The Big Challenge: Are most people eager to be persuaded, moved to action, or changed?
Empirical evidence says no. The vast majority of people (88%) report that they break their New Year's resolution before the end of January. And New Year's resolutions are usually changes people decide they want to make themselves! So, clearly, whether they're talking about getting physically fit, financially fit, or mentally fit, people do not find change easy.
Here is an example:
Q: I always make one or two New Year resolutions but have had little success in following through on them. What can I do this year to achieve my goals?
A: Every year, we gain a clearer understanding that without positive change, decline is inevitable. The challenge is to recognize that what we are now doing can be reinvented by paying attention to our intentions. Yet, it is very hard to bring about significant change without changes in behavior. - See more at: http://coachingtip.blogs.com/what_can_it_be/2012/10/new-year-resolutions.html
People openly resist being persuaded. They become overburdened with information, are skeptical of spin, and are wary of those trying to persuade them to do something.
At the same time, more and more people are trying to break through with a message. We want to influence others to do something. Good communication may not make a risky project sound safe, but poor communication may fail to convey the benefits of a good project or good deal.
"Once words leave your mouth, credibility goes either up or down. Trust remains stable, grows or plunges. All the raw ingredients of communication (words, body language, emotion, logic, action, inaction, listening, branding, perception, structure, and so forth) produce change--either positive or negative," writes business communications expert Dianna Booher in her book "WHAT MORE CAN I SAY? Why Communication Fails And What To Do About It."
In business, the key to communication is many times the difference between an effective leader and an ineffective leader. "To influence someone, we have to start with the other person's reality, not ours," says Booher.
Source: Dianna Booher: What More Can I Say?: Why Communication Fails and What to Do About It