Getting someone to change their mind, especially when they feel strongly about something, is never easy. If you go straight in, and especially if you let your strong feelings on the topic get the better of you, the chances are you will trigger the ‘Backfire Effect’, leaving them more convinced than ever. To increase your
The UK’s recent referendum on European Union membership seems to have exposed deep fault lines in British society, if the strength of feeling shown in arguments on social media is anything to go by. I’ve certainly seen the normal rules of civilised conversation set aside, people on either side calling each other terrible things, and huge
Ideas for eliminating ‘us and them’ thinking and damaging rivalries between teams and divisions within the same organisation. (Note: this article does not deal with worker/management mistrust, as the power relations involved add a whole other dimension, although some of the remedies proposed may still be useful in those situations.) Do you find yourself at
If you’re a consultant, or a freelance professional like a web designer, independent trainer or graphic designer, you will have encountered your share of ‘difficult’ clients. Here are some tips for dealing with them and getting problems resolved. 1. Deal with client problems face to face Email is a terrible medium for dealing with issues
Bearing the principles for delivering emotionally intelligent feedback from the previous article in mind, here are the steps for actually delivering the feedback. As a reminder that what you should be doing is stirring the recipient to change their behaviour, it has the acronym STIRS: 1. Set the stage Make sure that you are in
Some very sound advice by Adam Sargant of Personnel Development, a communication and thinking skills trainer (and former mental health nurse) in this article.
I’ve haven’t met Adam face-to-face yet, but from our email exchanges and his online writings he’s a wise and clear thinker – as you’ll see. He will be running a session for us on this very topic at the North West Business NLP and Emotional Intelligence Group on 5th July which I’m looking forward to.
