The Attitude Lounge with Kodwo Brumpon: Intelligence is a spin doctor

“The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree said he would praise himself if no one else did.” – African proverb

One of the frustrations of leadership and strategy is realising how well-constructed, fact-packed arguments do not change people a lot of times. Yes, we have been schooled to build fortresses of data, logic, and evidence, in order to persuade the world.

Interestingly, many of us find out too late that humans are not rational processing units that simply require better data to reach better conclusions. This reality can be depressing, but the uncomfortable truth for everyone, especially for those of us in the business environment is that facts do not change minds.

The truth is, in the world of behaviour, facts are rarely as solid as gravity. We should not be disappointed about this because this is not a failure of communication; but our failure to holistically understand the human brain in the first place. Research after research is proving that facts alone are not enough to get people to buy into visions and change movements.

When you bombard someone with facts, you are acting like a drill sergeant, demanding an immediate surrender of their old beliefs. This makes the minds of your listeners to rebel, especially if they are not in your ‘tribe.’

Essentially, our brains are not evolved to be right fundamentally. Rather, we long to be members of the tribe. So, if accepting a fact puts us at odds with our social group, our brains treat that fact as a physical threat. We use our intelligence not to find the truth, but to build more sophisticated defences for our existing beliefs.

For example, when a leader pushes for digital transformation, he or she is likely to present the technical efficiency data to the team. However, to the individual who has worked in the business for twenty years, that data feels like an attack on his or her value. He or she will not t hear ‘efficiency’ in the presentation. The chorus that would ring in his or her thought would likely be ‘irrelevance.’

In such a scenario, the participants will patiently listen to our call for change and afterwards, simply walk away, their views entirely intact. For the leader or executive, this is a strategic nightmare.

It means that the more you press a colleague with facts that challenge their professional identity, the more likely they are to dig in their heels. This needs to change. But first, we need to appreciate that our intelligence does not make us more objective. It only makes us better at rationalising our biases.

If facts are the blunt instruments of persuasion and influencing, what are then are the tools of the modern leader? We must shift must be from the data-first attitude to the identity-first mode. Modern research about how the mind works during decision making give us a clue. We are being told that the mind does not stay still, but waffles. It inches toward temptation, then back toward the goal.

It is a back-and-forth process like a negotiation. That is why commands do not work. The mind wants to deliberate till it makes an emotional connection. Here, if you push too hard, you trigger their reactance. And if you are too vague, they remain stuck in indecision.

To convert a deliberating mind into a deciding one, your presentation must shift from performance to choice architecture. What I mean by this is that you need to create the environment in which people will make decisions. It is based on a simple, undeniable truth that there is no such thing as a neutral environment.

The way you frame what you say will inevitably nudge people in one direction or another. For example, when a doctor tells you a surgery has a ninety percent survival rate, you feel more relieved than if he say it has a ten percent mortality rate. The math is identical; but the architecture is different.

We all know that we are biologically wired to fear loss more than we crave gain. Thus, it is important that you frame your presentations in the positive light instead of spewing out the facts. Do not bury your lead in a spreadsheet. Start with the why that matters to your audience, but the strategy is to frame the presentation around the cost of inaction.

Gently highlight what they stand to lose if they stay in limbo. Then use the facts as your supporting cast, not the star. More importantly, use personal examples to make your point, as this makes you seem more reasonable and trustworthy…

Post Views: 1