Need to make a positive influence on your coworkers? Use these persuasive communication strategies 💬

Have you ever wanted to be influential with your coworkers? All you need is some persuasive communication! It's perfect for any situation, such as working with a team on a project, or supporting colleagues to achieve highly in their work.

Drawing upon my career and life experiences as an actor, project coordinator, teacher, and line manager, I've put together some simple tips and strategies that will help you be:

• Strategic, not manipulative

• Conscious of your influence over others

• Team-focused in your approach

Have you ever noticed that persuasive colleagues at work are well-liked by others? How do they do it?

Persuasive communication is about understanding what your goals and motivations are, and those of your colleagues — then finding common ground to achieve something or get a job done.

The secret is to foster those personal connections with colleagues. As well as finding out what their main responsibilities at work are, make time for conversation. You could ask about their weekend, their interests, their loved ones, etc.

Anyone can listen, but most of the time, if we’re honest, we’re not really listening as much as waiting for our turn to speak.

Active listening is about really engaging with what the other person is doing or saying.Check out this article for more tips on being a good listener.

Dos

• Focus on what the other person is saying

• Make eye contact

• Check that you’ve understood what they’re saying

• Ask questions

• Summarise what they’ve said back to them

• Relate what they’re saying to a real-life example

Don’ts

• Get distracted by looking at your emails or phone

• Just repeat their words back to them

Be mindful of the body language you practice at work. Body language is 70 percent of our communication with others, so it has the potential to be powerful!

Keeping an upright posture with open gestures exudes confidence, whereas fidgeting and slouching do the opposite!  

Keep arms uncrossed, hands by your side.

Remember to breathe and pause as you speak.

Did you know that your body language can also affect the way you speak? Slouching is more likely to cause you to be passive and subordinate. Learn more about body language here.

When you are trying to be persuasive keep in mind these questions:

Are they trying to be better at something?

Do they want more autonomy?

Do they know the purpose of, and the impact of the work they do?

Read more about motivation here.

If your colleagues don’t agree on a particular approach or method for completing a task, try to find common ground first. Focus on the bigger picture — something that your colleagues all want or have a common interest in.

Photo by Mapbox on Unsplash

Being prepared is the secret to successful persuasive communication. It will demonstrate that you know your audience and what motivates them, and understand their key priorities. You'll also come across as more confident too.

Before a meeting or presentation, do your research.

Practice saying your key points out loud.

You can use facts and statistics to strengthen your argument. This is a technique known as "logos" — using logical reasoning to persuade your audience.

Persuasion can be hard, but it comes with lots of practice.Use the above tips, and you'll be winning people over in no time.

Take these actions to improve your persuasive communication with your co-workers: