Change Someone's MindChange Someone's Mind

Change Someone’s Mind. One likes to feel that they aren’t being seen accurately or positively in terms of their abilities, intentions, or motivations. So how can you rescue a relationship that has soured or stalled at work —  and change your colleague’s mind about you?

It isn’t always easy to change people’s minds. The human brain tends to interpret and recall information in a way that confirms your

existing belief — and less time considering other points of view. However, the good news is that it can be done, although it takes

time, sustained effort, and awareness to tip the scales back in your favor — or at least take them to neutral again.

Ultimately, changing someone’s mind about you is about relationship management. It will depend on a few elements, such as the

hierarchy and stage of your relationship. Working on someone’s perception if you have just met and got off to a shaky start takes a

slightly different strategy to someone responding to you within the framework of a longer-term relationship, for example.

Your approach will also depend on whether their negative perception is about you, or your capabilities — and

whether it is actively impacting your career or just creating an uncomfortable feeling that things aren’t running as smoothly as they could.

1. PLAYING DETECTIVE

Finding out as much as possible about what may be informing the person’s opinion or perception of you (or what you assume it to

be) is where it all starts. After all, it’s hard to change someone’s opinion if you don’t know what it is.

While conducting research for her book, Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage, Laura Huang interviewed 60 leaders who were

trying to convince business colleagues to change their minds. She found the most successful were those who diagnosed the root of

the belief before trying to persuade. The question they all started with was, ‘What’s driving my detractor’s resistance?’ — pinpointing

which aspects of their behavior or conversation elicited the most pushback and strongest emotional reactions.

Reflecting on the information and signals you’ve received from others in this way — and if necessary digging for more information

some judicious questions — will help you set your roadmap for changing things, whether through a direct approach.

3. STEP INTO THEIR SHOES

To change someone’s mind about you, you need to understand how they see the world, and how you fit into it, says Steve Willis, executive coach at Crucial Learning. He suggests spending as much time as possible in ‘listening mode’ around them as you can, and specifically for details around their assumptions of you.

If you feel someone does not see your ability or potential clearly, then arranging a meeting and asking incisive questions can help you understand their internal story about you and where exactly that has come from. By asking for specificity around times, situations, and circumstances (for example, where they see you doing/not doing certain things or exhibiting certain behaviors), you can then identify what you can do differently in those moments.

Using specificity can also help challenge any unconscious biases they might have, slowing down their reasoning process and allowing them to come to a new conclusion about you themselves, rather than trying to purely persuade from outside.

4. ACTIONS (OR SYMBOLS) SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORD Show to change someone’s mind

Once we know what’s beneath the issue involving someone’s opinion of us, we need to strategically send some new messages that we hope will move the dial on those opinions. This is where a little-known sociological idea called symbolic interactionism can weave a little magic.

‘A symbolic action is any action you take where the other people who are watching will walk away having concluded what you care

about, what your priorities are and even what you value’. Your actions are the ‘symbols’ or representations of your

character, values, and priorities — as Willis notes, they are ‘everything you do, or don’t do, when you show up, if you show up, what you say and what you don’t say’.

To get the ball rolling, ask yourself what you could do that would demonstrate that you are the very opposite of what

someone thinks of you. The fundamental premise is that if you want someone’s perception to change, you have to

demonstrate this change in your actions. For example, if you believe they see you as overbearing then make noticeable space for

other people in meetings. If they don’t think of you as a proactive leader, then go out of your way to volunteer to lead projects.

5. UNRAVEL THE FIRST IMPRESSION

A first impression can be hard to undo, says a professor of Psychology at Loyola University Maryland. ‘Once

formed, they create people’s future expectations, and these expectations shape subsequent interactions,’ she says.

What people think of us can also become a self-fulfilling prophecy, making us behave in ways aligned with someone’s first

impression of us. However, a shaky start can be mitigated. ‘Negative first impressions can be moved if new information undercuts

the initial evaluation, not only offering positive impression information but, critically, offering new explanations for what was previously interpreted as evidence for a negative judgment.

This could include reaching out to someone to let them know you were nervous and acknowledge you made a mistake, or finding a way to reconnect and demonstrate more of your character after a poor interview, for example.

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Above all, avoid trying to overcompensate or making too much of an effort to change someone else’s perception, says

communications consultant and author of Choose Your Story, Change Your Life, Kindra Hall. ‘While this is only natural, it will likely

make things worse,’ she says. If you are trying to combat a poor first impression then the weight of evidence will eventually sway

them, she says. ‘When you bring your authentic self to work and show your colleagues that you are competent, a team player and

that they can rely on you, the multiple interactions they have with you every day will eventually override that one moment they met you.’

In more entrenched situations and relationships, it may be that you have to focus on a particular area of your behavior or another’s

perception of you to shift the dial over time. For Hall, though, the answer in all situations is not to try to do too much, too soon.

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