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Truth 18. People love to be asked their opinion
Take any topic and most anyone you ask will have an opinion.
It’s just human nature: being opinionated helps each of us
define our identity and is what differentiates us from, or
connects us to, others. Fortunately, there are daily
opportunities to offer opinions, from writing to the paper
or keeping a blog, or web log, to sitting at the bar
debating topics with friends. We also contribute our
opinions in the public realm by way of opinion polls,
surveys and elections.
Canvassing for opinions is one of the best ways to connect
to others at work. People love being asked what they think
because it makes them feel important and valued, and they
get to talk about themselves while someone listens with
interest. They also enjoy it because it’s so easy: there’s
no need to study or prepare much to have an opinion, and no
need to back it up either, since an opinion is just a point
of view, not a test of knowledge.
When you want to make something happen at work, asking for
opinions is a way to generate support and the buy-in of
others. Even better, asking for opinions from opinion-makers
- senior executives and heads of relevant departments – can
help your ideas gain ground in the organization. If you talk
to enough key people, you’ll get a good sense of general
feelings about the issue while also being able to help those
folks understand your proposition or intent. Armed with
their feedback, you are in a position to produce a
discussion document, feeding information about your ideas
back to both the opinion-givers and the wider organization,
generating more discussion. That document will be taken much
more seriously if it has opinions besides your own in it.
This opinion-gathering process works well even if you
haven’t got a specific project to promote. It can help you
position yourself as someone who asks good questions and
cares about the future of the company.
When gathering opinions, the key thing is to ask open-ended
questions. These give the people you’re asking lots of
opportunity to talk, resulting in a good chunky body of
information. An open-ended question, such as, “How are
things working since we restructured the IT system?” may get
a general or fuzzy answer initially. You can then probe for
examples, actions taken as a result, and positive and
negative impacts. You can also probe non-verbal clues like
hesitation or shoulder shrugging. It’s fine to say, “You
seem a little hesitant; can you tell me more about that?”
You’ll create more relationships in two months by being
interested in peoples’ opinions than you will in two years
by trying to make them interested in you. The information
that you gather can also be useful to you in many ways.
Asking for opinions is a win-win all around. |
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