From the course: Practical Influencing Techniques

Use ethically

From the course: Practical Influencing Techniques

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Use ethically

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- So we've looked at how you're going to influence all four types of people. And we've looked at the six step process for influencing people. But I just want to say that it's really important to use this ethically. I think there's a lot of scope for abuse in all of this. If you were good at influencing, you could persuade people to do anything. And a lot of things that you might want to persuade people to do could be a bit selfish for you. So really you should only influence people to do things if it's good for everyone as a whole, if everybody wins or if they have to pay a small price but there's a big benefit, that's going to come from it. Now, I can't make you do that but I really hope that you use this stuff ethically. And of course, if you don't, you probably will report you so, so if you use this for bad purposes, I think you'll get found out sooner or later. And if you use it for good purposes, then it will do you good in the end but only you can decide when it's appropriate. For example, is it okay for a manager to use influencing techniques to get people to work harder? And I personally think it is because I think that's the job of management. And if the organization is more successful, then everybody wins. What about is it okay for a manager to use these types of techniques to persuade people to undertake unpleasant tasks? And I think maybe it is because those tasks have to be done, but I do think they should be apportioned fairly between people. And I don't think you should use this to pick on one person and always get them to undertake an unpleasant task. So fairness has to be part of all of this. But if you've got someone who's not doing their share of the work and you have to use influencing techniques to make them do that share of the work, then I think that's absolutely fine. And I'd much rather someone used influencing than they used power and just forced people to do stuff against their will. It's much better to get the person to want to do their share, to understand why it's important. So, in the end, I think influencing is absolutely vital to life. It's vital to management. It's vital to all successful relationships and it's much better than the use of power. So, I hope you find these techniques interesting. And I would like to suggest that you think about some influencing situations that you've got and you prepare which of the techniques you're going to use. You have a look at the six step process. You think about what type of person they are and you make a little list of the things you're going to say for each of the stages. Then, try it out and see what happens. It will take practice though, because it's quite a complicated subject. There's a degree of improvising involved. So it will take practice to become really good at it but keep trying it, keep practicing, and after each influencing situation, have a little review and just think what worked and what didn't, what questions should I have asked that person? How should I have handled that objection they came up with? And by reviewing, you can learn and you can get better for next time. So, keep preparing, keep trying it out, keep practicing and keep reviewing so that you can become better and better at influencing.

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