5 Psychology Books to Help You Influence Your Employees

Are you a business owner or manager that needs to motivate and intrigue their employees, but thus far finding it difficult? Giving inspiration to your coworkers is no easy task for any boss. However, with the right information, you can boost their production levels, without too much work. Influencing employees is the right step towards a successful business, but many small time business owners fail to acknowledge this, thus failing in the long run.

Furthermore, to get the most out of your workers you must not think of yourself as a boss, but rather as a leader. Nobody likes to be bossed around, which is why you must convert to being a leader. Leading is one of the hardest things to do in business because it takes time and effort to become a great one. For example, when an employee makes a mistake that costs the company a lot of money normally the boss would get angry and fire them. However, a leader would teach them, mentor them and show how not to make this mistake in the future.


How do you influence your employees? A good way to get started is knowing your workers, get to know their personal life, because it can help you grow a bond. Having a personal connection with employees helps them to trust you, thus making them want to work for you.

In addition, if employees were to make a mistake or have a question they wouldn’t hesitate to ask, which helps improve the workforce. Becoming a great leader is no easy task, but with the right knowledge, you can achieve this goal. Books are an informative way to gain information and here are the top psychology books that will influence your employees.

Everything is Negotiable: 4th Edition

(By: Gavin Kennedy )

To tilt the odds of your business success in your favor negotiation is extremely important because it can save you time and money when used correctly. This book goes into how to make better deals, how to negotiate and how to stay calm during stressful moments.

You will able to use negotiating tactics when dealing with employees since now you know the different tips and tricks from reading this book.

The best way to make a deal is for the other party to think they are getting the better deal, but in hindsight, they are not. Also, we all value items differently, whether it's money or power. Knowing what your employee wants is crucial in getting a good deal from them.

What Every BODY Is Saying

(By: Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins )

“What Every BODY Is Saying” is a book written by an ex-FBI agent. The book goes into detail on how to decode a person instantly, thus giving you the upper hand. Knowing what is going through someone’s mind is an important skill to have, especially in a business.

The way to decode a person instantly is by their body language says the author “Joe Navarro”, because you can gain so much information from non-verbal communication. How does the author know this? Well, from experience, he has been an FBI agent for most of his career and with such a job knowing what your opponent is thinking is a must.

Likewise knowing your employees important, since they could be doing the job with 50% effort or they might be having a bad day and lie to you about it.

The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over

(By: Jack Schafer, Marvin Karlins )

Another great book was written by an EX-FBI agent with the idea that body language, words, and tone of voice send out friendly or un-friendly signals. Understanding what it takes for your employees to like you can make the difference, but not knowing how to go about it can make the task harder.

To get your workers to like you by having things in common is important because you can start making conversation from there and work your way up. A good quote in this book is: “We like those who resemble us, and are engaged in the same pursuits. . . . We like those who desire the same things as we”.

Meaning the more you have in common the better chance of success you will have in gaining their trust, thus their loyalty.

Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage

(By: Paul Ekman )

Being lied to is something we all hate and spotting them is hard to do, but with the right training, it can be done. However, in order to know how to catch someone lying, you must know what is a lie.

Lying is not exactly saying the opposite of the truth, but rather saying whatever to get as far from the truth as possible. Knowing when a person is lying can tell you a lot about them, such as their trust and loyalty, which is important when it comes to business.

Having honest employees is a must because it shows that they are not scared of you and they trust that you’ll assess the situation and help. Furthermore, catching a liar is not as difficult as it might seem. With the right training you will be able to understand body language in a far more detailed way, thus spotting out a liar will become straightforward.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

(By: Stephen R. Covey )

Many successful people follow a formula to get to where they are, which you can follow when you read the book: “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.

However, blindly following a book will not make you successful, but implementing them in your business correctly will help you a lot. This book will take you on a step by step journey on how to approach a healthier, integrated, fair and dignified life, which is important in becoming a great leader. This books also part of my absolute must read books list here

Conclusion

Becoming a great leader is not as simple as most people think, but it is achievable under the right set of principles. Reading the top books listed in this article will help you come closer to this goal. However, you must view yourself as a leader and not a boss to get the ball rolling.

Justin is a teacher from Leicester, England, UK. When not teaching his little students and rooting for Leicester FC, he loves to share his thoughts and opinions about education, writing and blogging with other people on different blogs and forums. Currently, he is working as an editor at the writing service Bestdissertation. Follow Justin on Facebook and Twitter.