If you wanted to persuade someone to overturn an unwelcome decision at work, what techniques would you use?

Watching the discussion around the President of the United States’ intervention over the Balogun red card in the World Cup, I couldn't help recognising a familiar set of influence techniques.

Anyone who has spent years working in HR, Employee Relations, Legal or investigations has probably seen versions of them before.

Whatever your view of this particular case, the football story will fade.

The influencing techniques won’t. They're worth recognising because once you see them, it's much easier to keep the conversation anchored to the evidence.

1. Redefining the issue

"It wasn't a foul."

If you can persuade people that there was no wrongdoing, the original decision looks like the problem.

In organisations that often sounds like:

"That's not bullying. It's just robust management."

"That's not harassment. Someone has an agenda."

2. Emphasising the person's value

"He's our best player."

The conversation shifts from conduct to consequences.

In organisations:

"They're too important to lose at the moment."

"She gets things done."

3. Reframing consistency as unfairness

"If it happened to another player it would have been unfair, but when they take your best player... that's very unfair."

Don't argue that the rules shouldn't exist.

Argue that applying them consistently creates an unfair outcome.

The discussion moves from:

"Was the decision correct?"

to

"Do I want this consequence?"

4. Shifting attention from the behaviour to the decision-maker

"I think the referee's call was horrible... this referee, who is a little bit suspect if you check his past..."

Question the decision-maker.

Question their judgement.

Question their credibility.

No evidence need be provided, just the suggestion may be enough to undermine their credibility.

Once confidence in the decision-maker falls, confidence in the decision often follows.

In organisations:

"They are not commercial."

"This is a personality clash."

5. Distancing yourself from the outcome

"I had nothing to do with the decision."

Powerful people rarely describe themselves as directing outcomes.

Instead, they'll say things like, "Who's been involved in reaching this decision?", "I wonder if you're overreaching here," or "Have you done a cost-benefit analysis?"

Influence often works best when independence appears to be preserved.

6. Presenting confidence as expertise

"I'm good at this stuff."

Confidence is often presented as evidence of being correct.

Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't. Either way, it can be very persuasive.

With enough confidence, you can say something like:

"I'm a person that loves sports and was a good athlete, and I understand sports really well. Really well."

...and also:

"I didn't know what the hell a red card was..."

7. Changing the frame

"How would you feel if we took Messi out?"

Or Ronaldo.

Or Kane.

The discussion stops being about reasoning and becomes about managing emotions.

The focus shifts from: "What’s the correct decision?" to "Are you going to assuage my strong feelings about this?" It can come with a hint that there may be consequences if you don't.

The most powerful influence technique of all isn't changing the answer, it's changing the question.

Closing thoughts

None of this tells us whether the original football decision was right or wrong. It isn't about whether the President's arguments were well made, or if FIFA were right to do what they did.

What it does illustrate is that when a highly valued individual comes under scrutiny, the focus often changes.

It moves away from establishing what happened and the consequences, and becomes about character and power. It becomes about steering away from the consequences of applying policy fairly.

That's a trust moment when the integrity of HR, leadership and an organisation is tested.

You know where we are

Most organisations don't lack policies, but they can struggle with pivotal people decisions.

At Arrisan, we help leaders, HR and investigators make fair, well-reasoned decisions when those moments arise, and build cultures that make those decisions easier in the first place.

If that sounds like a conversation worth having, we'd be delighted to hear from you.