Tobi's Volunteer Management Blog

Use the Science of Persuasion to Spark Volunteer Support

To help nonprofit leaders better persuade others to support their missions, I've been studying what motivates human behavior, more specifically what motivates us to switch direction, away from our well-worn path toward something new (see my last post on the getting buy-in here). 

Is it because someone's made a fantastically good argument, giving us relevant information that we consciously and rationally consider before deciding to shift course?  Or is it something else, something deep within our instinctual brains that drives us? 

I'm finding it's more the latter than the former -- much of what we do as humans is motivated by the social and behavioral cues of others.  And, much of it is seemingly pre-programmed.  We are simply hard-wired to act in certain ways, given certain triggers.  So much for free will!!

But, if that's the case, what do we need to change about how we communicate with supporters?  What do we need to do to get to that energized "Yes!" we need from prospective volunteers, executive management, community partners, and our peers?

In his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, recognized as one of the most important marketing books of the last decade, Robert Cialdini reviews the science of persuading others and breaks it down into six key principles.  It's a great read and really digs deep into the research around why we do what we do.  Fascinating stuff!

Below are the six principles, with my ideas on what you can do to enlist volunteer support for your good cause or program.

Six Keys to Igniting Volunteer Support

Principle 1: Reciprocation -- All favors must be returned.  You can't do it alone.  To effectively recruit volunteers, you need the help of others in your organization.  Garner internal support by being the first to lend a helping hand.  Offer to help other people and programs.  Whenever leadership asks you to help with something, do it.  Start banking good will for you and your program now, and it will be reciprocated later.

Principle 2: Scarcity -- We want more of what we can have less of.  When talking about program needs and available volunteer positions, frame them as time limited.  Give potential recruits deadlines and help paint a picture about what happens if your cause misses the boat.  Be careful not to paint the situation as completely desperate, but do talk about what's at stake.  Also, in your appeals, mention how many slots are currently left for your next volunteer orientation or training and explain that space is limited.

Principle 3: Authority -- We will follow, even if it is wrong.  This is sad, but true.  So, use it to your advantage.  Ask local authority figures to vouch for your program.  Present their stories and testimonials about your good work and the transformation you bring about in your community.  According to the most recent Edelman Trust Barometer, technical experts and academics rate as the most trusted people.  Government officials are at the bottom of the list.  So, choose wisely.  Find trusted experts in your field and ask for their very public stamp of approval.

Principle 4: Liking -- We prefer to say “yes” to those we know and like.   Seems simple enough; be friendly and likeable.  But, when interested volunteers reach your web page or walk though your front doors, are they welcomed with open arms?  Can they easily connect with real people, right away, instead of sending an inquiry to an anonymous inbox or calling only to be put off until later?  Consider posting photos and interesting short bios about your staff and vounteers on-line.  Help prospective volunteers get to know the team, and they may be more ready to join.

Principle 5: Social Proof -- Popular items have been chosen by others first. Humans are reassured of their choices when they see that others before them have taken the same steps.  Wherever and whenever you can, showcase your volunteers and their accomplishments.  Ask your current volunteers to help you enlist the support of others.  Their stories and calls to action are infinately more powerful than those of paid staff.

Principle 6: Commitment & Consistency -- We try to remain consistent with what we have already said and done.  Organizations often make the mistake of asking for the moon right from the start.  People need to test drive experiences.  And, if they agree to move in a certain direction, their future behavior is likley to follow their initial actions, values, or attitudes.  Try getting perspective volunteers to commit to a small act of support at first -- like signing up for your newsletter or blog, making an on-line pledge, helping out with a small project, or visiting an informational gathering.  Then, build commitment from there by consistently communicating and cultivating their engagement.  It takes time, but the potential payoff can be great.  

If you want more information about the science behind these principles, I highly recommend Cialdini's book.  It's inexpensive, easy to read, and really gets you thinking about the art and science of influence.

What would you suggest as the seventh principle of persuading prospecitve volunteers?  Write it in the comments.

Photo credit: Trusty Pics/Flickr

We’re Still Growing! Hot Tips on Writing to Engage from Our Newest Team Member

 I feel so fortunate lately.  We’ve added to our team again.  Now I have THREE fantastic and talented women to work with.  Life just couldn’t get any better.  For more on our current lineup, check out our team page by clicking here.  

Please join me in welcoming our newest addition, Sara Clary!  Today, she's sharing tips on how to keep your written communications simple.

Sara Clary, Curriculum Development Specialist

Sara just joined Tobi Johnson & Associates and will be helping us develop volunteer training materials for our clients.  Sara comes with a wealth of experience, a law degree, and a passion for helping people understand complex systems in an easy way.  She’s particularly interested in helping low-income people get access to benefits that can save them money and improve their health and day-to-day lives.

Tobi:  So, Sara, you've worked with a number of organizations where you helped people with low-incomes and limited literacy levels.  In order to attract a diverse group volunteers, with a variety of skills and backgrounds, I believe it's really on us to create materials that are simple and easy to read, regardless of their presumed education level.  Would you agree?

Sara: Absolutely. I think any documents produced by non-profits should be engaging for people regardless of their literacy level.  We want people to feel welcome and part of the community, whether we're talking about the volunteers we rely on or the clients we work with.  Materials should be direct, use clear language and be visually interesting for the reader.  Making an inclusive environment for people really begins with the printed materials we produce. They are important and a great opportunity to engage. 

Tobi:  What are a few things you would suggest folks do to help them create materials in plain language?

Sara: When trying to create documents that are really effective, I think it's important to keep a few things in mind --  

1. I try to avoid using "extra" words that are really not necessary to make my point. They have the potential to confuse readers and really just take up space. 
2. Avoid using legalese or complicated health care, or other, language.  More often than not the idea you are trying to relay can be stated more simply. 
3. Try to make the page look interesting for the reader. Use bullet points where there are lists, underscore or bold really important words or concepts, and try to stick to short paragraphs. 

It may take a little longer, but I think it's worth the effort to make sure the documents we produce are written in clear, plain language. 

Great advice!  Thanks, Sara!

Buy-In: 5 Steps to Persuading Others to Follow Your Dream

It’s occurred to me that we spent a tremendous amount of time persuading others.  Whether it’s a cautious applicant, a doubtful volunteer, a reluctant executive director, a fatigued team member, or a tentative community parter, we are all in the business of making the case to others to join our cause or buy in to our ideas to make our work better.  And yet, we spend little time understanding how to do this well.

Instead, we work on crafting the best possible job description, volunteer recruitment ad, training materials, or fact sheet.  These are important, to be sure, but maybe it’s also time to figure out how to get better at “buy-in.”

How Do We Decide?

So, just how do human beings decide to support an idea or cause, which inevitably means they make a change in their behavior?  What happens in the human make up, the grey matter, the spirit?  Marketers have studied this for eons.  In fact, the quest to convince is the core of marketing -- and they have quite a bit to offer the discussion, as do psychologists and behavior economists. 

Lately, I’ve begin to study this, too.  Maybe as an armchair aficionado, partly because I find human behavior truly fascinating, but ultimately, because I think we in the volunteer sector can’t do without it.  The human brain is now bombarded with tens of thousands of messages each day, and it is adapting to better cope with information overload.  That adaptation may well indeed make our brothers and sisters even harder to reach.  And, we need to connect; our communities need it, and our world needs it.

So, as I study what the wise ones know about human persuasion, I’ll share what I learn with you.  And, I’ll mention how I think it can be used to garner greater support for our volunteer programs and make them more effective.  Sound like a plan?

Here’s my first foray into the topic at hand.

Five Setps To Get Buy-In

This week, I finished the book “Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down” by John Kotter and Lorne Whitehead.  They posit that there are four ways people try to derail good ideas -- fear mongering, delay, confusion, or ridicule.  Luckily, irrespective of the attacker’s underlying motivations, these tactics can be defused so that enough buy in can be generated to propel an idea forward.  

They suggest the following, relatively simple method, to convert attacks into support.  In their case, they suggest this would happen in a group setting.  I can imagine it working in a team meeting or retreat (I don’t think it would work well on a conference call). 

Step One: Gain peoples attention by allowing the attacker’s in and letting them attack.  (While this seems counterintuitive -- What?  Give them air time to better make their case?  Yep.  It will position you well, if you can stomach it.)

Step Two: Then win the minds of the relevant, attentive audience with simple, clear, and commonsense responses.  (Although our naysayers appear to represent the majority, this is rarely the case, at first anyway.  But, if you don’t respond effectively -- ideas on possible responses are below -- they will have an opportunity to win a larger share of your audience and thus stymie your movement forward.)

Step Three: Win their hearts by, most of all, showing respect.  (While it’s sometimes hard to keep your cool in conflict situations -- believe me, I’ve been there -- your audience will be won over more by your demeanor than a long, drawn out debate about why your idea is best.  People decide on emotion, and they are more likely to support someone who’s likable.  This means you must show -- through your tone of voice, calm demeanor, and actively listening -- that you respect even the people who disagree with you.  So, take the high road...always.)

Step Four: Constantly Monitor the people whose hearts and minds you need: the broad audience, not the few attackers. (This means scanning the audience, tracking on their level of support by their body language and facial expression.  While you respect your naysayers, you don’t need to focus all of your attention on them the entire time.  Keep taking the pulse of the room to see where you’re at.)

Step Five: Prepare for these steps in advance.  (If you’ve already floated the idea to a few people, or have suggested something similar in the past, you likely already know what the counter arguments or issues will be.  Be ready, prepare your responses carefully, but don’t script them.  Remember, there’s no reason you can’t bring notes to your meeting to remind you.  Also, put yourself in the right mindset before your meeting.  “Open, respectful, calm, efficient” is a great mantra.)

In the beginning of the book, Kotter and Whitehead recount a story of a community meeting where an idea is in the midst of getting shot down, but the leader saves the day.  It demonstrates their strategy in action, but even more helpful are their suggested responses to twenty-four common attacks -- based on the four tactics people use to derail mentioned above.  

Six Common Attacks and Simple Responses

Here are a six attacks I hear frequently (with my two cents in parenthesis) and the responses Kotter and Whitehead recommend.  They’re short and to the point, which is a brilliant part of the strategy in action.

1) Attack: We’ve never done this in the past, and things have always worked out okay.  (This comes up often when we ask staff to make a significant shift in a comfortable way of doing business.  Think about what happens when someone suggests you use social media to connect with volunteers ...)

Response: True, But surely we have all seen that those who fail to adapt eventually become distinct.

2) Attack: Money is the issue, not ... (you fill in the blank).  (i.e., better tactics, more strategic direction, more flexibility for volunteers, a better volunteer recruitment process, increased attention to why volunteers leave, etc.  Many argue that if they just had more money, the problem would solve itself.)

Response: Extra money is rarely what builds truly great ventures or organization.

3) Attack: We’re simply not equipped to do this. (I’ve heard this one a lot from folks.  Teams are struggling to see, and take advantage of, the abundance of resources available out there.  It’s a mindset we need to work on.  Isn't capacity building what volunteerism is all about?)

Response: We have much of what we need, and we can and will get the rest.

4) Attack: The plan may be fine, but we cannot do it without extra money.  (This one is very similar to the attack listed above.  In this case, you do need to do your homework.  You’ll need to think through what resources would be needed to bring your idea to fruition.  If it’s over the top, and your organization cant even come close to affording it, then think again about your proposal.  Can you scale it back?  Are there ways to implement that are low cost -- for example with the help of pro-bono volunteers?  I'm not saying money doesn't help, but it's not the only thing that inspires greatness.)

Response: Actually, most important changes are achieved without new sources of money.

5) Attack: It’s just too much work to do this.  (Also, similar to the two above, this focuses on a poverty mindset -- we simply don’t have the resources to make any changes right now.  Is that really true?  Imagine all the social change that’s happened in the world.  Did it happen due to a big budget?  Not so much.  And, many truly great ideas will, actually save time in the end.)

Response: Hard can be good.  A genuinely good idea, facing time-consuming obstacles, can both raise our energy level and motivate us to eliminate wasted time.

6) Attack: It won’t work here because we are so different.  (I’ve heard differences identified as rural versus urban, large versus small organization, our population served versus your population served, my neighborhood versus your neighborhood, etc.  In the end, some of the tactics you use may be slightly different, but human motivation remains the same -- I’ll talk more about what the research says about that in upcoming blog posts, so stay tuned.)

Response: Yes, it’s true; we’re different, but we are also very much the same.

The Key is Focus

You’ll notice that all these responses are short and sweet.  To build buy in, you don’t need to come up with a huge justification to each issue raised.  You should have already presented your proposal at the beginning of your meeting, so there’s no need to rehash it.  People just need to see that you are listening, feel that they are being respected, and know that you’ve done your homework behind the scenes and are confident with your idea.  

After it’s all said and done, if everyone’s had a chance to speak, and you think you have enough buy in the from the group at large (you may hear them admitting they have a problem to fix, and they feel the proposal is good), you can close.   Take a vote or announce your decision to move forward based on your decision-making process.  If a few folks still want to debate details, do it one-on-one later, but make it clear that the decision has been made. 

This doesn’t mean it might not get altered in the future, but for now, what’s done is done.