persuasion

Seven Tips for Respectful Persuasion

Philippe Duhamel — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:28:27 -0500

"The essence of the communication strategy is to recognize that people are very sensitive not only to what your message is, but to how it is communicated, and, perhaps most importantly, to who is transmitting it."

— Emile Short

Today, we return to the tools of persuasion. This is the last instalment in this blog's trilogy on the super yummy tactical notebook, Powerful Persuasion: Combating traditional practices that violate human rights, by Emile Short.

Persuasion is an inexhaustible theme in human rights and social change work, because it is such a needed skill. After exploring more in depth the "What" and the "Who" of persuasive communication, we now turn to the "How" in the delivery of your message, especially in face-to-face encounters.

In his notebook, Emile Short shows at length how much effort went into setting up respectful encounters that would allow change to really work its way in. As Short says: "It was essential to avoid taking a moral high ground. We could not be too critical, because in the end we knew any change of mind had to be voluntary."

In this spirit, I offer you the following tips for one-on-one persuasion.

How to be respectful AND persuasive

1. Tune in and connect. Use the weather, the environment, any element of communality to create the initial contact. Start with small talk (or rituals, such as those in Ghana). It helps create that tiny bond on which to tie your message.

2. Pace the energy. It's hard to say this without sounding esoteric, but there's an energetic quality to the art of convincing. Adjust yourself to the other person. One trick is to subtly mimic their body position. It creates an unconscious feeling of association.

3. Take in the cues. If the person is smiling and leaning forward, he's showing some interest and you are making progress. Likewise, if she is pulling back or looking away, slow down your spiel. Take the time to pull them back in. Check up on how you are doing. Sprinkle in some questions such as "Does that make sense to you?", "Do you see this also?".

4. Be transparent. Be yourself. You are not peddling junk or selling used cars. You can let the other person know how you feel, your doubts. Let your humanity show through. If you create the opening, you stand a better chance the other will lower their guards.

5. Listen carefully. Most people assume being persuasive is the capacity to hammer your points forcefully. I'd say, not so. Being persuasive actually has a lot to do with shutting your mouth, at times. Hear what the other person is saying, verbally and non-verbally. Persuasion is an exchange.

6. Stay humble. You may be right about some things. You may be wrong about some other things. Recognize you don't have all the answers. Practice humility. Be willing to learn from the interaction.

7. Go, then let go. Give it your best shot, but respect the fact that the other person may indeed have no time (or patience) for you right now. Persuasion is rarely achieved in a single encounter. Picture that person being more open later. Your interaction may have opened a window for the future. Let go and be at peace. You did your best.

Persuasion is not easy. Make sure to practice often. If the other person doesn't come out with a flat, inflexible NO!, that means there's still hope for progress. Someone could even put an an adamant NO and change their mind later. You never know. Anything that creates an opening is a small victory. Celebrate it!

Respectful persuasion is powerful. And so are you.

— Philippe Duhamel, intertactica.org

Eight Powerful Persuasion Tactics

Philippe Duhamel — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 09:49:13 -0500

photo cc Dave Bezaire & Susi Havens-Bezaire

In his tactical notebook, Powerful Persuasion: Combating traditional practices that violate human rights, Emile Short describes a campaign that allowed many thousands of women and girls escape religious bondage. This being NewTactics, and a blog aimed at finding methods behind effective change, I latched on a few techniques used in this campaign to engage allies and opponents alike in the successful challenge of an unjust practice.

Here are 8 potent persuasion tactics. I believe their use to be of almost universal value. See if you can apply these to your current work.

Have a plan. Yes, you can go all-out on a huge one-month Persuasion Offensive that will burn up in flames as it crashes against a wall of resistance. Or, you can build a methodical plan to gradually convince layers of your reluctant opposition over the course of a few years. Guess which approach is most likely to win. Making a dent in religious enslavement in Ghana took a decade.
Prepare your arguments. Know your opponent's views and counter-arguments. Draw up point-by-point responses. Yes, it's the old tried and true Q&A (Questions and Answers). Tailor your points to the root drivers of the opposing views, provide valid alternatives to meet real needs (for how to do this, see the Motivation to Solution Strategy Tool), and justice shall prevail.
Bridge degrees of separation. Sometimes you can't have access to the one you need to convince. Don't let that stop you. Take the extra step. Get someone who has the ear of the one you need to convince. Go for the one they'll listen to. If there are degrees of separation between you and those you need to persuade, build a bridge of relations. Think of other people who may help your arguments cross the water.
Talk local. This one's obvious, but how often neglected. People are highly sensitive to where you talk from, especially when status dynamics are at play: urban vs. countryside, university trained vs. real-life educated, clerical vs. blue-collar, etc. Find somebody local. The job of convincing will become much easier, or simply possible.
Speak from within. Those most affected by an issue will be its most powerful voice. If you're talking about a problem that has negative repercussions, show, don't tell. Rather than present an analyst's view of the adverse impacts, have someone with you who can speak directly to the experience. Real-life stories and moving testimonies will always win over abstract speculations and theoretical lectures. Bring in the victims and the survivors. If you don't, the other side may "talk for them" in their absence and use paternalistic arguments to undermine your credibility.
Provide opportunities to shine. When dealing with local notables and VIP's, one tactic is to reward them with an opportunity to look really, really good coming out on your side of the argument. Use this sparingly, but wisely, to your advantage. It may help convince broader constituencies.
Set up inescapable forums. I was really impressed with the number of meetings that seemed to have gone behind each small victory in the campaign to end the trokosi practice. One powerful technique was the use of village assemblies to advance the debate and enlist public support from initially reluctant allies. There were also "Liberation Ceremonies", emancipation rituals which allowed (or forced) the local priest to come out and bless publicly the release of his former female slaves. Talk about creative use of public accountability!
Assemble a team. What have we got here: someone with direct contact with those you need convincing, a community spokesperson, testimony from a survivor, perhaps even respected allies from the elite. That's a team! Time to assign roles. Emile Short talks about the carrot-and-stick approach to coaxing for change. As human rights commissioner, he sometimes played the role of the stick. He brought to bear the issue of criminal prosecution for human rights violators, with a list of potential charges (good cop, bad cop anyone?). There were benefits to change, and major drawbacks to not change. It worked.

"Freedom and justice are never handed out on a silver platter, but come about by persistence and perseverance", says Emile Short. Armed with these powerful persuasion techniques, you can now add more effectual influence to your determination.

— Philippe Duhamel, www.interTactica.org

What are other persuasion techniques have you discovered and used?
Let us know in the comments.

New Tactics Community Members

From Motivation to Solution: A Strategy Tool

Philippe Duhamel — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:20:28 -0500

How do you eradicate an age-old abusive practice so entrenched it has become woven into a people's identity?

What if the practice serves to assuage powerful, visceral fears? What if the practice also meets some real needs, such as for food, housework and sex?

Pretending for a minute you could even end the practice, how would you then prevent it from raising its ugly head again?

One of the leading promoters of human rights in Africa, Emile Francis Short must also be a master of strategy. In his tactical notebook entitled Powerful Persuasion: Combating traditional practices that violate human rights, you can study the 10-year campaign he led in Ghana to free thousands of women and girls from religious enslavement.

It is a riveting story. I am especially grateful to Mr. Short for letting us in on the sophisticated design of his highly successful campaign. Somewhere in there, I got a glimpse of a powerful strategizing tool that could be more widely used. I'll call it the Motivation to Solution Strategy Tool.

In Ghana, formerly used as a hub in the slave trade, another form of slavery was still prevalent until recently. The practice is called trokosi, a form of religious servitude. As atonement for a breach of social rules or a crime committed by someone else in their family, young women and girls were sent to a life of misery, rape and exploitation at the hands of local priests.

"In approaching an abusive customary practice", Emile Short says, "you must understand why the culture has developed it. Customary practices do not exist without reason. What needs does the practice serve? What problem is it attempting to remedy? Some customary practices were created for historic reasons that no longer exist, while others fulfill current needs or respond to real fears or concerns. These motivations must be understood, because if a practice is to be changed, there must be an alternative method of responding to the causes that lie beneath it. Otherwise it is likely to resurface even after a successful campaign."

In truth, I have no idea how formal was the process that went into the design of the fascinating table found in Powerful Persuasion (see p. 12). All I know is this tool allows for a crucial examination of the driving forces behind a problem, and a search for avenues to address them. To the left, one finds a list of causes headed "Motivation upholding the practice"; on the other, "Solution or argument" heads a list of potential strategic responses.

How the tool works

1. Identify Motivation: the Needs, Fears and Beliefs that support the problem

Take a sheet of paper (large newsprint or blackboard if working with a group) and write on top which situation or practice you want to affect.

Draw a line in the middle. Write the header for each column: MOTIVATIONS on one side, SOLUTIONS on the other.

Explain that the situation or practice you want to change exists for a reason: it serves a purpose, however twistedly. It feeds on a number of needs, fears, ideas and habits. Your goal is to unearth these.

First, you may want to conduct a brainstorm about what needs the practice may be serving. Don't be too concerned at this point about validating or organizing your thoughts. Later, you may look at your list again, and see if you need to go deeper. Fears, especially, may be hiding other unrecognized needs.

After the brainstorm, you can organize your list if you want, trim it down, group items together, etc.

2. Find alternatives, arguments and tactics

Now go over the list on the left. Look for alternatives, arguments and tactics you could use to address each motivation. Write these down under SOLUTIONS.

For each major NEED, look for alternatives, for other ways these could be met through better, more positive means. Offering replacement practices will make for easier and more durable solutions than trying to suppress the need. Sometimes, as in the case of sexual crimes, means of coercion or repression may have to be an option.

When dealing with FEAR, acknowledge needs such as for safety and protection. Assuage those fears with new reassurance mechanisms. Bring in real-life experiences if you can (testimonies are great for that).

When dealing with CUSTOMS, suggest change is possible. The recognition that customs do change over time may be the hardest part. This creates the opening you need to even suggest a specific change.

When dealing with other supporting BELIEFS or IDEAS, come up with powerful arguments that could be used to bring respectful challenge. Your goal with these arguments is not to defeat and humiliate. Your goal is to change the outlook and make everybody win.

This simple tool allows you to tackle a problem in radical new ways. This exercise allows you to unearth the roots of a problem... And going for the cause rather than the symptoms, compañeras y compañeros, means more effective, durable action.

The best part is: this tool can be used by anybody!

— Philippe Duhamel, www.interTactica.org

Take a sheet of paper and try the tool for 10 minutes with a problem practice you are struggling with.
Let us know how it worked for you.
Post a comment below.
Any other idea this tool brings up for you?

New Tactics Community Members

Powerful Persuasion

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:10 -0500

Powerful Persuasion

By Emile Short

Download full notebook below.
See Phillipe Duhamel's creative take on this resource at interTactica!

In this notebook, we learn about some of the most difficult human rights violations to eradicate–customary or traditional practices based on deep-seated beliefs, particularly those with a spiritual dimension. One such practice is the Trokosi, in Ghana, a system of servitude that meets the community need for justice and the material and sexual needs of fetish priests. Women and young girls are brought and kept in fetish shrines to atone for sins or crimes allegedly committed by one of their relatives. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) recognized that legislation outlawing such practices may not be effective and may, in some cases, result in driving a customary practice further underground. Respected leaders–at local and national levels–engaged in direct dialogue with perpetrators, victims, other community leaders, and the community at large to facilitate understanding of the practice, while providing alternatives and avenues for abandoning the practice without losing status. There are many ways in which respected leaders can be enlisted to help community members understand the dynamics of customary or traditional practices, and to address the underlying complexities of such practices in order to transform or change those that violate basic human rights.

Some of the most difficult human rights violations to address are customary or traditional practices based on deep-seated beliefs of a community or people, particularly practices that have a spiritual dimension. In the Trokosi system in Ghana, women and virgin girls are taken without their consent to fetish shrines to atone for sins or alleged crimes committed by family members. They are forced to serve the shrine priests through manual labor, including farming and cooking, and are sexually exploited as well. The practice occurs mainly in remote areas of the Volta Region of Ghana, which is dominated by an ethnic group called the Ewes. Through a coalition effort involving the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ, a constitutional and statutory body), International Needs Ghana (ING, an NGO), the National Commission on Civic Education (another constitutional body), and the traditional leaders from the Ewe communities, we have succeeded in liberating thousands of young women and girls held in this bondage.

Our tactic is to mobilize the support of respected community leaders, such as chiefs, queen mothers, and local governmental officials, using them as resources in seminars and durbars2 on the human rights implications of the practice and recommending voluntary liberation of the victims. After these meetings, we enter direct negotiations with the shrine priests and elders, persuading them to voluntarily end the Trokosi practice. Because they speak the same language and hail from the same communities as the practitioners, the community leaders have played a crucial role in changing the mind-set, beliefs, and behavior of those involved in the human rights abuse. This approach is useful when dealing with cultural or traditional practices based on deeply entrenched beliefs, especially when the practice has a spiritual dimension and practitioners are reluctant to abolish it for fear of incurring the wrath of the gods. Experience combating female genital mutilation taught us that legislation prohibiting traditional and customary practices is ineffective if not preceded by intense public education programs.

In addition, human rights groups must engage in dialogue with practitioners, working to change their mindset and persuade them to voluntarily give up the abusive practice. It can be difficult, however, for human rights groups to achieve such engagement if they are perceived as "outsiders" by the traditional communities. Well-intentioned human rights efforts can easily be construed as an attack on people’s fundamental cultural and religious beliefs. Experience suggests that you cannot change deep-seated beliefs and practices by attacking them, nor can the law be enforced if there is no public cooperation. A different path must be found. We set out to convince practitioners and other stakeholders of the necessity of changing the Trokosi practice. We wanted the communities to see the practice for what it was: an abuse of human rights and an attack on the dignity and humanity of women in their own communities. We also wanted them to recognize that traditions are flexible and can be transformed over time, and that this practice could be changed without offending the gods. Unless we could achieve such an attitudinal change, legislation and enforcement could result in the practice being driven underground, and women and girls continuing to be trapped in this system of bondage.

ING provided support and oversight of the effort, setting up initial meetings with the Trokosi priests, shrine elders, and community chiefs, and arranging the seminars and durbars. I represented the CHRAJ, while the third key participant was Mama Adokua Asigble IV, Queen Mother from the Tefle traditional area and member of the National Commission on Civic Education. This process has taken more than a decade, and has involved a complex series of integrated steps: human rights advocacy and education in the various communities; negotiations with shrine priests and elders; and, for the freed Trokosi women, vocational skills training programs, emancipation ceremonies, and counseling and rehabilitation support. In this notebook we focus on the crucial method of engaging with respected community leaders to gain access, conduct educational programs, negotiate with the shrines, and carry out the emancipation process. According to the estimates of our NGO partner, 3,000 Trokosi women and children have so far been liberated through these efforts. In 1998 we also secured the passage of the "Prohibition of customary servitude" law; this has helped give momentum to the process, despite the fact that no prosecutions have yet taken place under this law.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.