Who are the Hidden Persuaders

On the Mark Kermode film programme on the 10th June the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra performed a range of movie films. The conductor Robert Zeiler explained the roles of the various members of the Orchestra. In talking about the Viola players explained how they often don't get the attention received by other sections of the orchestra.

He said that this is because the high end of the orchestra (violins etc) get to play the melody and the low end and they play the rousing bass lines - and in between are the 'Hidden Persuaders' the viola section.

I just loved the term the "Hidden Persuader". Something about it suggested a surface level of simplicity but with an intriguing depth and complexity sitting beneath it. For me it in many ways nicely summed up the role of the coach I outlined in the 7Cs of Coaching book - ie 'The Coach is there to help someone help themselves'.

I believe the role of the coach is to be hidden and in the background. As many a political PR professional has found at some cost  - once they become the story then they are unable to function in the role to which they were recruited. If the coach is the story then I believe that they may well have failed. And much of the coaching process can be seen to be persuasive in nature. Not maybe pushing the client to follow a certain solution - rather being persuasive in the act of challenging and encouraging the client to look beyond and in many cases discard their current mental models.

As considered in the 7Cs book - all coaching is about helping the client to change how they feel, think and behave. Without any real behavioral change the the purpose of the coaching may be questioned. So much of the coaching work is driven by the need to help the client discard old habits and acquire new ones with the least amount of pain. Geoffrey Hodgson offers a lovely example of this in his paper on "The Hidden Persuader":

"Consider an example of the role of habit. For reasons of cost, and a desire to minimise pollution and road congestion, a person may use the bus to travel to work. As a result of this repeated behaviour, an associated set of habits of thought and behaviour will be reinforced.


These habits may have further repercussions. However, if the bus service is withdrawn then the individual will be obliged to use another means of travel. It may be that there is no alternative to the car. The individual will then begin to drive to work and develop another set of habits. Even if a preference for public transport is maintained, it could eventually be undermined by repeated personal car use. The change in the provision of public transport can alter preferences for that mode."

In this example the persuasive element is the simple withdraw of a service by the bus company. So it is more of an overt and public form of persuasion. In the 7Cs book I explore a range of persuasive forms as set out in the Coaching Continuum. These consist of Manage, Train, Mentor, Coach, Counsel and Therapeutic. The types and nature of the persuasive forms range from one end where the level is not really hidden through to the type of therapeutic persuasion which may be more about a minimalist form and letting the client make all the change choices.

The questions I have to ask myself as a coach (at least three times today):

• How hidden/overt is my visibility of intervention: Does it come from me in a direct managerial form, do I encourage someone else to trigger a push and so take a third person role, or maybe I just set up a system to trigger the change (like modifying the UK system of cost management for MPs that had to be change after the scandals around false claims).
• What is my form or nature of persuasion: Is it a management one where I direct the outcome, do I simply train them, do I act as a mentor and guide their actions of do I coach them on their terms and let them move as a rate that works for their map of the world.

This brings me back to the term of the "Hidden Persuader". I realised that for the past 28 years my greatest and most significant use of this approach as been with my kids. Like the Viola players I believed my role was to sit between the kids and a tough world and act as a 'hidden persuader'. Through various forms of nudging, bribery and on rare occasion blackmail I wanted to prepare them to face the world and survive with ease.

As a professional coach it forces me to reflect on my style as a hidden persuader and how I can best pull the two sometimes opposing goals together. To ensure that a change happens for the client but do it in a way that no one else can see what my role, function or intervention consists of.





1. Geoffrey M. Hodgson Version of 7 January 2002 - Published in the Cambridge Journal of Economics, March 2003, 27(2), pp. 159-75.