Persuasion Leadership as a Style of Leadership - Research Paper Example

? Persuasion and Leadership Background information Leadership involves inspiring people to achieve great results in a group setting to achieve the set objectives and goals. Persuasion entails taming the emotions of workers or the subject of a leadership context. This ensures that their line of decision making is consistent with the organization’s aims and objectives. There are different leadership styles that are applied in the running of organizations and which are consistent with the principle of persuasion. There are people who are born leaders; they are recognized during times of crises when they volunteer to lead people out of the crisis in question. This names them natural leaders. It is important to note that persuasion does not work in all situations of leadership (Jay, 1998). At times, people need coercion application of authority to do something. The objective of this research paper is to explore the magnitude of the importance of persuasion in leadership practice. Abstract Persuasion is very essential in leadership because human beings are emotional by nature. People who experience positive heightened emotionality can perform complicated tasks within a short period of time as compared to those who experience negative emotionality. Therefore, people need to be persuaded so that they can achieve full control of their emotions. Persuasion is not relevant for all forms and styles of leadership, since there are different principles and procedure in doing something. This paper will cover all categories of persuasion and how they are applied in leadership context. Further it will explore different strategies of persuasion leadership and demonstrate how persuasion works to make leadership a successful exercise. Leadership is highly praised by people. When people talk, they refer to the best leaders who have ever lived at this planet and who left memorable legacy in their hearts. Such leaders include Martin Luther King Junior, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela. Their legacy will live on in the hearts of their supporters long after their death for their good deeds (Kathleen 1998). These leaders were in charge of the groups they were leading; through their inspiration great goals were accomplished. Although these leaders faced plenty of criticisms from their opposers and those who doubted them, they developed a tough skin that could not be penetrated by those critics. They all remained focused on their targets and eventually got the best results. The other key concept in this paper is persuasion which entails altering the minds of individuals to make up-to-the-minute decisions. Leaders essentially communicate their ideas through persuasion. They persuade individuals to toil together, to attain results that are beyond their capacities which seemed impossible to accomplish (Kathleen 1998). This was made possible by making the workers to temporarily suspend their own interests to allow room for the attainment of less personal organizational goals. Research has proved that emotions are fundamental in decision making. People who have their part of the brain that deals with emotions incapacitated cannot make sound decisions. Therefore, emotions make it possible for us to think and decide the best action to take in every situation (Freedman, 1966). Emotions act like code that we use to store our experiences and make it possible to retrieve that information in times of need. Persuasion is the pillar of leadership, decision making and altering minds; therefore, emotional processes are central for the actions of leaders who are successful. In addition, leaders require a competent intellectual capacity to be able to deal with emotionally-laden arguments from their followers (Freedman, 1966). It is very essential for a leader to understand their own emotional reactions and tendencies to be in a position to evoke and control emotional responses in other people. Good leaders apply persuasion in their practice of leading others (Mike 2011). To achieve this objective, leaders follow a course of persuasion strategy that stipulates the way to handle persuasion in leadership. One of the strategies involves an urge to be successful. Success is an all-round achievement that does not only occur to the organization but should also trickle down to the workers in an organization context (Mike 2011). The second strategy emphasizes the need to maintain the group. A leader strives to maintain the group by understanding the basic principle that the whole group is more important than the combination of all its parts. For as long the group exists, there will be the need for leadership that carries the responsibility of anticipating the group needs and seeking the best way to meet those needs (Richard 2008). Another strategy involves showing the group the process of attaining certain objectives, instead of waiting for something to go wrong only to give the workers negative job appraisals. The results that are obtained in the end are also important as workers will like to know what was achieved by their input (Cialdini, 2004). Giving rewards to the worker who perform well is another way of persuading them to continue investing more efforts as they are bearing meaningful fruits. The last strategy focuses on achievement of universal goals that are common to all members of a group. Persuasion is imperative to achieve the group goals; the need to persuade others should be instinctive and genetically intrinsic (Richard 2008). These strategies can never be successful on their own without the presence of influence that leaders should posses. A leader must manipulate others to follow their steps and established procedures to achieve the common goals of a team. It is important for a leader to know that not everyone will agree with the decisions they make concerning the interests of the group members, but through constant and persistent persuasion they will eventually heed (Richard 2008). These strategies are powered by repetition, and every leader has his different way of applying them (Forsyth, 2006). When we talk of persuasion in the context of the strategies, the impact that we seek is ensuring that workers submit totally without a single trace of coercion or use of force. It is achieved by approaching the workers with tender kindness thus making them feel that they are worthy and dignified (Cialdini, 2004). A slight application of force on workers to comply with the terms of the organization may work in the short run and help to solve some immediate needs. But it is important to note that such a method does not have a long life span, and one day it will come down crushing. A leader needs to be honest and open with the current consequences; he should avoid giving people promises that he will not keep (Petty 1984). A good persuasive leader leads by example, they always take the first step and they stop last. Through a non-egocentric example the workers are persuaded that their interest are being given the first priority and that the given tasks are not dehumanizing (Petty 1984). Their slogan will be “If the boss does it we can do it too”, and this allows them to follow the given directions willfully. That is how workers surrender their own interests for the sake of the group or the organization (Kathleen 1998). To learn the strategies of effective persuasion, leaders must be acquainted with the needs of the members of the team, and devise the best way of working together to satisfy them (Petty 1984). Persuasion can be a difficult thing to achieve especially at the nucleus stages of a group, but as the group grows in size it is naturally achieved if pursued (Raven 1993). A leader should build an environment that is trusting and develop a strong rapport so that the long term goals are pursued with ultimate faith. After discussing the persuasion strategies, I wish to explore the four ways that determine the success of persuasion leadership. Success in any form of leadership relies on the ability of the leader to achieve result and get stuff done (Jim, 2007). The first step is establishing credibility that evolves from the relationship and expertise. Suggestions from other people should be listened to carefully. Show people that any idea from them is highly appreciated and respected. You can prepare this by collecting information that supports your arguments (Danny, 2009). Remember, your contradictors’ arguments are equally important for objective comparison and brainstorming. A leader should understand his followers so that he can structure the goals that serve the interest of all members equally without discrimination. A leader should develop an influence that is well networked to ensure the coverage of all the loopholes that might bring future misunderstanding (Robert, 2001). The next step is providing evidence to the followers to support your position (Danny, 2009). Any argument should be reinforced with sufficient facts that are genuine and can be replicated. Lastly, the leadership should emotionally and intellectually connect the leader with the audience. Present an adjusted tone of your arguments to correspond to the state of emotions of your audience (Robert, 2001). In conclusion, persuasion leadership is a very important style of leadership to apply in an organization as it connects the leader with the subject. The close attachment that this style cultivates is central to the success of the organization as the leaders are able to see things through the eyes of their audience. They also attend to the needs of workers effectively; workers enjoy moral benefits from job satisfaction and tangible material benefits in terms of rewards. Workers dignity and will are also highly prioritized in this style of leadership, hence promoting autonomy and growth of any self-respecting organization. References Danny L. Rhodes, Charles R. Emery. (2009). Comparison of leader ethics, 3,333-458. Cialdini, R. B., & Goldstein N. J. (2004). Social influence: Compliance and conformity, 12,300-412. Forsyth D. R. (2006) Group processes. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 8, 214-417. Freedman, J. L., & Fraser, S. C. (1966). Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 6(4), 595-702 Jay, A. C. (1998) The Necessary Art of Persuasion, 22,620-710. Jim, J. (2007) Leadership, conformity and persuasion in Jonestown and Peoples Temple" by Ann Kristin Svendsen, 17, 657-892. Kathleen K., & Dr. Alan J. R. (1998). Leadership Styles for the five stages of Radical Change. 3,521-698 Mike McCready. (2011). Management vs. Leadership, 35, 624-717. Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo T. (1984). Involvement on responses to argument quantity and quality: Central and peripheral routes to persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2(3), 569-781. Raven, B. H. (1993). The bases of power: former and latter developments. Journal of Social Issues.38 (6), 427-651. Richard J. Ofshe. (2008). Coercive Persuasion and Attitude Change, 12, 222-354. Robert B. C. (2001). Harnessing the Science of Persuasion, 4,221-325. Read More