Assertiveness and the Psychology of Persuasion
Assertiveness is the ability or skill of a person to stand up for themselves and effectively fulfill their own needs. It is a type of behavior in which a person actively works towards their goal and takes steps to achieve it, as opposed to passive behavior where a person is an inactive object reacting to life’s circumstances. An assertive person shapes their destiny and manages their life, regardless of the domain (work, interpersonal relationships, close relationships, parenting, etc.). Assertive communication helps individuals become more effective in advocating for themselves and developing quality relationships with others.
The skill of persuasion, closely related to assertiveness, is of significant importance for an individual’s professional success. The seven principles of persuasion (reciprocity, liking, social proof, authority, scarcity, commitment and consistency, unity) can be ethically applied in both business and personal relationships.
Seminar Objective

The skill of persuasion is equally useful when working with clients and colleagues, allowing us to become more influential in our professional endeavors. Mastery of this skill also helps us defend against manipulation and power games.
Research has shown that assertive individuals progress significantly faster in their careers compared to their equally qualified non-assertive colleagues. It’s no wonder that leading global companies have included assertiveness training in their basic educational package for their employees.
The seminar’s goal is to provide participants with knowledge and skills in assertiveness and the psychology of persuasion. The training will focus on the practical and psychological aspects of assertiveness and persuasion, and how to successfully apply acquired knowledge and skills in practical business situations.
Intended Audience
The seminar is intended for anyone looking to improve their assertive communication skills and the skill of persuasion, especially managers and sales personnel at all levels.
After completing the porgram, participants will be able to
- Describe and explain the principles of aggressive, passive, and assertive communication, as well as the principles of persuasion psychology.
- Analyze, recognize, discover, and evaluate correct and incorrect actions (mistakes) that occur in the process of communication, passive, assertive, aggressive actions, as well as mistakes that occur in the process of defense against manipulation, and how to avoid typical mistakes.
- Apply successful principles of assertive communication and persuasion psychology.
- Synthetically choose their own approach and method of assertive communication and persuasion psychology based on various models.
Implementation Method
Participants are divided into teams that compete in solving a series of problem situations during the program. We use various methods throughout the program, including facilitated discussions, role-playing, video feedback, case studies, group work, critical event analysis, demonstrations, presentations, brainstorming, questionnaires, panels, sharing of experiences, and more. We place the greatest emphasis on practicing skills rather than dryly conveying theoretical information, as is common in traditional teaching.
Quality
We strive to provide extremely high-quality education services to our clients. Typically, participant evaluations of our training programs range from 4.5 to 5.0 on a scale of 1 to 5. For the vast majority of our programs, if the average performance rating of the educational program is less than 4.00, we reduce the training fee by 50%.
Duration
The optimal duration of the seminar is 8 school hours divided into four blocks of 90 minutes each (one day).
Program Topics
- Assertiveness as a Trait
- Aggressive, Passive, and Assertive Communication
- How to Say No
- How to Stand Up for Yourself
- The Three-Part Sentence Technique
- Assertive Handling of Unpleasant Situations When Verbally Attacked
- Persuasive Speech (Greek-Roman style)
- The Psychology of Persuasion: 7 Principles of Influence (reciprocity, liking, social proof, authority, scarcity, commitment and consistency, unity)
- Defense Against Unethical Attempts at Influence and Manipulation
- Power Games and Dark Psychology
Number of Participants
The optimal number of participants is 8 – 12.