I often think about what is behind a person's desire to impose their point of view. Is this an attempt to amuse their ego? The urge to assert themselves and pat themselves on the back, "how good am I"?
⠀Usually, low self-esteem and intolerance of other people's opinions are generally behind this.
⠀Can we talk about accepting and respecting the interlocutor's opinion in this case? Nope. A person who agrees with the diversity of the world and the people in it will never shove their valuable "how it should be, or I know better" into you.
⠀If you deny and impose your opinion, ask yourself, "Why am I doing this? Why am I wasting my time on this now?"
⠀Now I rarely get into discussions, and the rarer I do, the more obvious it becomes when someone tries to impose their opinion on me.
⠀But a constructive dialogue, where both conversational partners are enriched, is a very "delicious" part of the conversation for me.
Consider this:
To convey your message, you need at least 16 iterations, according to the Harvard Business survey.
- In the first stage, you will be listened to but not heard,
- In the second stage, you will be heard but perceived,
- In the third stage, your utterance will be perceived yet not taken to heart
- Fourth - the pinnacle, your message will be taken to heart and likely alter someone's life.
The above can only be done with dialogue, listening, and establishing affirmations. There is no difference being that one-to-one discussion and addressing teams and large audiences. The conversation is vital for all audience sizes and shapes. Great communicators know it by heart and work it through the behavioural-subconscious level.
I coach and train dialogue/conversation skills for individuals and teams. Do get in touch if you need to uplevel your skills.