The Good Communicator framework
As mentioned several times in this newsletter, in the last six months I've been busy writing my new book, The Good Communicator.
It's not going to be published until next year, but this doesn't mean I can't share some ideas I hope will be helpful for you now, to improve the way you talk to others about sustainability, and increase your chances to influence them positively.
The book's key message is that we often start our sustainability conversation from the wrong premise, that we are right and need to convince others of our ideas. This implies that we think they are wrong, which triggers their defences.
The result? You can't convince them of your ideas, or the results are partial and unsatisfactory.
Now, imagine your audience is an undiscovered land.
You are currently approaching sustainability communication as a crusade to conquer and subjugate that land, as opposed to exploring it and seeing whether you can learn anything, and perhaps building something with that land's inhabitants.
That's the fundamental mindset shift that needs to happen for sustainability to become mainstream.
We need to co-create it with others, even if they have different opinions or beliefs.
It's about asking more questions and listening than spitting out statements, and it's about finding common ground and building upon it.
I put together a framework that explains the steps towards building better sustainability conversations in a business context - see below.
Some questions you can ask yourself at this stage for each of the steps:
- How can I build rapport with my audience? What do I know about them that tells me more about their personalities, and potential risks and opportunities? What do we have in common?
- How can I set meaningful goals for this conversation and the full length of our working relationship that are beneficial for me, my audience and the Planet?
- How can we co-create those solutions? What do I need to do to foster a spirit of collaboration instead of imposing my views?
- What barriers may I encounter in the process? How can I overcome them?
- How can I get my audience to commit to the course of action we have planned together? Who will be responsible for what?
This article was originally written for the Green Gorilla weekly newsletter. If you liked it, subscribe to receive more articles like this and learn how to communicate sustainability better, how to be more productive without selling your soul to the work devil, and how to make an impact in the world. Here is the link: https://newsletter.thegreengorilla.co.uk/