One of the most important attributes risk professionals should have, is the ability to convince others, or the act of persuasion. Convincing others to act or not to act is a skill in itself. Persuasion sometimes comes across as a “dirty word” in our industry. To many people “persuasion” implies manipulating, pressuring, and cajoling. It's the age-old “used car sales associate” stereotype that's often evoked when people think of persuasion.
The art of persuasion should not be underestimated or discounted. When mentoring other risk managers, they report that by far, convincing others is the largest stressor of their jobs. We find ourselves relying on logic to convince others of the correct direction because “the numbers never lie”.
We ask ourselves "why don’t they understand"? "Don’t they see why this is so important"? We find ourselves discounting our leader's competing priorities to balance operational needs with other factors. Because of this some risk professionals may not fully appreciate their perspective. We view risk management as an organization's potential exposure to legal penalties, financial forfeiture, and material loss, resulting from its failure to act in accordance with industry laws and regulations, internal policies, or prescribed best practices. How do we balance the two perspectives? Being able to persuade leaders is one of the keys to overall success.
The answer to this question is not new. One option is to rely on the “rhetorical triangle”, which is attributed to Aristotle who lived in the fourth century BC. He describes a grouping of three argument styles: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. It is often represented by an equilateral triangle: all three sides are equidistant from one another to show the equal importance of each concept to effective communication and persuasion. According to Aristotle, the ability to persuade an audience is based on how well you appeal to that audience in three different areas. · Logos appeals to reason. Logos or the text of the argument, as well as how well the presenter has argued his/her point.
· Ethos appeals to the character. Ethos can also be thought of as the role of the presenter in the argument, and how credible his/her argument is.
· Pathos appeals to emotions and sympathetic imagination, as well as to beliefs and values. Pathos can also be thought of as the role of the audience in the argument.
Logos:
· Utilize facts and figures, tables, graphs, trends etc.
· Draw upon statistics, credible sources, arguments premised on reason, and the inherent logic of a situation.
· Make sure your points are supported by strong reasons and credible evidence.
· Ensure your points are logical and arranged in a well-reasoned order. Example: The root cause of 90% of all accidents is human error.
Ethos:
· Credibility is key to winning an audience's belief and support for one's argument. Do they know your experience and qualifications? How have you connected the leader to the topic being discussed? Why should this be important to him/her? Example: “One of the points you brought up as an area of focus this year was a reduction of accidents. This new program is intended to help us reach this goal. Be careful not to come across as too lofty, some leaders will shut down. You have to help others see you as an asset, a team player a problem solver not “chicken little”. Approach the discussion using the Socratic Method or a dialogue between the leaders instigated by the continual probing questions, in a concerted effort to explore the underlying beliefs that shape the views and opinions.
o Clarifying concepts - Examples: What do you think they mean by … ? What do you think is the main issue here? Could you give me an example?
o Probing assumptions - Examples: What do you think will happen if we …? You seem to be assuming ….? Do I understand you correctly? Is that always the case?
Why have you based your reasoning on _____ instead of _____?
o Probing rationale, reasons, and evidence - Examples: What would you say to someone who said that…? Why do you think that is true? Do you have any evidence for that? What are your reasons for saying that?
o Questioning viewpoints and perspectives - Examples: Is there another way to look at this? … What effect would that have? Would that necessarily happen or only possibly/probably happen? What are some alternatives?
o Probing implications and consequences. ... Examples: What do you think will happen if… How can we find out? What does this question assume?
o Questioning the question. Example: Is this the most important question, or is there an underlying question that is really the issue?
· Have you demonstrated respect for multiple viewpoints by using sources? Example: David had a great idea or point. …
· Are sources credible? Are sources documented appropriately? Example: According to OSHA…
Pathos:
· Have you provided vivid examples, details, and images used to engage the emotions and imagination? Example: You know we had 10 severe injuries last year. That is 10 team members who didn’t go home the same way they came in. We don’t know if any of these team members will ever be able to do simple tasks such as picking up their children without pain. This all happened on our watch!
· Did you appeal to the values and beliefs of the leader by using examples they can relate to or care about? Example: We know that our team members are the most important asset to the company and to you. What we don’t want to do is contribute to an environment that can jeopardize our most important asset. I ran reports of similar industries, and our safety numbers are twice as high. This contributes directly to our bottom line as well as our operational effectiveness.
Aristotle argued that logos was the strongest and most reliable form of persuasion therefore the most effective. The success of your risk program depends on being able to convince others to act in a way to reduce risk and ensures compliance while meeting operational goals. To be an effective risk professional, we need to be empathetic to the importance of operations but use ethos and pathos to align the analysis of risk with the impact on operational goals in order to garner the support of the leaders.