This technique is best tried by only the quickwitted, but may work on average speed wits if you have had lots of coffee that morning. It is useful for finding out things that you are not necessarily meant to know.
Prepare by taking snippets of conversations you have had with a certain person you work with on a certain critical task. Work these up in your mind, and imagine the worst possible scenario. Imagine things collapsing in a big heap, and that everyone you work with has a sub-normal level of competence. At the same time, meditate, and achieve the mindset that you alone are the sole expert on this particular matter.
Begin by suddenly appearing behind the person's desk, and request that they "come and speak to you for a sec", and walk off before they can answer "no, actually...". (Startlement and interruption is important for setting the mood of your negotiation).
Start to question them with a series of indirect questions - at no stage should the person see at once what you are actually trying to find out. If their answers are not giving you what you need, this is where you employ the fully fledged leapfrog. Latch onto anything the person says that you can, and make the conversation tangential. Bring up any past failures you can think of (theirs personally, or those of others involved with the project), and imply that the same thing is happening again. If nothing critical is divulged, change the topic again, and repeat. Watch as the person gets more and more exasperated by your sudden changes in topic and systematic wearing down of their self-confidence.
With luck, they will have by now told you what you want to know. If not, wind down the conversation, and start to look busy with something else - the person will get the hint and leave the room.
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