Why the urge to persuade can undermine your idea for change

6 hours ago7 min read1 comments

There's a curious pattern I've noticed while listening to people talk about change in organizations and communities—that immediate instinct to persuade, to win people over with carefully crafted arguments. It reminds me of a conversation I had with a school principal who spent months designing the perfect presentation to convince hesitant teachers about a new curriculum, only to find her logic met with folded arms and quiet resistance.She discovered what seasoned community organizers have known for decades: genuine transformation rarely happens through rhetorical brilliance alone. The classic seven-step sales process—identifying prospects, qualifying needs, presenting offers, overcoming objections—works wonderfully in commercial contexts where you can select your audience, but becomes dangerously counterproductive when applied to organizational change where you're dealing with entire ecosystems of relationships.What fascinates me is how this persuasion impulse reveals something fundamental about human psychology. We're not isolated decision-makers weighing evidence dispassionately; we're social creatures embedded in networks that shape our identities and beliefs.David McRaney's research into how people leave cults and conspiracy theories shows something remarkable—that ideological shifts almost always follow social shifts, not the other way around. When I spoke with organizational change consultants, they consistently emphasized that the most successful initiatives don't begin with broadcast communications but with identifying existing energy and enthusiasm.They described approaches reminiscent of community organizing principles—finding your natural allies first, empowering them with resources and authority, and allowing change to spread through authentic peer relationships rather than top-down persuasion. This aligns with what network scientists like Duncan Watts have demonstrated through complex modeling: ideas propagate through 'easily influenced people influencing other easily influenced people,' creating cascades that can transform entire organizations.The most compelling evidence comes from studies of prosocial motivation—like Adam Grant's call center research showing performance more than doubled when employees connected with those who benefited from their work. This suggests that the most powerful change strategy isn't about crafting better arguments but about creating better connections, not about persuading resistors but about energizing natural supporters and allowing them to become ambassadors within their own networks.

#change management

#persuasion

#organizational behavior

#networks

#leadership

#innovation

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