A Can (or in This Case Jar) of Worms.
I heard a story the other day.
A doctor was talking to a group of rather elderly patients about health issues and he decided to create a visual impression to give his case more meaning and pizzazz.
He collected 4 worms from his garden and placed them in 4 glass jars.
He then in front of the group filled each of the 4 jars. The first jar he filled with alcohol. The second jar he filled with cigarette smoke. The third jar he filled with chocolate and in the final fourth jar he added fresh soil.
He then continued with his talk about the problems associated with drinking, smoking and eating an unhealthy diet.
At the end of the talk he tipped out the contents of the 4 jars.
It was only in the jar that had been filled with soil that the worm survived. All 3 of the other worms had sadly perished.
“What does that tell you?” he asked his hushed audience.
Quick as a flash one old lady said ‘As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won’t have worms!’
Sometimes no matter how persuasive our argument or how many visual aids or powerful analogies we use, the other side will see things in a very different way. Our challenge as negotiators is to recognize when to move on from persuasion, try to understand how the other side see as the issues and what success for them looks like.
Then try something else.