Presentation by Lorenzo Galli and Pietro Marenco from ScienceForWork, CEBMa Annual Meeting 2018, Chicago

1. COMMUNICATING
EVIDENCE
TO INFLUENCE
DECISIONS

2. HELLO!
We are
a non-profit foundation of evidence-based practitioners
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3. OUR MISSION
IS
TO PROVIDE LEADERS AND DECISION-MAKERS
WITH TRUSTWORTHY AND ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS
FROM BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
TO #MAKEWORKBETTER!
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4. WHAT WE DO: EVIDENCE SUMMARIES
▰ Summarize most trustworthy
scientific evidence
▰ Less than 1.000 words
▰ Published for free at
scienceforwork.com
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5. WHAT WE DO: RESEARCH SYNTHESIS PROJECTS
▰ Review scientific evidence to
answer practical questions
▰ Carry out Rapid Evidence
Assessments (REAs) or Critically
Appraised Topics (CATs)
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6. WHAT WE DO: WORKSHOPS
▰ Evidence-Based Management 101
▰ Insights from our research
▰ Science of science communication
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7. TODAY’S WORKSHOP
COMMUNICATING EVIDENCE TO YOUR
STAKEHOLDERS TO INFLUENCE
DECISIONS
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8. WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
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HELP YOU COMMUNICATE EVIDENCE TO YOUR
STAKEHOLDERS TO INFLUENCE DECISION MAKING
▰ Learn some evidence-based principles of communication
and influence
▰ Practice with a realistic case!

9. THE SETTING
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▰ New Head of Recruiting and Selection
▰ Work in a pharmaceutical company, 2.000
employees
▰ People are hired based on HR and managerial
interviews, without any structure, based on
hunches and impressions
You are
JANET

10. THE EVIDENCE
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▰ Twelve meta-analyses reviewing thousands of studies consistently found that
structured interviews predict candidates’ performance better than unstructured
interviews (Structured: d= .24-.33 vs Unstructured: d= .11-.17)
▰ One meta-analysis of 31 studies shows that structured interviews reduce bias
against race, gender, and disability
▰ One meta-analysis of 19 studies showed that Behavioral Anchored Rating Scales
enhance validity and reliability of structured interviews (With BARS: r= .35 vs
Without BARS: r.= .26)
▰ Applicant and interviewer reactions to structured interviews are not consistent

11. UNDERSTANDING
OUR STAKEHOLDERS
Before starting to write our Evidence
Summaries, we focus on
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THE QUESTIONS THAT GUIDE US
▰ What do they know and think about the subject?
▰ What are their goals and concerns?
▰ What do they need to know?

13. YOUR STAKEHOLDERS
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HR DIRECTOR MANAGERS
▰ Wants HR function to be
relevant for business
▰ Wants selection to be cost-
effective
▰ Interested in the big picture,
not in details
▰ Believes in his intuition during
interviews
▰ Concerned with team
performance
▰ Want to quickly fill open
positions
▰ Don’t want the interview
process to be too complicated
▰ Believe they have the technical
knowledge to tell apart good
and bad candidates

14. The Exercise
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WRITE THE KEY MESSAGES YOU WOULD SAY TO YOUR
STAKEHOLDERS TO CHANGE THEIR BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES
TOWARDS INTERVIEWS
▰ Write down what you would actually say
▰ Individual exercise, work on your assigned stakeholder
▰ You have 5 minutes!
PS: you don’t have to provide a workable solution to your stakeholders yet,
you just have to get their buy-in on the superiority of structured interviews.

15. TIME’S UP!
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16. EVIDENCE-BASED
TACTICS AND PRINCIPLES
We studied the science of communicating
science and we found some
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on what works for influencing attitudes and intentions
with evidence and scientific findings

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WHAT WORKS FOR
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND INFLUENCE TACTICS
▰ Rational persuasion: use logical arguments to show how your proposal will make
them achieve important task objectives
▰ Inspirational call: generate enthusiasm by appealing to their values and ideals
▰ Tangible benefits: explain how your proposal will benefit them.
STICK TO THE CORE CONCRETE EXAMPLES METAPHORS

18. TO SUMMARIZE
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WHEN YOU NEED TO COMMUNICATE
AND INFLUENCE WITH EVIDENCE
1. Understand your stakeholders: attitudes, beliefs, goals & concerns
2. Try different approaches: rational, inspirational, tangible benefits
3. Craft your message: stick to the core, concrete language and
examples, metaphors

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THANKS!
Any questions?
You can find us at
@scienceforwork & info@scienceforwork.com