The Art of Persuasive Communication
Adapted from: 2001 ASHP Leadership
Conference on Pharmacy Practice Management Executive
Summary:
From management to leadership: The building blocks
of professionalism. Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2002;
59:661-5.
In today’s work environment, effective leaders
must share a vision with staff and peers that is
compelling and persuasive. Persuasive communication
is directed toward changing another person’s
beliefs, attitudes, and, ultimately, behaviors and
is essential for leaders who want others to align
with their vision for an organization.
There are two routes to persuasion. With the peripheral
route, the message receiver spends little time processing
message content and responds automatically to a decision
trigger, usually emotionally driven. Examples of
triggers used by persuaders include contrast (e.g.,
a real estate agent showing the buyer the rundown
house first) and reciprocity (e.g., offering a gift
to obligate a donation, giving free drug samples).
With the direct or central route, the message receiver
rationally analyzes all of the logic and evidence
presented. Both routes are appropriate for the principled
persuader to use, but the direct or central route
is more powerful for creating long-term attitude
change. The persuader builds a logical case that
moves the receiver closer to the position of the
persuader. Direct, thoughtful persuasion begins with
the persuader’s credibility, which is built
on the persuader’s expertise and the receiver’s
trust of the persuader.
Personality profiles, such as the Myers-Briggs typology,
are useful for tailoring the message to the target
audience. For example, let extroverts “talk
it out”; do not take the first thing they say
as a finished product; be assertive. With introverts,
be a listener; give them time to reflect; put things
in writing.
Direct persuasion follows a motivated sequence:
- Establish
the needs of your audience,
- Propose your plan for
satisfying those needs,
- Explain how the plan will
be carried out,
- Describe how the results will satisfy
each need, and
- Ask your audience to take the action
your plan requires.
It takes time and repeated attempts to persuade
someone who holds strong opinions on a subject form
rejection to acceptance of a message. People resist
change for a number of reasons, but persuaders can
create a climate that allows receivers to change
more quickly.
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