Understanding Influencing vs. Persuading: Can You Share Real-Life Examples?

Hi,

Can someone share an example to show the difference between influencing and persuading?

Understanding Influence and Persuasion

The dictionary meaning of "influence" is "a power to affect persons or events, especially power based on prestige, etc." Another meaning is "induce into action by using one's charm." Therefore, influencing may or may not be a deliberate effort.

Junior employees get influenced by senior management professionals like GMs, Directors, Managing Directors, etc., through their communication style and decision-making processes. Seniors also influence juniors by espousing certain values or adhering to a certain philosophy. In such cases, juniors consider seniors as their role models because of the positive influence that seniors create. However, in many cases, there is no direct communication between juniors and seniors.

Employees get influenced by the culture of the company as well. The management style of the seniors, the competitiveness of the enterprise, parameters of rewards and recognition, etc., are all influencing factors. Informal conversations between or amongst employees about whether to do something or not can influence the actions or decisions of workplace colleagues.

Influence could result from direct or indirect efforts as well. Many times, people join informal organizations, charity organizations, etc., because of the indirect influence of workplace colleagues, neighbors, etc.

The Role of Personal Preferences in Influence

Whether to get influenced or not depends on one's needs, requirements, interests, prejudices, and beliefs. Suppose someone is not interested in cricket; then no amount of discussion about cricket can influence that person to play cricket or even watch the game on TV. Take your own case. You have been a member of this forum since 2nd February 2008 and have raised five posts. You have not replied to a query from a fellow member. Therefore, the wealth of information that this forum provides has failed to influence you. The needs of the fellow members have also failed to influence a Communication Trainer like you to share your valuable knowledge!

Understanding Persuasion

The dictionary meaning of "persuade" is "to cause somebody to adopt a certain position, belief, or course of action." Persuasion is a result of direct communication and could be positive or negative. Winning the approval of other person(s) by projecting positive features of something is called positive persuasion. Salespersons use their persuasive skills while selling their products or services. In this case, efforts are intended or have the power to induce action or belief. In contrast, if the efforts are to cause someone to do something because of unpleasant consequences, it is negative persuasion. When a senior manager forces a junior to take additional responsibility, it has the undertone of negative persuasion. Mostly, direct communication is required to persuade somebody.

Final Note

While raising a query on this forum, always mention the reason for your query, your background, etc.

For Mr. V Raghunathan: Nice to see you after a long time. Nevertheless, the dictionary meaning of both the words does not support your reply.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Understanding the Difference Between Influencing and Persuading

In my opinion, influencing is about making someone understand, believe, or act in a way where they have a choice in being influenced by the information or demonstration you provide. This process does not involve any force but aims to motivate people to align with a particular objective—to inspire.

The Nature of Persuasion

On the other hand, persuading involves continuously urging individuals to comprehend, believe, or act in line with your actions, sometimes without fully explaining the rationale behind it. While individuals still have a choice in this scenario, persuasion entails a more forceful approach to convince someone and prompt a change in behavior.

Positive Aspects of Persuasion

However, on the positive side of persuading, if the initial influence that inspired them led to a flawed execution, persuasion can step in to guide them on the correct approach by demonstrating, "this is how you can or should do it." This intervention helps in correcting behavior and encouraging improvement over past actions.

Influence vs. Persuasion

A persuader tries to influence someone, whereas an influencer does not push others to get convinced.

Influence

You get impacted without any direct force or direct suggestion from the influencer. 100% buy-in is required. A person is in complete control to make the final decision for himself or herself.

Example: Steve Jobs influences you to act upon your dreams. Aishwarya Rai influences the sale of beauty products.

Persuasion

A deliberate attempt is made to cajole another person to agree with the persuader's point of view.

Example: A salesperson persuades you to buy a product. A manager persuades team members to stay late to complete a project.

Influencing vs. Persuading

If you speak with confidence and have certain distinguishing body language, kids around you get influenced and imitate you. You are not influencing the kids intentionally, nor do you have any idea about it. But kids get influenced if they feel "awesome" when they see you.

If you ask a kid not to eat burgers/pizzas by threatening to scold/beat/get prizes/etc., you are persuading him. Here, your intentions are clear, and you are clearly involved with certain objectives in your mind.

I hope this clears things up.

Greetings!

Let's understand it in a simpler way:

Persuade means putting in your entire effort to convince others to do something.

Influence is an automatic process where people start following you and do what you want them to do.

Chill HR!!

Influencing: To achieve by using cash, kind, service, threat, reward, pressure, etc.

Persuasion: To achieve by conquering hearts, regular follow-up, deliberation, assurance, and guarantee that one is considered positively.

It has been quite a while since I interacted in Cite HR. I feel bad that due to my other compulsive commitments during the last few months, I have been unable to devote time as in the past. Call it 'Influence' or 'Persuasion,' this thread has kindled some interest in me to add some more information, and I am sharing the same with all of you.

By and large, many words take on meaning according to the context, country, and subject. This compels us to seek answers beyond dictionary meanings. As an example, in India, it is considered an offensive style when someone says, "I DO NOT CARE," whereas in North America and Canada, the same words imply that he or she is not interested in what is being discussed. It is not considered offensive.

Management gurus time and again come out with different interpretations to distinguish words that we otherwise recognize as synonymous. The attachment posted by Senior Member Nash is an example. Again, using the words as a noun or verb adds to the gamut of meanings. I am amazed at the different possibilities in using the two words as pointed out by our learned readers in the preceding discussions. To continue the discussions, I have attached some extracts from Collins and Thesaurus. Certainly, it will arouse the curiosity of all readers as they see that Thesaurus treats 'Influence' and 'Persuasion' as synonymous.

Regards, V.Raghunathan

Dear Puja,

Persuading is an intentional act, while influencing is not. You may be influenced by someone's personality, agility, leadership, or group skills, but you may be persuaded by your parents and siblings to opt for your future spouse of their choice, rather than the one of your liking.

Arif ur Rehman