LANGUAGE THAT

INFLUENCES MINDS

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Q:1 Which one would influence more people ?

1. “While, we are discussing this new

process, you may recall that there were some

things in the old process that you may have

found annoying and sometimes very

laborious.”

2. “The old system was very annoying and

laborious and so we want to introduce a new

system”

Imagine that you are addressing a

group of colleagues who will

be affected by a change in

work processes

What meaning do you make of this story ?

There was once a little girl who

moved into a new country with

her parents. Everything in that

country was different. On some

days, she felt her own country

was so much better & she missed

it. But at certain times, she was

excited to meet new

people, which initially felt strange

and she felt unsure.

With time, she was also able to

find various things in that new

country which made her smile.

Some of these thingsshe found rightaway, some tooktime.... Some camewith a little effort andsome took somepractice and shefound friends whohelped her.

After 3 years, herfather found a job ina new country. Shelooked at him, smileand asked. Anothernew place. “I amgetting lucky again.”

What does this story make you feel if you

read it ? How did you relate to it ?

Q: 2 Which one would influence more people ?

1. “This is a new concept that we are bringing in

and we want all of you to understand it well

and also its advantages”

2. “I wonder if you can think of a time, when a

new idea was presented to you and you

allowed yourself to think of all the possibilities.

Sometime this took you a couple of

minutes, sometimes hours and sometimes

days, but you were always able to see some

merit in it”

Imagine that you are addressing

a group of colleagues who will

be affected by a change in

work processes

Language can influences many minds

• When Leadership communication is unable to touch

people at an individual level, it very often fails.

• Sometimes, messages are very precise and individuals

may resist such messages. This is because; they are

unable to derive their own meaning.

We detect patterns

• Human’s beings are meaning making creatures.

?

Which one of the ladies

should be here ?

Mirror Neurons, help us detect patterns

With patterns, we make our own meanings

• Most of our neurons are mirror neurons. They help us

detect patterns and we create our own meaning.

?

What could be

possibly here ?

Were you able to guess this right ?

Specific or Vague

• Words take a person into an internal search

• This has implications on

▫ What they think ?

▫ How they think about it ?

▫ How they feel, when they think about it ?

Artfully vague language – Dr Erickson

• This was used by Dr Milton Ericksonand his method of language wasmodelled by the founders of NLP.

• Artfully vague language

▫ directly speaks to the unconsciousmind and creates a usefulatmosphere for learning and change.

▫ Uses abstract language, metaphorand story. It makes contentunspecific.

The language of influence can be delivered to a

group and also works at an individual level

While searching

inside, they are

more open to

suggestions and

to change

When the person

hears this language of

influence , it makes the

person go inside

themselves to find

personal examples.

1 2

WORDS THAT CHANGE

MINDS

Some image are courtesy – unrestrictedstock.com