Margaret’s Persuasion Coach Blog

Last week I had the honor of presenting “Navigating Cultural Differences You Never Knew You Had” at the 2013 General Assembly (national convention) of the Unitarian Universalist Association in Louisville, KY. I was proud to be one of relatively few non-clergy chosen...

Soon I’ll be attending a convention where I expect to hear a lot of “we can do it” messages. Such pep talks have become standard procedure to encourage and energize people, especially groups with a task to accomplish or a goal to reach. But according to Daniel Pink,...

Last week, I saw a nice example of how non-argumentative communication skills can persuade without antagonizing. In this video clip, questions were asked in a matter-of-fact, neutral interview style. These questions got the interview subjects thinking without...

I've read, a number of times, the difference between guilt and shame. I confess that, up until a few days ago, I might not have been able to accurately recount what I've read. But, in a TED Talk[1], University of Houston professor Brene Brown lays out the difference...

A reader of both my blog and my book, Bridges to Consensus, inspired me to adapt this blog article from one of the sample dialogues in the book. Like many of the sample dialogues, Dialogue 6 revolves around the following scenario: Fran, a hard-working volunteer, has...

What do you say when you don’t know what to say? Someone catches you off guard with a question you don’t know how to answer, an incredible statement, or an insult. You’re stumped, flabbergasted, or angry. The first thing to say in that initial confused, emotional...

Would you like to motivate someone such as an employee, student or child? You're probably not surprised to learn that praise helps. According to an article in Psychology Today[1], we feel as good when praised as when given monetary rewards. But, you can bump these...

A recent article in Psychology Today[1] validates my Silver Rule of Consensus, “Avoid making other people wrong.” The particular form of wrong making addressed in the PT article is criticism. Author Mary Loftus states, “There is mounting evidence that criticism can be...

[This article is adapted from a program I presented for Women's History Month, March 2013.] My job is training people in what, for church groups, I call consensus building skills. But I'm going to let you in on a little secret. These are the same skills that I call...

As many of you know, I am a great proponent of positive terminology. While we must sometimes view things negatively in order to identify a problem to be solved, I prefer, thereafter, to speak about the positive opposite we wish to gain. For example, instead of “war on...