Educators teach, lead, and are learners, themselves. But there's a big piece of every profession that often gets overlooked. In his 2014 ASCD Annual Conference opening general session, author Daniel Pink argued that, in a significant way, educators are also persuaders."A big part of what you do is try to move people," said Pink.
Pink surveyed 7,000 full-time, adult workers and found that American professionals spend 41 percent of the work day, or 24 minutes of every hour, persuading people to give up something they value for something you can offer.
As educators, this may mean trying to make a convincing appeal for certain state or district policies, persuasively leading your teachers to adopt a new curriculum or instructional approach, or motivating your students to practice close reading.
For many, this is a whole new way to think about work. What's more, says Pink, this phenomenon is happening in an utterly new landscape—where both persuader and persuadee have similar amounts of information. Pink says this relatively recent state of "information parity" requires new mind-sets and techniques for motivating others.
Pushy or aggressive methods are less effective when well-informed customers have a way to talk back to your persuasive appeals. Instead, Pink recommended building your persuasive techniques on three core Daniel Pink: Perfecting Your Power to Move Others — Whole Child Education:
6-4-14 The Whole Child Blog — The Dilemma of Choice — Whole Child Education
The Dilemma of Choice — Whole Child Education: The Dilemma of ChoiceJune 4, 2014 by Whole Child SymposiumThe decisions we make today—for our systems, our schools, and our classrooms—will affect what all of our tomorrows will look like. This spring, ASCD hosted its inaugural Whole Child Symposium, a series of in-person and online events in which experts, policymakers, teachers, and students discuss