You communicate complicated messages to employees, colleagues, customers or suppliers on a daily basis. These are important messages that need to be acted upon and acted upon. Read here how to use the 3 elements of the art of persuasion and gain more impact in your communication.
Research shows that if you want to convince someone of something and induce long-term behavioral change in your recipients, you must actively use 3 elements in your communication: facts, emotions, and credibility. Yet the vast majority of leaders only focus on one element, namely facts.
You may have also heard the 3 elements referred to as the 3 forms of appeal, logos, pathos and ethos, as Aristotle named them a few thousand years ago. Read here how to use them and convince your recipients.
Logos is reason, facts, statistics, logical argumentation. Reason is the foundation of any form of argumentation. You need to use it to support your claims. Logical arguments are the ones our recipients remember the longest (once they have soaked in), but not necessarily the ones that have the greatest immediate effect.
It is often a problem that we give our recipients so many facts that they cannot remember the important things afterwards. And thus we actually end up muddying the picture instead of convincing. So a rule of thumb is: Don’t focus on what you want to tell, but on what the recipient needs to remember.
And remember that we can typically remember a maximum of three things.
Logic and objectivity alone cannot convince, which, for example, the Danish Defence has understood in their campaigns. Do you remember them? They are not specifically about the defence, but evoke strong feelings of community and something bigger than us.
Love, desire, pride, fear and worry are the fuel that makes us humans want to achieve something. That is why we need to use pathos and speak to the emotions of our recipients. One example is LEGO’s CEO, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, who in a 2014 interview with CNN explained how LEGO works with innovation: “I started meeting regularly with LEGO fans. I think it must be like when a car manufacturer meets with racing drivers. Nobody understands the product better than them.”
By comparing to racing drivers, Knudstorp shows recognition and inspires pride in global viewers who are reminded of what you learn through play. It’s worth using imagery that your recipients can recognize; both because it activates their imagination and because it shows them that you have understood who they are. And even more importantly, because images and metaphors increase the likelihood that the recipient will remember your message. Because we think and remember in images.
Therefore: Comparisons, anecdotes and examples increase your ability to influence the recipient’s emotions.
Having the facts in place and being able to arouse emotions is of little use if your recipients don’t believe you. They need to feel that you want them to do well, and that it’s not superficial flattery chosen for the occasion.
You can do this, like Knudstorp, by using comparisons that are based on a common point of view and shared values. But it doesn’t come without investment: It requires that you understand the recipients’ specific needs.
Your recipients must be in focus. They must be the hero of your story. If your credibility is not in place, there is no point in spending time explaining the facts – because it won’t work if the stage isn’t set with the right atmosphere and trust in you.
Facts, emotions and credibility. The 3 elements of the art of persuasion. Were you convinced? Practice implementing the 3 elements when you communicate. We, Aristotle and all research indicate that you will then convince your recipients to a greater extent and thus achieve greater effect from your communication.
The next time you need to make a presentation that convinces and sets the mood, consider facts, emotions, and credibility:
Do you or your organization need to be better at convincing in a credible way? We would be happy to offer you a suggestion on how we can help you.
