In a classic HBR article, Laura Huang sheds some light on how individuals make decisions in the workplace.
Her research focused on how leaders successfully convince their business associates to change their minds on a topic of initial disagreement.
Dr. Huang’s research found that people tend to disagree with one another from one of three perspectives:
Logical Reasons. Individuals with this perspective articulate a logical set of objections and don’t appear to be hiding ulterior motives. This perspective is the easiest to detect.
Emotional Reasons. Individuals with this perspective are being driven by something under the surface that fuels an antagonistic response. It’s usually relational—I don’t like you or what you stand for regarding this change.
Personal Belief Reasons. Individuals with this perspective have deep-held personal beliefs that make them opposed to your proposal. These beliefs could stem from issues such as their upbringing, personal history, or unspoken biases.
To get someone to change their mind, it’s helpful to classify their decision-making perspective and use a different approach depending on their viewpoint.
The individuals with logical reasons (smallest group) are easiest to flip over to your way of thinking by presenting a compelling set of facts—especially if the facts are on your side.
But attempting to use logic to convince someone with an emotional or personal belief perspective is ineffective.
According to Dr. Huang, it’s a common reason many business discussions hit an impasse.
How do you convince recruiting prospects with non-logical perspectives to change their minds?
We’ll cover that in our next Insight.
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