Persuasion in Non-Profits

Well, this week Cialdini's reading mixed with the video that we got to see was excellent. To be able to identify the science behind my actions gives me great insight on how I can train myself to improve in each area (the secrets from the science of persuasion). More importantly however, I see this as a unique opportunity to challenge two members from the Student Cardinal Varsity Club executive board. On Friday night, we worked the Ball State Volleyball match versus Bowling Green. Our goal is to inform and if possible solicit students to join the "Student Cardinal Varsity Club". The Student Cardinal Varsity Club is the annual fund, which goes towards Ball State Athletics. Now, I could immediately tell that both of these students had little to no experience when it came to marketing face to face. I sadly assumed that since they were Sports Admin/Marketing majors that they would already had experience in this area. Both members came to me in discomfort of why we should not do this, and they chronically thinking of different ways to make their jobs less difficult. I coached them up on what to focus on and what not to worry about during their time at work. I said that when it comes to marketing, you cannot worry about self-perception or take offense to how people respond to you. The most important thing to remind yourself about is that you are at work, and you have a job to do and ours just happens to be spread the word about S.C.V.C. and let students know that they should sign up. Now, after telling them this they were enthused but they were not seeing that much success in connecting with the students. They told me,"we want to see you in action." I went to work and did not notice at the time but I do now, that sort of like the waiter named Vincent that Cialdini observed, I too had the unique ability to change my approach based upon what the students focus was. For example, I found myself being able to use the persuasion of LIKING. I use compliments such as nice hat/shirt/smile/shoes/scarf/etc., talk about how I am a student just like them (similar), and I cooperation in fundraising is an absolute must but in these instances the best thing to do is try to figure out what students have an interest in and then pitch it to them as I am looking out for their best interest. I list those out because of the experience that I have in non-profits and sales so I am now certainly going to send this video to my executive board and have them pick a persuasion that they think would be great for our events and then I will train them on how to utilize it in the field. I think this will be not only a great development tool for them but also a great chance to see if I can teach others how to use these persuasion tactics. I will certainly keep you updated on how the training and implementation goes.

Leadership Traits

During the lecture video's I was thinking about the leadership traits that I have recognized in leaders that I know. The one's that came to mind was communication, time efficiency, and edge. Communication was because all of the leader's that came to my mind knew how to communicate with all different types of individuals at all different levels. Whether it be children, poor, employee's or the famous. They have an abilitiy to carry out conversations with any of them and not miss a beat. Really a unique ability as you will find that even some of the brightest people or effective working employee's are not able to communicate with all walks of people. The next thing would be the time efficiency that these leaders posses. They are not one's to waste time of others or themselves. They all are aware of how many hours we get in a day. Therefore, they are excellent examples of how what it looks like to maximize time. Squeezing every minute possible out of each day that they are given to work. The last trait was edge. Edge is comparable to what some would say is the "it-factor". When regarding the edge, it could simply be stated that if you were working with any of these individuals you could be able to identify them out of your group of coworkers. They are squares in a bowl full of circles. It is their demeanor and presence that dictates that you should follow them. Not to be confused with arrogance or cockiness. These individuals could stand out in the midst of a setting where everyone is in matching uniforms. No explaining why, but they just are.

Group Case Study

This past two weeks has been phenomenal. Initially, I did not know what to think about the case study especially since the original group that I thought I was going to be a part of was unavailable for me to join. The reading of the Case Study was to my surprise reasonably short as I expected the article to be 30-50 pages of information. The communication with my group at the beginning was a bit shaky, which had my thinking that if only I would of joined the other group in time, I would not be in the situation that I am now. Michael, took the lead in our group and was then co-piloted by Stephanie. I was always there to reply but it seemed that Michael and Stephanie always replied with great detailed message and more times than not I found myself posting straight to the point answers. Things definitely started to pick-up speed once we got to putting in our insight to the five questions of the group case study. I was surprised to see how fluid we were when it came to answering the questions. Everyone had answers that were "wet cement" and once the answers were meshed together we would have a cinder-block. I like that people were not afraid to challenge one another as it arose when Stephanie talked about Mackey's personal vendetta against Wild Oats and I told her that it was irrelevant because it was not published or directly tied to the company of Whole Foods. She did a professional job of explaining why she used Mackey's personal vendetta, by the reference of Drucker's book stating how that when you are in Leadership, you are responsible for more than just your companies profits which I agreed with. I am excited to work with this group for our next case study because our chemistry is similar to last year's Superbowl, NBA, NHL, or Euro-Cup champions. If you think that chemistry doesn't matter, you just need to speak with Howard Ungerleider, the Executive Vice President of Dow who said stated, "Chemistry matters more than ever". It is with chemistry that we not only see championship teams arise, but also that we see new technologies emerge.

Reference:
http://www.arabianoilandgas.com/article-11430-dows-evp-says-chemistry-matters-more-than-ever/#.UlJGy9J4yuM