Need to persuade someone to see your point of view or make a decision in your favor? After you structure your own thinking about the issue, you’ll need to analyze the audience and devise a plan for how to influence key individuals. You can map out your audience by considering the following and devising the chart below.
- Make a list of all the stakeholders affected by the decision.
- Ask yourself, what happens if that person says “no”? Does it immediately crush your idea, does it somewhat damage your position, is the outcome neutral, or it is favorable that the person says no? Think about how a “no” from each person either destroys or elevates your idea.
- Estimate the likelihood of that person disagreeing with your position. Based on your past experiences with that person, their performance goals, and the closest allies that may influence their decision give some thought to the probability of the person agreeing with your point of view.
- Estimate how much these individuals can influence the opinions of others. Their influence on others may be based on their level of authority, friendships, subject matter expertise, etc.
Now chart these three factors on the grid below, where the size of the bubble is based on how much influence the person has on others. Using the grid, you can prioritize who you need to persuade, and how you might enlist others to help. From there you’ll need to tailor your approach based on the individual.
If you need help with this critical step, please feel free to reach out to me at lauren@evoluteconsult.com.
