influence

But you are free …

Being told what to do can bring out the rebel in all of us.  But, there is a technique that can assist – the “but you are free” technique. Researchers asked people on the street to donate money to a cause and 10.0% contributed. However, when the researchers added the words “but you are free …

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The Gentle Art of Disagreeing

A lot of us choose to avoid confrontation.  This means that we avoid sharing our thoughts, and can be seen as not moving fast enough, hedging our bets or not saying what we plan to do. On the other hand, there is the person who loves to confront, to challenge and to win an argument …

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I’m just a little curious…

How good we are at communicating can only be determined by the response. So what do we do when we have a very clear objective and message, and we are not sure of the response? Introducing the ‘softener’. The most obvious softeners are ‘please’ and ‘thank you’”. They are indicators of politeness and are necessary …

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Why oh why?

The questions we ask ourselves, along with the questions we ask of others, have the ability to dramatically change our lives.  Questions are incredibly powerful tools for effective communication. Let’s explore this by thinking about our own self-talk.  Self-talk is really just a series of questions and answers.  Think back to a recent time when …

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