The Human Hub: Potential and Persuasion

This month we are talking about Potential and Persuasion, two exciting themes to bring optimism and incite action. We all have opportunities not only to make things less worse, but to actually make things fundamentally better – in our communities, our organisations, across the planet. This means a rethink – just because we’ve always done something the same way, doesn’t mean we’re stuck doing that endlessly. And it means taking others with us – coalitions of the willing are easier to mobilise and more effective.

Definitions:

Potential

• having or showing the capacity to develop into something in the future
• latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness

Persuasion

A process in which one person or entity tries to influence another person or group of people to change their beliefs or behaviours. It is distinct from coercion, in that the people receiving the message have a choice about whether to act on it. You can:

• induce (someone) to do something through reasoning or argument
• cause (someone) to believe something, especially after a sustained effort.

When we talk about potential, we need to be clear on two aspects:

1. The future can be now.  Don’t make excuses not to act for impact now because the future seems too far away!   

2. We can use what we already have in different ways – we don’t always need to invent something or buy something new.

For example, many governments and big industries are waiting to make investments in green(er) technology and fairer supply chains until either they become ‘cheaper’ and/or that other technologies develop. We’re wasting a whole lot of planetary bandwidth and risking greater damage to both biodiversity and human security while they’re waiting for a potential silver bullet that happens to be super cheap and easy.

My argument is that their strategy needs a revision and they need to focus on transitioning now in the absence of perfection. By starting now, they’ll be adjusting and adapting their operating and financial models, creating greater flexibility in how they do things, and contributing to reduction in harm – and when newer technology does become available, they’ll be ready because they’ll be already be transitioning.  

Similarly, when we’re thinking about influence and persuasion, we need to understand different perspectives, have reasoned arguments, and to show people alternatives that they can move towards independently rather than feeling pushed. There is a huge communications challenge inherent in transitioning to planetary regeneration – for example, figuring out how to get people to want, buy and look after things that can be produced with much less environmental impact. And the same can be said for a whole host of social impact shifts that need to be made to create the conditions for global equity and sustainability.  

As change makers and change managers, we know the value in working with people to codesign possible futures through scenarios. The use of illustrative strategies can help people picture themselves as active participants – both in those futures as well as crafting the transition. So, change makers work with both potential and persuasion all the time – lets make sure we’re maximising latent qualities and attributes, using our communication and reasoning capabilities, and that we’re consciously leaving space for people to step into change in their own way.

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