In Kannada one of the numerous languages in India, there exists an adage, which would roughly translate to the following saying: “He who knows how to speak is one without enemies.” This adage simply summarizes how effective the message is when one attempts to persuade someone to change. Managers would need to frame their thoughts really well in order to be persuasive with their employees.
Let us take a sample scenario, as a manager there is a policy that the management of the company intends to implement. The policy is seen not favorably by the employees and they are showing resentment. As a manager, your are entrusted with the task of trying to persuade the change in your employee’s attitude. What is the approach towards framing the message could you take?
It has been seen that, an effective strategy would be to present both sides of the issue. When both sides of the issue are presented, the employees would not just see that you support one side of the issue, but also acknowledge the other side! Instead if the approach is to refute the other side, it would only breed negativity to the whole attempt.
When one communicates the tone of the message too is an important aspect to be thought about – Persuasion is found to be more successful when it is framed in the same emption as the one felt by the target!
It is not just a manager who would find a persuasive message useful – the prevalence of advertisements in magazines is a clear indication of the intention to persuade customers to purchase!