A new way of seeing the world.
Over a couple decades, I’ve been able to continually hone an approach, thanks to the many partners and collaborators – from the Skoll Foundation’s Global Threats Fund who commissioned the first version of the Quadrants to Engagement, to WWF who commissioned a new approach to ivory demand reduction, dozens of workshops, trainings, talks and seminars I have run since the early 2000s with all sorts of organizations and sectors globally. This work has also evolved through designing and teaching a unique course for practitioners in the Environmental Education and Communications graduate program at Royal Roads University. From creating resources on “having the talk” about climate for high schoolers, to policy trainings with teams like Transport for London - this work is alive and always a “work in progress.” There is no formula. I am not a “fly-by” consultant.
The Three As
I like to start always with the “Three As.” The story goes, while teaching at Portland State, a student blew me away. She had read a book about places to see before they disappear due to climate change. Her response was complicated. On the one hand, she wanted to do whatever she could to help fight climate change. And on the other, she wanted to plan a global trip to visit these places (before they “disappear”). She found herself caught in a conundrum. It was a double bind many of us can relate with. I had a “moment.”
She experienced anxiety (what is this world coming to?), ambivalence (I want to fly and travel the world), and aspiration (I want to be part of the solution, not the problem).
I realized that instead of focusing on whether people care or not, or how to “get people onboard,” we have to start first with acknowledging and paying close attention these Three As. These are a code, a guide, and a filter to keep us from falling into mind traps of “do you care or not.” Or, “are you motivated or not.” The truth is that it’s much more complicated than whether people care enough. It’s our job - as leader, change agents, enablers - to help untangle and guide towards resolution and action.
You can also learn more about the Three As over at Project InsideOut where I also have some simple worksheets and tools.
Anxiety
Whether you are working on the most amazing innovative solution, or are a true visionary, you first need to take into account what anxieties may be active for people. (By ‘people’ I mean senior leaders, stakeholders, consumers, users, supporters, colleagues, citizens, neighbors, parents, family, managers, you name it.) Ideally, we learn to listen and ‘attune’ to these anxieties. And then, name them, acknowledge. Any climate work that doesn’t take stock of anxiety is not an effective approach.
Ambivalence
I also discovered that ambivalence – the experience of competing desires, goals, values and motivations – is at the heart of much inaction. This is not the same as “not caring” but often we confuse ambivalence with apathy. Ambivalence is a normal and natural part of change, and we all navigate some form of ambivalence on our way towards deep, profound and transformational shifts. Many of us in this space, may not have much ambivalence, we just “know” it’s what needs to get done. However we can lose touch with how our stakeholders are experiencing this. The key? Create conditions where people can name, identify and express their ambivalence. What happens is surprising: often we can move through it. We just need to have it be brought into the open in a non-judgmental way. This requires a lot of skill and practice, but it’s totally possible.
Aspiration
Each human being has aspirations for our lives in this world. These aspirations vary a lot, but we have them. Often, those of us working on change, want to shine the light only on aspirations, and get people over there quickly. However, if we bypass the other “A’s” – we fail to gain traction with aspirations. This A is extremely important, as we must stay anchored in this. If we skip it, our work is undermined. However, the big take-away here is that we can all learn how to bring these together.
The Four Quadrants
In 2013, I was invited by Skoll Foundation (Skoll Global Threats Fund) to produce a landscape analysis of approaches to climate change engagement. While they may have been expecting a more traditional white paper, I had a huge AHA moment while combing through dozens of research papers, reports and perspectives in my graduate school training.
I realized there were diverse and often strongly entrenched “theories of change” to how to best engage people on climate and sustainability, and these were often in silos, and fiercely defended. Over the years, I had worked with marketing and brand agencies who believed narrative and storytelling was the key. Social psychologists believed motivation, attitudes and beliefs are what matter. Behavioral scientists were certain we need to leverage behavioral economics (nudging, incentives, gamification, etc.). We had the designers, thanks to orgs like IDEO and Ashoka, who helped spawn an entire field of design thinking for social impact – they too felt design thinking held the key. And I had my own theory of change, too.
I was convinced that the key was to launch and scale small-group conversations, foster emotional intelligence at every level, and coach leaders to show up as vulnerable and human. I was inspired by Motivational Interviewing and the power of 12-Step movements, who managed to combine community, accountability, belonging, connection, and massive behavior change.
The punchline is this: We need them all. And we need to be able to adeptly combine and integrate. This is a key part of my approach. And I do this in a number of ways, from having teams map their approaches on a huge board, to running “Labs” for senior leaders to work through their own theories of change, so they can align and commit to being integrated as foundational.
Containers, Labs, & Small Group Work
Finally, I am a firm believer in the power of containers, labs and small group work that drives change exponentially. I believe in partnerships for building and developing people. Small group work that foster a “container” provide the conditions to go deep and fast. This can range from a micro-dose approach to really deep dives. Regardless, fostering containers and contexts for group learning and sharing experiences, learning from each other and tapping into collective intelligence is a fundamental part of my approach.