Pre-suade by style

🗣️ Hard conversation coming? Come practice before you have it. 🗣️

The meeting is usually too late to start influencing the decision.

Robert Cialdini calls the idea Pre-Suasion: what happens before you make your case can shape how people receive the case itself.

What someone is thinking about when they encounter your recommendation changes how they evaluate it. Get them thinking about what you want them to before sharing your idea… 

You want your leadership team to approve a new hybrid-work policy. Four people hold significant influence over the decision.

Before the decision meeting, talk to each of them individually, and use DiSC get them thinking about what you want them to think about before you share your idea.

Your D Style leader needs results and control.

“This would cut the time managers spend dealing with exceptions and give them clearer authority. I’m recommending we pilot it for 90 days. What would you change?” 

You’ve focused their attention on results, then given them agency.

Your i Style leader needs possibility and involvement.

“I think this could give us a much better story about how we work and make the policy easier for managers to champion. How would you get people excited about it?”

Now they’re imagining the opportunity and helping create it.

Your S Style leader needs stability and consideration.

“I’ve been thinking about the people who’ve built their routines around the current policy. My recommendation keeps most of what’s working and gives people time to adjust. What concerns should we address?”

Before discussing change, you’ve focused their attention on continuity and support.

Your C Style leader needs evidence and confidence in the logic.

“I compared our current policy against the alternatives and looked at the likely risks. This option gives us the clearest standard with the fewest exceptions. Can I run the reasoning by you?”

Now their analytical brain is working with you, pressure-testing the recommendation instead of encountering it cold in the meeting.

DiSC + Cialdini = Influence

Pre-Suasion asks: What should they be thinking about before they hear my idea?

DiSC asks: What matters most to this person?

Plus, the pre-suasion conversations let people raise objections privately, and you get to improve the recommendation. When they put their fingerprints on it, ownership starts forming before anyone enters the conference room.

The meeting is just where the decision gets made official.

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