human behavior, diversity, and the challenges of inclusion, I began to look at traditional persuasion methods in a different way.
I don’t think persuasion is bad (if used ethically and respectfully). But I think a fundamental element is missing for it to be an even more powerful technique with great social transformative power: the genuine desire to include.
When I think back to the scenes I experienced that inspired me, I observe that they caused the following feelings in me and in other people:
- • Admiration associated with a certain fear of expressing my ideas and feeling embarrassed for not being able to express myself so well.
- • Feeling of incompetence due to not having room to oppose an idea because the entire group agreed with the “word leader.”
- • Feeling of confidence and security at the time of the intoxicating speech. But at the moment of carrying out the project, after the feelings calmed down and reason began to reign again, there was that feeling of distrust, disbelief and, sometimes, even a certain anger for having accepted.
In all situations, even with the kindest and most smiling people, something important was missing for persuasion to be truly effective and constructive: active listening.
The person even stopped to let someone else talk. But his opinion was not accepted, it was not listened to or elaborated on. It was not used to enrich or complete the proposal defended by the person doing the persuading. It was a simple act of listening.
Bottom line: There was conviction, but there was no commitment, there was no collaboration, there was no inclusion.
I therefore thought of combining “persuasion” with “inclusive” to provoke reflection on the type of leadership we want to establish, on the honest and ethical way of selling we want to practice, on the inclusive marketing we want to defend.
For me “inclusive persuasion” means, or rather has to do with:
- • Know how to use words well.
- • Organize ideas in a logical and structured way.
- • Use a welcoming tone of voice.
- • Actively listen to the group, incorporate suggestions and return the restructured idea, using your oratory and persuasion skills.
- • Use accessible resources considering the different skills of the team (presentations, complementary documents, virtual meetings, technology, etc.).
- • Allow each person to process the information discussed in the meeting in their own time and have the opportunity to ask questions or contribute at another time.
- • Give the entire group the opportunity to learn persuasion techniques as well.
If you think this makes sense to you, I propose the exercise of remembering and listing the positive and negative situations in which persuasion was the main technique used by you or another person.
Write down the feelings that each of these situations caused in you and what the main trigger was. This exercise is very useful for strengthening our critical sense, practicing self-knowledge and taking better care of our relationships.
is a journalist specializing in accessible and productive communication and digital accessibility. She is a consultant, speaker, teacher at ESPM and coordinator of the Movimento Web para Todos.
Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
