Power Of Choice

One of the most misunderstood and often-overlooked concepts is the power of choice. Let’s explore the advantages the power of choice affords in a variety of activities (roles).

Expressing wishes

Our natural tendency is to tell people what we want. This approach opens the door to yes or no responses. This is unfortunate because the default response is typically no. That’s because no is perceived as having little or no risk associated with it.

That’s not true because there is always lost opportunity cost associated with no. It’s a cost we don’t feel because we aren’t exerting effort and energy, costs we do feel.

We can avoid this problem using the power of choice. Simply say: I’d like your help with this, would [this time] or [that time] be more convenient for you? Better yet, soften the approach by saying: I need your expertise, would [this time] or [that time] be more convenient for you?

The first question may be seen by the other party as presumptuous, resulting in you getting the no you’re trying to avoid. The latter question credits the person with knowledge, skills and abilities that you don’t posses. It’s hard to resist a request that acknowledges your strengths.

Sales

Salespeople have long known that offering options (choices), increases the likelihood of making a sale. Offering options moves the consideration from yes or no to which of these. Offering customers a variety of options from which to choose not only increases the likelihood of making the sale, it increases the likelihood that the customer will get their needs fulfilled.

The power of choice in sales looks differently depending on whether you’re selling person to person or digitally. In person to person sales, you want to offer your best option first. When the customer responds with “your price is too high” or “I don’t have the budget for that,” that’s when you respond by offering a lower priced alternative. When you do, be sure to add “what you’re giving up is.” The reality is that no one wants to give up anything, they’re just testing to see whether you’re serious about your price.

In digital sales, we don’t have the luxury of that person to person exchange, that ability to negotiate, so we have to display all of our options. Social psychologists tell us to list the highest-priced, most-effective option first. Then with each subsequent option use “what you’re giving up is.” The “what you’re giving up” phrase causes prospective customers to objectively evaluate what’s important to them and what isn’t. Regardless of the choice they make, they’re happier with their choice for having made a conscious decision.

Parenting

The power of choice is particularly effective in parenting for several reasons:

• It supports the child’s desire for independence and self-reliance…both will serve him well for the rest of his life.
• It teaches children that life is a series of tradeoffs.
• It teaches children to make conscious decisions.
• Children learn to be accountable for the choices they make.

Let’s explore each of these in more detail.

Somewhere around age 2 we begin to assert our independence. It’s a toss up as to who says no more often, the parent or the child. Our desire for independence grows with experience and age. Offering choices to children at an early age enables them to gain independence while learning what gaining independence requires of them.

Life is a series of tradeoffs, when we say yes to something we’re saying no to something else. It’s a valuable lesson to learn at an early age. It helps a child to avoid the disappointment of an unanticipated loss which occurs when they aren’t aware that their choice was simultaneously saying yes to one thing and no to another. As they become more adept at seeing tradeoffs and making conscious choices, their pleasure with the choice they made is intensified while any sense of loss they might experience is minimal, if it exists at all.

One of the themes that has been consistent, throughout all of the examples I’ve used, is the importance of conscious choice. Many of the choices we make during the day are made subconsciously rather than consciously. Subconscious choices, especially those born during highly-emotional states, are some of the worst choices we make. You don’t have to take my word for it, recall some of the worst decisions you’ve made and you’ll realize that they were made from raw emotion.

When you hold a child accountable for their choices, you teach them with choice comes responsibility…the responsibility to do what you said that you were going to do. One of my friends was at loggerheads with her daughter. She wanted her daughter to clean her room before going to school. I suggested that her daughter was resisting because the demand that she clean her room before going to school robbed her of her independence…her right to choose for herself. I went on to suggest that she ask her daughter when she’d prefer to clean her room, then hold her accountable for doing so.

A few weeks later, my friend told me that her daughter was doing a much better job of cleaning her room. She also said that on the days when her daughter didn’t honor her commitment, all she, the mother, had to do was say: This is the choice you made, now you have to live up to it. No big fight, no emotional drama, the daughter then did what she had promised.

Leadership

One of the traps that leaders fall into is dictating what their employees will do. In my leadership program, Making The EXCEPTIONAL Normal, I teach leaders to engage their direct reports in setting their own goals and priorities for the coming week. I only intervene when I question a priority. Even then I explore that with the mindset that it is I who is missing some information, that I may be wrong about what’s most important…and, often, that is the case.

When I give direct reports the ability to establish their own goals and priorities (make their own choices), they embrace the plan more readily and act upon it more quickly and effectively. Each succeeding week in a group setting, we celebrate their successes which inspires them to become more aggressive in their goal setting.

They are held accountable for meeting the goals they established. If they miss their goals three weeks in a row, after having gotten helpful suggestions from the other direct reports and me, they find themselves seeking other employment.

The power of choice, as just described, enables employees to enjoy their independence, employ their own methodology and strengthen their conscious decision-making ability as they set their own goals and priorities.

Takeaways

The power of choice lies in it’s ability to enable people to:

• Enjoy the independence they innately desire.
• Become consciously aware of the tradeoffs they’re making.
• Feel confident and comfortable with the choices they make.
• Eliminate much of the drama and pain associated with subconscious, emotionally-charged decisions.
• Enjoy life more.

If you’ve found this post helpful, please share it with your friends. It’s a great way to let them know how much you care.

If you’d like the leaders in your organization to learn how to use the numbers more effectively and dramatically improve the productivity of your workforce, contact me to learn more about these resources:

Resources

Making the EXCEPTIONAL Normal program helps you identify and nurture emerging leaders who elevate all around them to higher levels of performance and greater job enjoyment.

Financial Awareness & Strategy program where employees learn to identify opportunities to improve financial results and prioritize these opportunities on the basis of which produces the greatest impact with the least effort. Greater financial awareness = Better decisions.