Research on effective communication—–Compelling, Persuasive, Powerful Question Framework

From the interventions and interviews I had conducted, I realised that how to create a collaborative space and the ability to listen effectively, to speak more freely and openly, is an essential part of my researching process.

Compelling, persuasive and powerful speaking framework can be a model for effective communication developed by Mike Clayton(2013).

Compelling focus on “How to speak so people listen” and “How to speak so people understand”. It does so first by extract people’s attention, then by adopting a simple structure that makes it easy to follow, that has enough surprise or interest to stop them getting bored. 

Persuasive focus on “How to speak so people understand, as you intend them to Level”and “How to speak so people agree with you”. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, identified three components of persuasive speech: ethos, logos and pathos. Ethos stands for character: How do people know that they can trust the speaker? why should people listen to you?. Logos stands for reason:the speech needs to establish a reasoned argument that puts evidence in a logical way. Pathos stands for emotion: the emotional power of the argument need to be established and moves listeners to want to act. Words and stories can be used to conjure emotion. Thirdly, Powerful speech works with emotions and psychology to deliver your message in ways that change audience. To achieve this, It is necessary to understand how words affect people’s understanding of their world.

Powerful question promote proactive, focused thought, attention, and observation(Rogers, 2008). It tap into creativity and create options. It can make a problem feel more like a challenge, an opportunity. And it create a positive forward movement. Whitmore(2009) suggested that a question rather than instructions that best generate awareness and responsibility. And Thornton(2010) suggested that Powerful questions are phrased in such a way as to encompass the problem and provoke an answer.

Reference list:

Clayton.M(2013) How to speak so people listen? [online]Available on:– ManagementDirect (cmi.org.uk)

Rogers,J(2008) Coaching Skills_ A Handbook, Open University Press

Thornton,C(2010) Essential Coaching Skills and Knowledge- Group and Team Coaching_ The Essential Guide, Routledge