Central Iowa Chapter of IIBA®

Tech Republic:  by Calvin Sun 

 The good news: You know the future. The bad news: No one believes you.

It’s hard to imagine any frustration greater than that of the mythological Cassandra, who knew the future but was cursed by being disbelieved. Though, for example, Cassandra understood the treachery behind the Trojan Horse, her warnings about it went unheeded, and Troy was destroyed. (In the context of the modern office, she would have received all of the blame.)

Being a Cassandra in your work can hinder your career. Although technical ability is important, equally important is the ability to persuade others (co-workers, clients, or bosses) that your ideas merit action.

Below are tips on how you can be more persuasive. Of course, these tips aren’t a silver bullet. You still might fail to persuade — or the other person might have better arguments. However, following these suggestions may increase your chances of success and decrease your chances of being a modern-day Cassandra.

As we go through these tips, let’s consider an example: Say you’ve created a policy you’d like your end users to follow but that you know will generate (or has generated) opposition. Suppose you want them to contact your help desk when they encounter a problem, instead of calling a specific person in the IT department

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