A Simple Smile Can Go a Long Way
WOULD YOU RATHER work for someone who barks orders at you, or a person who takes time to understand your position? When a colleague asks for your help on a project, are you more likely to say yes if she helped you in the past? The answers to those questions are obvious, but they nevertheless show that in today’s collaborative work environments, you need a range of interpersonal skills to persuade people to help you get things accomplished. The desire and ability to reciprocate, according to Robert B. Cialdini in “Harnessing the Science of Persuasion,” constitute one of the six fundamental principles of persuasion. These principles appeal to deep human drives, such as wanting to be liked. Given that leaders must get things done through other people, including folks they may…