February
1996 - Influencing the interview
Do you want to discover the 11
secrets of influencing people at interviews ?
Science has shown that it is possible to guarantee
a successful response from an employer by following
a few easy steps. How to achieve a sure-fire way
of winning people over can be demonstrated in
this personal guide.
Hooked yet? If that paragraph
succeeded in grapping your attention, it may help
explain some of the success behind the ability
of Reader's Digest to influence buying decisions.
It used a variety of key words and phrases that
have proved powerful stimuli in Reader's Digest
advertising. Apparently it is important to attach
a number to the 'secrets' that are being revealed
because people are often enticed by the challenge
to remember them all.
But the words have their own
power, and one word is more powerful than any
other in influencing people, according to John
Caples, an advertising copywriter who studied
words in advertisement headlines that most often
captured buyers. That word is 'you'. He found
that the second most powerful word was 'your'.
Caples' observations are recalled
in a new book by Tom Lambert called The Power
of Influence which examines the use of influencing
skills in the workplace.
While words have their place,
he also makes a point about influencing people
using body language, and suggests trying out the
following experiment in social discourse the next
time you are sitting across the desk from someone
in the office.
Find a colleague who is alone
and take up a position, not too obviously, in
their line of sight. Carefully mirror their position,
paying attention to posture, facial expressions
and the way that arms and legs are folded. The
more detailed the copy, including mirroring the
subject's apparent disposition, the more physically
and emotionally you have become attuned to their
pose, the more likely you are to succeed with
the next stage of the experiment.
After a few minutes, move an
arm or hand and see if they follow. If they do
not, return to the previous mirroring position
and try again when you judge the time is right.
Lambert insists the subject will follow your action.
You are then in a position to
use your power over them constructively, lightening
your expression and posture. 'You may be doing
them more good than you will ever know,' writes
Lambert.
This is the first stage, he writes,
of building an effective rapport with another
person. This mimicry in rapport-building is achieved
by some people quite naturally. Copying accents,
gestures and postures is not uncommon. Recognising
that someone is copying your mannerisms or movements
is an important observation that tells you that
you are in a position to exert further influence.
The technique is used by psychiatric nurses in
calming over-emotional patients.
To lapse back into the language
of Reader's Digest for a moment, medical evidence
has shown that if you accurately copy the posture
of another person it is not only your habits that
begin to empathise. Breathing and heartbeat become
synchronised and pupil size becomes the same.
Lambert ventures that in those circumstances,
it may be possible to share thoughts and feelings.
Suddenly all those hours spent watching Star Trek
on television seem worthwhile.
But none of the former is science
fiction. It is a lesson drawn from neuro-linguistic
programming, or NLP for short. Nor is it confined
to humans. Ducks do this sort of thing all the
time before they mate.
Techniques useful for making
friends with an interviewer are just part of the
repertoire of professional influencing skills
covered in Lambert's book which makes some of
the more interesting psychological observations
in the field accessible to the general reader.
The Power Of Influence, Intensive
Influencing Skills At Work, by Tom Lambert, is
published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing, price
Pounds 20 hardback, Pounds 12.99 paperback.
© 1996 Financial Times
Ltd. All rights reserved
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