The Seven Strategies of Master Presenters - Lifecycle Performance ...

152 / THE SEVEN STRATEGIES OF MASTER PRESENTERS
Kinesthetically. Kinesthetic learners are those who learn best by
touching or doing. They are “hands-on” learners. One of the principles
that Brad teaches with determination in The Seven Strategies of
Master Negotiators course is, “You can’t change someone’s mind if
you don’t know where their mind is.” He used four methods to make
sure that the participants remember this phrase. The first is repetition.
He says it at least seven times. The second is to anchor it kinesthetically
in a handshake with one’s partner. The third is to start the
phrase and ask the class to finish it. The fourth is by using the phrase
as one of the answers in a quiz at the beginning of the second day.
Brad: I anchor a key point kinesthetically by asking the participants
to find a partner. I then demonstrate the Master Negotiators
mantra, “You can’t change someone’s mind if you
don’t know where their mind is” with a volunteer from the
audience. We repeat the mantra while we are shaking hands
as if we had just been introduced. Please note that the rhythm
of the handshake is matched to the rhythm at which the
words are being spoken—which is modeled at a slow tempo.
The purpose of this exercise is to anchor the words through
hearing, but also kinesthetically in the feel of the handshake.
The principle is further reinforced because handshaking is
symbolic of agreement. By the time this exercise is repeated
three or four times with the audience members, the phrase,
“You can’t change someone’s mind if you don’t know where
his or her mind is” is anchored both aurally and kinesthetically,
which helps to transfer it to one’s long-term memory.
One way to think about what we are tying to accomplish when we
say that we want to anchor it kinesthetically is to think about a song,
jingle, or advertisement that starts to drive you crazy because it keeps
playing itself over and over again in your mind. What we want to
accomplish here is the same thing, only we want to do it on purpose.
Therefore, the participants are instructed that every time they shake
someone’s hand, the phrase, “You can’t change someone’s mind if
you don’t know where their mind is” is to be repeated silently to themselves.
In other words, we are using the psychological principle of
pairing, that is, taking something that naturally occurs at a high rate,
and pairing it with something that would naturally occur at a low rate,