Storytelling and influencing
Coursera training, MOOC (2023). The ability to effectively communicate and persuade others is a key leadership skill. Traditional common-sense models of communication and persuasion often fail to capture the complex nature of ‘influencing’. This online training from Macquarie University (AU) aims to develop our capacity to communicate appropriately in different situational and cultural contexts, making us influential leaders.
Week 1: The necessary art of persuasion
Main topics:
- Persuasive communication;
- Assessing human behavior;
- Decision making;
- Questioning for unconscious values.
Week 2: Telling your story
Main topics:
- Information processing and recalling stories;
- Storytellers;
- The importance of storytelling;
- Structuring stories.
Week 3: Connecting with people
Main topics:
- The art and science of building rapport;
- Relationships only happen with rapport;
- The matching exercise;
- Mehrabian's communication model;
- Making your meeting matter.
Week 4: Talk the talk
Main topics:
- Group influence and impression management;
- The three questions to influence;
- The need to lead;
- The questions that get real answers.
Week 5: Painful truth
Main topics:
- Looking for win-win;
- The nature of objections;
- Convincing quickly.
Week 6: Winning over hearts and minds
Main topics:
- Pitching as a persuasion process;
- Perfect pitch preparation;
- The secret structure;
- The reason people ask questions.
References