Persuasive Communication

What makes a great communicator so persuasive? What makes the best leader motivational? How does one become a great, inspirational leader?

"I wasnt a great communicator, but I communicated great things."--Reagan in his farewell address as president.

Voice Their Dreams A great leader is able to rally their peopleand give them hope and a sense of ownership. If there is a commongoal and a shared vision throughout your team, there is a greaterchance that your goal will be attained. This doesn't apply forbusiness leaders only though. What about a group of friends? Howabout in a school committee meeting? If you're able to identifywith your peers and your friends they'll transform into followersand will rally behind you. The key is to voice their dreams anddo what you can to make the dream a reality.

The challenge is that it's hard! It's tough to not be direct andget what you want instantly. But rather than telling others whatyou want, tell others what they want. Tell them how to achieveyour goals by voicing their dreams, hopes, and beliefs. There'sno use in telling your people something they don't care about.There's no use in voicing how you feel about a situation if yourpeople feel otherwise. You must identify with them before you'reable to persuade.

"If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather thanintellect." --Benjamin Franklin

When you can identify with your audience (whomever that may be),you build rapport, and you build a level of common understandingthat allows your followers to be inspired, motivated, and readyto attain the unattainable. To achieve success when all wasdoomed to fail.

The Power Of "We" Its difficult to step out of your own shoes(and ego), and allow others to help you grow, succeed or achieve.After all, we all love to take credit for something that we had apart in, even with a limited role. For example, look at moviecredits. You see how many people are listed even the guy whoswept the floor behind the scenes gets his few seconds of fame inthe credits!

Oftentimes when speaking, we focus on the singular: "I", "Me",and "My". That is: "I completed this job" or "I want it my way"or "Me! Me! Me!" But it doesn't work that way! Not if you want tosuccessfully persuade your people towards your side.

CHALLENGE: In everyday life, when speaking to others use wordslike "we" and "us" rather than the very common singular words. Ithelps identify with others and makes them feel as though they arean integral part of a team. They'll quickly notice it! In fact,if you're lucky enough, you might even see one of them perk upand crack a smile of excitement.

A great leader focuses their efforts on praising their team anduses words like "We", "Us" and "the Team". Not only does itinspire the others to achieve further success with you, but italso builds rapport so theyll want to work with you again.

Besides, its much more powerful to say "We." Its much moreintimidating to say "We confronted, we conquered." It'll soundlike youve got a big following behind you, and with the rightpersuasive communication techniques, you soon will!