Giving advice people will be receptive of can be a rather precarious task, especially in the workplace. It can be rather challenging to get a boss, colleague, or employee to utilize your advice, even if your advice is high-quality. Advice isn’t always met with a happy receiver. Not everyone wants advice or input from others. Statements like “I didn’t ask for advice” or “I disagree” along with your advice not being taken can come about when the person being advised a) doesn’t like your advice or b) feels like you don’t value their autonomy, and/or c) is made to feel incompetent (Van Swol et al., 477). Nevertheless, certain strategies can increase the chance that your advice will be followed and perceived in a positive light
Why Are You Giving Advice?
Before getting into the different strategies, it’s important to do a quick self-evaluation to see why you want to give advice in the first place. Are you giving advice because you believe it will be helpful to the other person, or are you giving advice for personal gain? Of course, your knee jerk answer is probably that you are giving advice to be helpful, but there may be an underlying motive that isn’t so altruistic. A study done by Michael Schaerer and his fellow colleagues found that participants felt an enhanced sense of power after giving advice (Schaerer et al., 758). In addition, the study discovered that the participants who desired power the most were the most likely to give out advice (758). Overall, “the desire for power increased advice giving, which in turn enhanced the sense of power” (758). However, it is important to note that the researchers found that “the positive effect of advice giving on the sense of power is eliminated if the advice is rejected” (758).
Check in With Your Ego
With that being said, if you are adamant that a boss, colleague, or employee must take your advice, check in with your ego and do some introspection. Are you insistent that this person needs to take your advice because you have an unconscious desire to feel a stronger sense of power? If you are honest with yourself and find that this is the case, then don’t give the advice, or give the advice (only if it’s high-quality) without the expectation that this person is going to utilize your input. Remember, you should only be giving advice if it’s going to help the other person. You shouldn’t give advice to serve your ego. There are healthier ways to feel empowered.
If you are giving advice because it’s high-quality, and not to serve your ego, then you’ve come to the right place. Maybe you are a boss who wants to give advice to an employee and believe it’s important that your advice is utilized. Or perhaps you are a hard-working employee who wants your boss or fellow colleagues to heed your advice on an upcoming project. The following strategies should help you persuade others to heed your advice. When giving advice it’s imperative that the advice is given in a confident manner and not imposed on the other party.
1. Give Solicited Advice
Of course, it would be ideal if our boss, colleague, or employee asked us for advice, but that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes we need to give our advice to someone who hasn’t asked for it (Van Swol et al., 476-477). The best way to do this is to ask that person if it’s okay to give him or her advice (477). Here are a couple of examples of asking permission to give advice that aren’t oddly forthright: “Is it okay if I share some helpful advice”, “I have some advice that would be helpful; it is okay if I share it?”, or “I have a recommendation; do you want me to share it?”.
Asking for permission to give advice is beneficial because “asking permission implies respect for recipient’s autonomy (recognizing the recipient is not required to listen) and competence (acknowledging the recipient can address the problem without advice)” (477). Asking permission may also be an effective way to get someone to utilize your advice because it resembles the foot-in-the-door strategy (477). Meaning, “if the receiver agrees to receive the advice (small request), they may be more likely to agree to use the advice to solve their problem or to make their decision (larger request)” (477).
2. Do Not Give Imposed Unsolicited Advice
If you ask permission to give advice, and that person denies the offer, do NOT give the advice (unless it’s urgent). However, if the situation is one where you need to give advice even if the recipient doesn’t want it, then don’t ask permission in the first place. It is better to volunteer advice than to explicitly deny someone’s wish to not hear your advice/input (489).
Van Swol and her fellow researchers found that when advice was imposed, recipients were less likely to use the advice (488). Recipients of imposed advice were also more likely to perceive the advice as lower quality (488). Both “permitted and volunteered advice were consistently rated as higher quality and higher likelihood of use” in comparison to imposed advice (488). As a whole, Van Swol’s research shows that it would unwise to impose advice on an individual, especially if you want your advice to be utilized and seen in a positive light.
3. Speak Confidently
Two different research articles have shown that a confident voice enhances persuasion (Van Zant & Burger; Guyer et. al). Van Zant and his colleagues found that specific paralinguistic cues, specifically volume and volume variability, increased the perception of confidence, which in turn enhanced persuasion (676). The researchers believe that higher volume and volume variability increased confidence perception and enhanced persuasion by making the speakers “appear to hold more extreme attitudes consistent with the stance they take” which in turn makes the speakers appear more genuine and sincere (676-677).
This study wasn’t focused on advice, but rather on persuasion. However, this study is still relevant to advice giving. The researchers in this study focused on discovering which paralinguistic cues were most persuasive and found that both volume and volume variability had an impact on persuasion and perceived confidence (676). Note that an increase in volume does not equate to yelling or shouting. Also, volume variability should highlight the most important concepts. For example, a speaker might say “This action plan is best suited for this company because it will increase revenue.” With volume variability, the speaker would focus on important key words like “this”, “best”, “increase”, and “revenue.”
The second study on vocal confidence and persuasion found that “increased speech rate and falling intonation (Experiment 1), as well as lowered pitch (Experiments 2 and 3) produced perceptions of enhanced speaker confidence” (Guyer et. al, 401). Enhanced speaker confidence was then found to influence persuasion (401). Falling intonation means decreasing pitch towards the end of a sentence. It makes sense that falling intonation would be perceived as confident or matter-of-fact because rising intonation generally occurs when there is a question, which can signify doubt. For example, if a speaker said, “I am happy” with rising intonation one would believe that the speaker was asking a question or raising doubt. Although increased speech rate, falling intonation, and lowered pitch can increase perceived confidence, it’s important not to go overboard as it could have an adverse effect.
Reminder
Understanding how to effectively give advice that will be utilized is crucial in the workforce. Despite being a challenging task, providing quality advice that will be utilized in the workforce is rewarding, especially when it helps another person. Remember that not everyone has pure intentions when giving out advice, yourself include. Take a moment every now and again and reflect on why you are giving advice. If you are really upset that your advice wasn’t taken or feel the need to constantly give out advice, maybe you are subconsciously trying to increase your own sense of power. If that is the case, talk with a therapist to find a healthy alternative to feel more empowered.
Work Cited
Schaerer, Michael, et al. “Advice Giving: A Subtle Pathway to Power.” 2018.
Van Zant, Alex B., and Jonah Berger. “How the Voice Persades.” 2019.
Guyer, Joshua J., et al. “Speech Rate, Intonation, and Pitch: Investigating the Bias and Cue Effects of Vocal Confidence on Persuasion.” .