Finding the common ground is an essential theme of any speech where you have to sway any audience. The common ground is what you and the audi- ence both think is right and reasonable.
In most settings it is an easy task to find the common ground. If you do the fifth part of the exercise I described in the last section, about 90 per cent of the time you can complete the sentence Vote for Me . . . Buy my Product . . . Give me your Money . . . Sign the Petition . . . with the words ‘and it will improve your well-being’. Occasionally you may have to vary the formula a little to say ‘and it will improve the well-being of your family/neighbour- hood/business/organization/cat’. The common ground is that it is right and
reasonable for people to want to improve their personal circumstances and
those of the people (or cats) in their near circle. Of course people do also look beyond their personal circle, and other possible common ground might be supporting our country, helping those less fortunate, saving the planet. More and more audiences today expect both, that is to improve their lives and salve their consciences: hence the growing sales of ‘ethical’ prod- ucts and services. With this kind of audience you will have to widen the common ground to something like Vote for Me, etc. . . . and do yourself and the planet a favour.
Sometimes the common ground may be a general principle with a high degree of abstraction. For example, you and your audience might agree that it is right and reasonable to prevent cruelty, maintain the rule of law, promote equality, uphold democracy and the will of the people. If you are a long way from your audience intellectually, you may have to travel into a very high level of abstraction to find the common ground between you. In my extreme example (you pro-choice on abortion speaking to audience of fundamental- ist Christians) the common ground would be at a very high peak of abstrac- tion. It would be something like: it is right and reasonable that all laws should be based on general moral principles and not just for the convenience of society. From that lofty peak of abstraction there will be many different pathways down into the everyday real world, and each pathway will itself break up into many different turnings and by-ways. In my example, you chose a pathway you would normally reject because that audience simply would not take any other. But you still started the journey together, on common ground.
At other times, the common ground is very down to earth. In the United States I once saw a local politician campaign on the slogan ‘Re-elect X to the state assembly, he’s too old to go to work’. He and his audience agreed that
it was right and reasonable that ageing politicians should not have to cope with a real job and he won by a landslide.
The hardest audience in which to find any common ground is of course chil- dren. In any discussion, almost any child can be guaranteed to query or reject any reason for doing or believing anything. This is partly genuine intellectual curiosity and partly because it is a safe way to drive any adult into a frenzy. The discussion will often end with the words ‘Because I say so!’, which, curiously enough, may be the common ground which the child actually wants, since most children think it right and reasonable to meet the request of an adult who cares for them. If you are speaking to children and are seeking to sway them as well as informing and entertaining them, it is worth giving up some of your speaking time to let them help to define the common ground. At least ask questions ‘Who thinks it’s a good idea to . . . ?’ and wait for hands up.
With most adult audiences, you will not take up much time establishing the common ground. In fact, as we have already seen, the more time you spend on it, the more likely it is that your audience will think about it and the greater the risk that they might reject it.
The common ground, therefore, is where you start the intellectual journey of your perswaysive speech. You choose a pathway your audience is willing to follow and you show that it could not conceivably lead them anywhere else but to your destination.
Your problem is that there is always competition. For any audience, you always have competitors. In a formal debate you can actually see them and you know what strategy they are using. Otherwise you have to imagine them – the invisible enemy trying to conquer your audience’s hearts and minds.
Essentially your competitors have two choices. They can either fight you for ownership of the same common ground with the audience, or they can suggest a different common ground to the audience. The first is the gen- eral practice in modern politics: almost every mainstream party promises to make people better off, and they then offer a journey which leads to the inescapable conclusion of voting for them. It is usually left to fringe par-
For any audience, you always have competitors.
ties and single-interest groups to try to change the common ground and offer the audience another starting point (as it might be, local independ- ence, or the environment, or equality, or saving the neighbourhood school).
In the world outside politics, your competitors may use either strategy or indeed both at once. In business, your competitors might offer a better ver- sion of your product or service: Sudso Washes Whiter. That is fighting for your common ground. But they might offer your audience a different start- ing point: Sudso Saves the Planet. You might choose to
fight back on your common ground: Albedo for White- ness You Can Trust. They might fight on your ground and theirs: Sudso Washes Whiter – and Greener. You might then want to occupy another piece of common ground: Be an Albedo Mum.
In the world of charities and volunteering, the compe- tition is nearly all on the second level, that is, arguing
over the common ground rather than the subsequent journey. Most chari- ties and voluntary groups invite their audience to make their cause their number one priority – it is less usual for them to say that they do a better job of helping that cause than their competitors.
Whether your competitors are visible, in a public debate, or invisible, you must think about their strategy and how to counteract it. If the enemy have accepted your common ground, you fight them on the subsequent journey. If they are challenging your chosen common ground, you must decide whether you are confident enough in your choice. If you are, you can ignore their chosen ground and again concentrate on the subsequent jour- ney. If you are nervous that the enemy might have chosen a more attrac- tive common ground, you could try bolstering your chosen ground by adding other attractive territory to it. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, for centuries a white wash has been a sign of love and care for a family. And it was a great human achievement, a victory over a grimy, dirty world. Today, thanks to Albedo, it is so much easier to get a perfect white wash. But those values of love and care and the triumph of the human spirit, those are still Albedo’s values today.’ Alternatively, you might simply annex your opponents’ territory: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, of course we all want to save
Whether your competitors are visible or invisible, you must think about their strategy and how to counteract it.
the planet. But that does not mean that we have to give up a perfect white wash . . .’
When you speak, you should know your audience and know your competi- tors. That should tell you how to fight them off.