Paul Jones, our presenter for our October breakfast seminar “Writing to Influence”, has released a new post. Rather interesting as it converts the findings of Zenger and Folkman and applies it to the world of copywriting. Here is the full article and links to the original blog post on the Magneto Communications website.
Article Link
http://writingtraining.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/leaders-feared-or-loved/
Article
Should leaders be feared or loved?
A mining engineer on my course once said he didn’t see the value in building much rapport with his team. ‘If I tell them to do something, they do it. Why worry if they like me?’
But recent research by Zenger and Folkman shows that leaders who aren’t liked much have only a one in 2000 chance of their leadership being rated as highly effective. Their lesson: Connect, then lead. Warmth is a powerful key to influence.
To do that, do these when writing:
- Check your attitude. Do you really have your readers’ best interests at heart? If you do, they should sense it and trust you more. (Yes, I’m talking ‘trusted advisor.’)
- Think ‘relationship,’ not ‘one-night stand.’ Don’t try to get them over the line too quickly. By all means ask for the sale (or whatever your influence goal is), but show you care more about them than the deal. Trite but true: ‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’
- Make it look good. How’s your branding, layout, neatness, and correctness? People warm to ‘classy,’ not ‘scruffy.’
- Get feedback on your tone. How’s your writing sound to your intended audience? Sounding professional, helpful and/or friendly will win you more friends, and more ‘yeses,’ than sounding officious, abrupt or long-winded.How your writing ‘sounds’ to someone depends, too, on personalities. If you’ve done one of our courses, check your notes around the four personality types. Remember to adjust your style to suit your reader. E.g., for ‘Drivers,’ focus on results, for ‘Amiables,’ emphasise ‘relationship,’ and so on.
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