{"id":331,"date":"2022-10-01T20:10:58","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T03:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/?p=331"},"modified":"2022-11-20T13:31:16","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T21:31:16","slug":"are-you-motivating-or-are-you-leading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/are-you-motivating-or-are-you-leading\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you Motivating or are you Leading?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo Credit: https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@srz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Motivating change or leading change, these mean the same do they not? I believed they were until I began unpacking the nature of communicating with the intent of creating change. There is a very nuanced difference in the definitions of motivating and leading. Motivating implies a sense of distance and simply provides motive or stimulation to encourage someone to enact change. Whereas, leading implies that you are joining them through the change and offering support or guidance along the way. I thought I was effectively leading climate action through the repetition of cold facts such as global mean temperature increases and their effects on storm severity resulting in a change in the quality of life we should expect. Preaching how much work needs to be done to limit global temperature increases to prevent this nihilistic future we seem to be racing towards. Turns out I was part of a common problem in climate communication, fueling inaction by encouraging a sense of existential crisis by coldly repeating scientific facts with the hope of motivating change through fear-based motives and stimulations instead of leading climate action (Corner et al., 2015, p.29-30).<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was holding conversations with a high level of scientific distance to protect myself from eco-grief, a sense of loss created by climate change, all while facilitating a scenario that would encourage my intended audience to experience this eco-grief I was protecting myself from. Moser (2016, p.351)<\/a> acknowledges a fundamental gap created by variability in education, motivation, and ideals creating tension in how to communicate climate change between the expert community and the general public informed by media. I was unknowingly motivating climate action instead of leading climate action while in the middle of this described gap. With this newfound awareness, how do I portray the gravity of this existential crisis requiring scientific distancing for my own protection? Especially to those who have not had the opportunity to develop the same self-preservation mechanisms without reducing the gravity of the crisis we face. How do I switch my approach to become someone who leads climate action instead of someone motivating climate action?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kearns (2021) and Sium and Ritskes (2013) served as guiding lights through this journey from motivator to leader by displaying relational techniques that could be used to help lead audiences through change. The use of a relatable protagonist and the art of story as a form of communicating traumatizing topics can create a bond with the audience thus providing a companion to lead them through their journey. This can help lead audiences through sensitive topics without retraumatizing and can even help heal existing traumas. By removing the notion that stories are for entertainment only and embracing that words are living acts Sium and Ritskes (2013, p.5)<\/a> believe that stories can be used to communicate traumatic experiences while allowing the discussion of them to be therapeutic and promote healing. Furthermore, creating relatability instead of scientific distance allows for difficult topics to be discussed in a more forum-like setting as well by creating a space where people feel heard and understood. We can no longer maintain the gap described by Moser through reliance on \u201cinformation, expertise, authority and compliance\u201d (Kearns, 2021, p.81)<\/a> and instead need to embrace \u201cworking directly in relationship with others, based on their knowledge and needs, from a stance of mutuality, reciprocity, and respect\u201d (Kearns, 2021, p.81)<\/a>. This transition from scientific distancing during communications to one focused on creating relationships between communicator and audience closes the gap and creates a shift from motivating change to leading change. As contradictory as this may sound, it is our responsibility as experts in this field to avoid motivating action. Repeating scientific facts to motivate people into action is a practice that creates gaps between experts and the intended audience. It is our responsibility to foster relational communication techniques and lead climate action by avoiding fear-based motivation while accurately communicating the gravity of climate change. I will not be perfect all the time, but I will continue working on my transition from motivator to leader. Do you plan to motivate climate action or do you plan to lead climate action?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corner, A., Webster, R., & Teriete, C. (2015). Climate Visuals: Seven principles for visual climate change communication (based on international social research). Climate Outreach. https:\/\/climateoutreach.org\/reports\/climate-visuals-seven-principles-for-visual-climate-change-communication\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kearns, F. (2021, May). Getting to the Heart of Science Communication: A Guide to Effective Engagement<\/em>. Island Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moser, S. (2016, May\/June). Reflection on climate change communication research and practice in the second decade of the 21st<\/sup> century: what more is there to say?. WIREs 7, 345-369.<\/em> 10.1002\/wcc.403<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rae.S (2017,October). Brown dried leaves<\/em> [Photograph]. Unsplash. https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/geM5lzDj4Iw<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sium, A., & Ritskes, E. (2013, May 9). Speaking Truth to Power: Indigenous Storytelling as an act of Living Resistance. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society<\/em> 2(1)<\/em>, 1-10. https:\/\/jps.library.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/des\/article\/view\/19626\/16256<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Motivating change or leading change, these mean the same do they not? I believed they were until I began unpacking the nature of communicating with the intent of creating change. … Continue readingAre you Motivating or are you Leading?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1111,"featured_media":333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"templates\/right-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cals501"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588.jpg",1700,1473,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588-300x260.jpg",300,260,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588-768x665.jpg",768,665,true],"large":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588-1024x887.jpg",880,762,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588-1536x1331.jpg",1536,1331,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588-666x666.jpg",666,666,true],"signify-slider":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588-1700x1080.jpg",1700,1080,true],"signify-featured-content":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588-440x330.jpg",440,330,true],"signify-photography":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588-507x338.jpg",507,338,true],"signify-promotion-headline":["https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2022\/10\/You-got-this-e1664680459588-920x690.jpg",920,690,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ben","author_link":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/author\/bbigelow\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Motivating change or leading change, these mean the same do they not? I believed they were until I began unpacking the nature of communicating with the intent of creating change. … Continue readingAre you Motivating or are you Leading?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions\/343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/bbigelow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}