Feb 7 – Create Agreements
Agreeing to Agree is so Much Nicer than Agreeing to Disagree
Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day
February 7 – To create an environment for agreement, ask permission based questions to make sure the other party is okay with moving forward. The first permission based question is “Can I ask you a question?” This opens the door for engagement.
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Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP
In Ori Brafman’s book, “Sway – The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior,” he talks about how our minds prefer to stay the course with consistent decisions. So if your intent is to create agreement, asking permission-based questions gets the wheels in motion to make creating an agreement the consistent choice.
This comes in really handy when you’re promoting yourself and/or something you’ve created – when you want to get people interested in what you are offering. Have you noticed that a good sales person will get you saying, “yes, yes, yes” and nodding your head in agreement? Yes? Well this is exactly what they are doing – using this bias towards maintaining consistency to increase your willingness to accept their proposal.
Pay attention to how you could use this yourself when you want to create agreements with others. Find the common ground where you can agree FIRST. Develop that bond and the consistency. It will make it far easier to tackle the stickier areas later. Cheetah students master this technique in the Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Program.
