(upbeat music) In these lessons, let's look at how persuasion often begins with influence. We'll look at methods for creating manageable steps to accomplish your goals and make positive impressions on others. We'll also focus on the emotional and rational components of preparation. Persuasion is the ability to lead someone to act on or believe in something. It usually involves an agenda that can manifest through a decision or an action. An example of a persuaded action might be, after talking to Embry, Sheila joined the team. An example of a persuaded decision might be, Embry convinced Sheila to reconsider joining the team. Your ability to influence your team or management is often related to your position within the workplace. If you're trying to persuade your manager into giving you a raise or promotion, the first step would be to familiarize yourself with your agenda. In this scenario, you'll have to evaluate where you stand in your organization, identify any gaps in your skillset, then seek training opportunities to better qualify yourself for a higher position. No matter what level of an employee you are, you can always master the right techniques to achieve your goals. The type of work you do could also impact your ability to be influential. For example, you have a new idea for reaching a sales goal, and you want your team to implement it, or you need to convince others to try out new software that you're testing. Conducting a meeting as a common method for persuading people in the workplace. Whether you're leading a meeting or an active participant, both roles can get your point across. Sometimes people get sidetracked in meetings by switching topics or having side conversations that distract from the agenda. Staying focused on the reason for a meeting is key to influencing those around you. As a participant, you can practice active listening and only offer your thoughts or ask questions after the other person is done speaking. If you aren't leading the meeting, you'll want to avoid taking over the conversation completely. If you are the leader, you can make sure to guide the discussion and present your points clearly. You should also set aside enough time to actively listen to others. This means being open to other's opinions or concern. When it comes to persuasion, you'll want to express yourself with enough understanding and rationale that people come to a similar conclusion on their own. Oftentimes this involves asking the right questions. Imagine you're a participant in a meeting about working from home and you want to persuade others to reject the idea. A useful question might be, do we know how other corporations in our industry are handling the difficulties of remote work? As a leader in the same scenario you might ask, now that we've reviewed the data for working from home, does anyone have any concerns? There are many other scenarios at work that may require similar practices. Getting everyone on the same page is the first step in leading your agenda.