By Owen Eagan, The Saint Consulting Group

Controversial land use projects cannot only divide a community, they can dissuade people from getting engaged and publicly expressing their opinions.

The Spiral of Silence Theory, developed by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, maintains that people who hold a minority viewpoint are disinclined to express their opinions, whereas people who hold a majority viewpoint are inclined to do speak out.  Moreover, Noelle-Neumann suggests that the media attention given to the majority viewpoint will augment these predispositions and create a spiral of silence for those possessing the minority viewpoint.[1]

Noelle-Neumann’s theory is an extension of Solomon Asch’s well-known conformity experiments.  In these experiments, subjects were asked to name the line on the right that was equal to the line on the left in the following graphic (see Exhibit 1).  However, participants were tested in the presence of the experimenter’s assistants who all intentionally gave the incorrect answer.  The results showed that a significant number of the participants gave the wrong answer due to the pressure they felt to agree with others.[2]

Exhibit 1

Noelle-Neumann further tested this concept by applying it to moral and aesthetic convictions.  For instance, she found that smokers were less willing to overtly support smokers’ rights in the presence of non-smokers.[3]  Given these results, it is easy to see how residents who support a land use project that might be perceived as controversial would have an aversion to publicly expressing support for the proposal.

Therefore, it is essential to build support for your project before the opposition has a chance to organize in order to give residents the additional incentive they might need to get engaged.  Organizing early will help you build momentum and avoid a spiral of silence.

Owen Eagan is a Senior Consultant for Saint Consulting, an international management consulting firm specializing in land use politics.  He is also an adjunct faculty member at Emerson College, the nation’s only four-year institution dedicated exclusively to communications and the performing arts. Email Eagan@tscg.biz

By Owen Eagan, The Saint Consulting Group

According Daniel Goleman, “emotional intelligence – the ability to manage ourselves and our relationships effectively – consists of four fundamental capabilities: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social skill.”[1]

So important is emotional intelligence that many scholars believe it is a core competence of managerial leaders.  In fact, James Kouzes and Barry Posner assert that without the requisite personal and social skills, senior executives would be more likely to fail than succeed even if they attended the best business schools, were extremely intelligent and had all of the relevant experience.[2]

For example, in a recent article by Tony Schwartz, the president and CEO of The Energy Project, entitled “Why Appreciation Matters So Much” (see http://bit.ly/A5FA1p), he cites a study which found that high-performing teams had a positive to negative feedback ratio of 5.6 to 1, compared to low-performing teams of .36 to 1.  In light of this impact, demonstrating appreciation for people should become a business practice at all levels of the organization as it would strengthen teams and increase productivity.

Understanding this aspect of human behavior has relevance in our personal lives as well.  For instance, Social Exchange Theory, developed by Meredith Daniels and LaTasha Evans, argues that people think about relationships in economic terms.  That is, people evaluate relationships based on their rewards, or those elements that have positive value, and their costs, or those elements that have negative value.  Therefore, those relationships whose positive value outweighs its negative value are likely to be sustained and those whose negative value outweighs its positive value are likely to be terminated.

When it comes to land use, your representatives in the community should have a high level of emotional intelligence.  They should know how to treat people and show appreciation for stakeholders’ input and feedback.  As simple as this may sound, there are many people who don’t possess this ability.  I’ve actually witnessed many interactions that have gone awry due to arrogant and condescending behavior.

So, although emotion intelligence may not come easy to some, it is clearly a skill worth developing as it will benefit your employees, customers and business.

Owen Eagan is a Senior Consultant for Saint Consulting, an international management consulting firm specializing in land use politics.  He is also an adjunct faculty member at Emerson College, the nation’s only four-year institution dedicated exclusively to communications and the performing arts. Email Eagan@tscg.biz

By Owen Eagan, The Saint Consulting Group

Communication plays a critical role in building trust, and trust plays a critical role in any organization.  In fact, trust not only enhances employee satisfaction but also the bottom line.  Though, this should come as no surprise as both employee satisfaction and business results have a linear relationship.

For instance, one study found that hotels whose employees strongly trusted their managers were substantially more profitable than those whose managers scored average or lower.[1]  What is surprising is that half of all managers don’t trust their leaders. [2]  This would surely change if managers were aware of the correlation between trust and performance.

However, building trust isn’t just about demonstrating character and integrity.  It also includes expressing a belief in others, which can be achieved by entrusting people with significant and meaningful responsibility.  When it comes to your customers (i.e., residents of the communities in which you propose to operate), trust can be primarily engendered through establishing a dialogue with the community and operating in a transparent fashion.

Additionally, developers need to keep in mind that building trust is a process and that it is best built through interpersonal communication.  Therefore, although phones and direct mail are effective voter outreach tools, there is no substitute for meeting with residents personally.  These meetings can occur in large-scale or small-scale formats, provided they are controlled events (see Strategic Communications Part 9: Don’t Let the Mob Rule: http://bit.ly/xECBat), or via door-to-door canvassing.

Regardless of the type of meeting, developers should know that there is likely to be a lot of uncertainty among residents about them and their development plans.  As such, developers should be prepared to disclose as much information about their project as possible and they should offer to maintain an open line of communication as questions arise about their project.

This approach is supported by Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT), which was developed by Charles Berger and Richard Calabrese.  This theory states that a primary goal of people during initial interactions is to increase their ability to make predictions about one another in order to make sense of the communication experience.  URT involves both proactive and retroactive processes through which people attempt to reduce uncertainly in anticipation of a communicative episode and make sense of those events after they have occurred.

Further, by not establishing trust, you are likely to increase uncertainty.  And, according to the theory, increases in uncertainty will result in increases in information-seeking behavior.  This will likely only create further distrust as residents feel the need to find answers for themselves.

So, developers who fail to foster trust internally among their employees and externally among their customers risk a loss of both their profits and project.

Owen Eagan is a Senior Consultant for Saint Consulting, an international management consulting firm specializing in land use politics.  He is also an adjunct faculty member at Emerson College, the nation’s only four-year institution dedicated exclusively to communications and the performing arts. Email Eagan@tscg.biz

Not everyone who lives near a proposed new land use project and objects to it is a NIMBY. And not every argument raised in opposition to a new land use permit is a selfish grasp at straws. Many who say “no” to new development have sincere and legitimate concerns.

The trick in the debate is to figure out who is sincere in their arguments and who is simply against change and grabbing for any excuse they can in order to advance a selfish NIMBY agenda in position to development.

Below are 15 legitimate arguments we often see voiced in battles over land use permits

Top 15 Real and Persuasive Arguments Against Issuing a New Land Use Permit.

1)     It will produce far too many vehicle trips a day for the local streets to handle without becoming gridlocked.

2)   It will place too much stress on existing water supplies and sewers.

3)   It will add hundreds of new children to the school system that is already overcrowded.

4)    It will endanger existing rare or protected plant or animal species.

5)   It will cause storm runoff that will flood adjoining properties.

6)   It will encroach on burial grounds of indigenous peoples.

7)   It will pollute local air or drinking water supplies.

8)   It will destroy an historic landmark.

9)   It will encourage sprawl.

10)  It will change the character of the local community from rural to suburban or from suburban to urban.

11)   It will encroach on the peace and safety of adjacent hospitals, schools or churches.

12)   It will attract strangers to the neighborhood, raising the potential for new crime.

13)   It will destroy existing jobs in existing businesses.

14)   It will remove valuable agricultural or industrial property from being used.

15)   It will eliminate important open space.

P. Michael Saint is chairman and CEO of The Saint Consulting Group, email saint@tscg.biz

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I invite you to join me for a free lunch-hour webinar on Tuesday, January 17 at 12 noon CST for a discussion on the Advocacy Pyramid and how one builds vocal advocacy for your projects in your community. The Advocacy Pyramid is one of the positive lessons we have learned in land use politics as a campaign approach to identify and rally latent support to overcome the established opponents.

We look forward to sharing this approach with you and learning about your own experiences facing opposition and political risk to your projects!

If you’d like to join us, click here to register for this free webinar.

I look forward to hearing from you. For information about The Saint Index, check out saintindex.info and browse our blog, The Saint Report, for energy related stories.

Jay Vincent is  Senior Vice President for Energy for The Saint Consulting Group, email vincent@tscg.biz 

By Owen Eagan, The Saint Consulting Group

There are three reasons your project begins behind the eight ball.  First, most Americans believe a candidate’s position on growth is important and are suspect of the relationship between developers and public officials.  Second, swaying people from a predisposition is not an easy task under any circumstances.  And, third, opponents of real estate development projects are always more motivated than proponents.

The first reason is evidenced by the results of The Saint Index, our company’s annual survey on attitudes towards land use and development issues.  Our most recent survey found that 84% of Americans say that a candidate’s position on development and growth is important when making voting decisions.  In addition, 64% Americans believe the relationship between developers and elected officials makes the land use approval process unfair (see http://bit.ly/nimnWN).

The second reason stems from our extensive experience in land use politics along with some support from a theoretical standpoint.  Residents who are predisposed to opposing your project are difficult to persuade and rarely change their minds.  This is why your resources are better spent on supporters and undecideds.  Although, as we’ve discussed earlier, opponents who live near the site of your proposed project should always be included in your outreach efforts (see http://bit.ly/rZU52v).

To shed more light on why opponents are hard to persuade, we can turn to Cognitive Dissonance Theory.  This theory states that when people encounter information that is contrary to their existing beliefs, thoughts and attitudes, they are motivated to reduce this dissonance.  However, some of the primary ways they do this are to ignore opposing viewpoints, add to their consonant beliefs, or seek reassurances of their positions from their peers and others.

In regard to the third reason, as Mike Saint, our Chairman and CEO, astutely observes, residents who think a development proposal will have a negative impact on traffic, the environment or on the character of their community will react emotionally to the project.  That emotion will become passion, and that passion will become political action.  Proponents, on the other hand, typically assess projects intellectually and are less motivated by personal agendas.

Recognizing these dynamics will give a better understanding of the risks associated with not proactively building support for your project.

Owen Eagan is a Senior Consultant for Saint Consulting, an international management consulting firm specializing in land use politics.  He is also an adjunct faculty member at Emerson College, the nation’s only four-year institution dedicated exclusively to communications and the performing arts. Email Eagan@tscg.biz

The Saint Consulting Group

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to force the shutdown of up to 66 coal fired power plants over the next three years, totaling 14.7 gigawatts or enough electricity to power over 22 million homes.

As a Huffington Post article explains, the problem is that during that same period, only 23 power plants at most going on line to replace them. Currently 11 power plants are under construction, one is near construction and an additional 11 have been permitted for construction. Of these 11, there is no guarantee that they will be constructed. The cost of building a power plant has more than doubled in recent years due in large part to new regulations that have to be complied with.

The irony is that environmental activists who oppose the newer cleaner compliant power plants are delaying them and making the United States rely more on the outdated dirtier power plants.

Now that these plants are being retired, and not nearly enough plants are coming on line to replace their output, what is next?  It appears the coal opponents are pressing the EPA to decommission the older plants while protesting and delaying the construction of the new plants to replace them. Their goal is to eliminate coal usage 100 percent.

What is their answer to this dilemma?  I mean in the spirit of the season, you cannot use wind turbines as Frosty’s eyes can you?

Chris Hopkins is senior vice president for aggregates and mining for The Saint Consulting Group, email hopkins@tscg.biz

By Christopher Hopkins, Senior Vice President for Aggregates and Mining

The Saint Consulting Group

The 1970s marked the first time Americans rushed in a panic to buy fuel-efficient foreign import automobiles. Long lines at gas stations caused by the 1973 Arab oil embargo ignited a switch from eight-cylinder gas-guzzlers to smaller, less-thirsty vehicles. Eventually, panic subsided, gas remained plentiful and relatively cheap, and we re-acquired the taste for powerful land yachts, then the SUV craze.

A question that should have been asked as soon as that phenomenon began, however, is one that now needs to be answered: Is the federal gas tax obsolete? 

The problem created by more fuel-efficient vehicles is that cars with better gas mileage require less gasoline, which results in a reduction of gas tax revenue.  And the federal gas tax serves one primary purpose — to fund the building and maintaining of roads and bridges across the United States, America’s infrastructure.

Click here for the full article.

By Owen Eagan, The Saint Consulting Group

We’ve all seen one – a presentation that lulled us to sleep or left us scratching our heads because we either didn’t know or couldn’t remember what the message was.  But what makes a great presentation?  That is, how do you successfully engage your audience and convey your key messages?

First, any discussion of public speaking needs to include Aristotle’s three types of persuasive appeals: ethos (an appeal based on the credibility of the speaker), logos (an appeal based on the logic of an argument) and pathos (an appeal based on the use of emotions).  Moreover, Aristotle believed that ethos was the most persuasive device.  But ethos is established not only by the background and experience of your speaker but by maintaining credibility throughout your speech through comprehensive research.

Next, to make your presentation memorable, Chip and Dan Heath, the authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, claim that a sticky idea needs to be simple, unexpected, concrete, credible and emotional, and that they are best depicted by stories (which creates the acronym SUCCES).  One of my favorite tips that relates to public speaking is their discussion on the “gap theory” of knowledge.

This theory states that our curiosity and interest is piqued when there is a gap in our knowledge.  This is why we always need to know how that bad movie ends, why mysteries are so popular and why news shows have developed a knowledge gap approach.  This is an extremely effective technique for getting your audience’s attention in the introduction to your presentation.

For instance, when I give presentations on land use issues, I usually begin with a question such as, “How many Americans do you think have actively opposed a real estate development project in his or her community?”  This question usually sparks a lot of conversation and generates a wide variety of responses.  (The answer is nearly 1 in 5.)

Techniques to gain your audience’s attention such as these should also be used throughout your presentation.  According to Dr. John Media, the author of Brain Rules (a Harvard Business Review “Breakthrough Idea of 2008”), we don’t pay attention to boring things.  Dr. Medina claims that after 10 minutes an audience’s attention steadily drops.  Therefore, he recommends that you do something emotionally relevant at each 10-minute mark to regain attention.  Or, you could re-pique your audience’s curiosity with another question or startling statistic.

Another communication caveat noted by Dr. Medina is relating too much information.  On this point, Guy Kawasaki offers a few good tips for reducing your content with “The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint” (see http://bit.ly/uUlqBS).  Specifically, he recommends that a presentation should have only 10 slides, last no more than 20 minutes and use no font smaller than 30 points.

But to enhance recall, we need to return to another recommendation by Dr. Medina.  He states that you’ll get 3x better recall for visual information than for oral and you’ll get 6x better recall for information that’s simultaneously oral and visual.  Therefore, you need to incorporate compelling visuals into your presentations to reinforce your key messages.  Garr Reynolds’ blog called Presentation Zen offers a fantastic PowerPoint summary of some of Dr. Medina’s rules along with some great illustrations of his own (see http://bit.ly/10X5mN).

Also in regard to recall, we can never underestimate the importance of repetition.  Though there are different types of memory and each has different lifespans, Dr. Medina states that your brain can hold about seven pieces of information for about 30 seconds.  So unless that information is repeated it will disappear.  And, though the key to retention is information presented in timed intervals, Dr. Medina also claims that memory can be enhanced through the use of meaningful examples that can be elaborately encoded, especially through personal experience.  This is likely why the use of schema and stories are so effective.

As you develop your key messages and think about creative ways to convey them, you also need to know your audience.  Conducting an audience analysis will help you stay audience-centered.  That is, you need to know the demographic and psychographic profiles of your audience so that you can better understand how familiar your audience is with your subject and any other relevant data that might affect their perceptions.  For instance, an audience’s professional, cultural and generational background can all influence how messages are received.

Finally, there are numerous reasons to rehearse your presentation.  First, you should always rehearse your presentation before your colleagues or peers so that you can solicit feedback from others.  You should rehearse to the point where you can deliver it extemporaneously as research shows that techniques such as making eye contact builds trust and enhances credibility.  In addition, a conversational, and perhaps interactive, style is more engaging for your audience.

Though you’re likely aware that you need to avoid industry jargon, you also need to be aware of the “Curse of Knowledge,” which Chip and Dan Heath discuss in their book.  That is, the more expertise we develop on a subject, the harder it is to communicate in terms that are not abstract.  Lastly, be sure to minimize any disfluencies and distracting nonverbal communication.  Though the Mehrabian Rule is often misinterpreted (i.e., not all communication is 7% verbal, 38% vocal and 55% visual), non-verbal communication is nonetheless important.

In summary, following are 10 tips for a developing a great presentation.

1.      Establish Your Credibility

Be sure to establish your ethos, or credibility, in your introduction by citing your credentials and developing your credibility throughout your presentation with a comprehensive analysis of your subject.

 2.      Use Evidence to Support Your Arguments and Counterarguments

In regard to logos, or building your logical arguments, use facts, statistics and evidence from credible sources and use as many independent sources as possible.  Also, you may want to incorporate counterarguments if there are myths or misinformation surrounding the issue you’re addressing.

3.      Utilize Stories

Using stories is an effective way to generate pathos, or an emotional appeal.  Stories also make issues easier to understand and remember.  President Reagan was known for his effective use of stories as he famously illustrated in his Pointe du Hoc speech, stating, “These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs.”  (See http://bit.ly/1885Eh.)

4.      Grab Your Audience’s Attention

As we discussed, one effective way to do this is to create a knowledge gap with the use of a question.  You could either answer this question immediately or at the end of your speech.  You could also use a startling statistic or compelling story.

5.      Keep Your Audience Engaged

Dr. John Medina, the author of Brain Rules, states that you need to constantly reengage your audience as their attention steadily drops after 10 minutes.  As a result, incorporate ways of grabbing the audience’s attention at 10-minute intervals throughout your speech by using the knowledge gap technique or another emotional ploy.

6.      Avoid Information Overload

Providing too much information will virtually guarantee that little from your presentation will be understood or retained.  As a guideline, use Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint – that is, 10 slides, 20 minutes and 30-point font.

7.      Incorporate Visuals to Enhance Recall

As Dr. Medina found, recall is 3x better for visual versus oral information and 6x better for both oral and visual information.  Hence, you should reinforce your key messages with visuals whenever possible.

8.      Repeat to Remember

As Dr. Medina states, you need to repeat to remember.  However, rather than just repeat information, allow your audience to elaborately encode information through the use of real-world examples.

9.      Conduct an Audience Analysis

You need to conduct an audience analysis so that you can better understand how familiar audience members are with your subject and what predispositions they might have.  Knowing the demographic and psychographic profiles of your audience will help you tailor your messages accordingly.

10.  Rehearse for Several Reasons

Among the reasons to rehearse your presentation are to (1) solicit feedback from your peers and colleagues, (2) deliver your speech extemporaneously, (3) avoid the “Curse of Knowledge,” and (4) minimize disfluencies and distracting nonverbal communication.

Owen Eagan is a Senior Consultant for Saint Consulting, an international management consulting firm specializing in land use politics.  He is also an adjunct faculty member at Emerson College, the nation’s only four-year institution dedicated exclusively to communications and the performing arts. Email Eagan@tscg.biz