Cutting through all the hot air — talking about air pollution and more from The Workshop

Kia ora from Jess,

This month we’ve been talking about the air we breathe and the work we can all do to build support for policies that keep our air environment healthy.

For most of us in New Zealand, having clean water, oceans and air is important — to protect and maintain our health and the health of the planet. When it comes to the air we breathe, most of us also feel it's especially important that all our children are breathing air that keeps them well.

However, a critical new study into the air we breathe in Aotearoa — The Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand (HAPINZ) study — into the impacts of air pollution on our communities shows us that is not the case in Aotearoa. Many New Zealanders, including our children, and notably children in lower income areas, breathe air in their home, on our streets, in schools, and during their travel journeys that is harming their health. And much of this harmful air is caused by air pollutants pumped out from the many cars and trucks we have come to rely on to move people and goods around.

Read about the health and air pollution study on the Ministry for the Environment website

The good news is that work is happening by people in government to open our streets to healthier forms of mobility and transport — like walking, bikes, public transport, and electric bikes, cargo bikes and cars. Transport policy changes towards building a system that reduces the need to drive cars and trucks in and between our cities will reduce air pollution. However, people in government need to speed up these changes to protect more people, more quickly, and to protect the environment.

The environmental health workers that take care of us all

The HAPINZ study was led by Dr Gerda Kuschel and a team of environmental health specialists. These experts are like an environmental ground crew in our communities — we don't often see them, but they’re working hard to monitor our air and other aspects of our physical environment to ensure we’re all taken care of as we go about our lives.

The Workshop team was asked to help this crew. Our role was to help Gerda and the team:

1. identify how people might think about air quality and health — their mindsets

2. consider how these mindsets might hinder people’s understanding and support for policies that will improve air quality

3. identify ways that people can talk about the issues more effectively when advocating for changes that will make the biggest difference to the health of our air and all of us who breathe it.

Read more of Jess’s blog on our website: Talking about the air we breathe: building support for policies that keep our air environment healthy 

You can also find our Short guide: How to talk about air quality and environmental health on our website

Crafted at The Workshop this month

Can conservative values and messengers share effective climate change messages?

A recent paper and associated videos have got people talking about what happens when we use politically conservative values to frame climate change communications. Our co-director Jess Berentson-Shaw and researcher Ellen Ozarka respond with this blog reflecting on values and climate change communications.

Read the blog - Conservative values and messengers, what's the deal in climate change communications - on our website.

Insights & Examples from the Narrative Movement

Moving Mindsets - 4 Things to Consider when Shifting Mindsets

"Mindsets can change, and with it policies and practices." - Deb Halliday. 

If we want to make the changes that will make the biggest difference, we need to build public understanding and support. This means shifting the mindsets of the general public — not just policymakers. This article by Deb Halliday for Collective Impact Forum highlights four helpful things to consider when you’re working to shift mindsets.

1. Know WHOSE mindsets you need to change

2. Know IF the mindsets CAN be moved

3. Know IF your issue calls for moving mindsets

4. Mindsets are NOT just attitudes, conclusions, social norms and worldviews.

Read the full article - Moving Mindsets - on Collective Impact Forum's website. 

A Great Mode Shift Messenger

We love this article on mode shift from Stuff last week, interviewing bus driver and university student, Ethan Hakopa. Ethan shows us the power of a cool messenger with a great message sharing the benefits of taking the bus – “​​For me, it’s just fun. You meet your neighbours. You see your friends. It builds a little community around the bus.”

Great messengers are those who are trusted by their communities, and who share the same values as the people you are trying to speak to.

Read the full article - Meet one of Wellington's coolest bus drivers - on Stuff's website.

Welcome Minette!

We are delighted to welcome Dr Minette Hillyer to our team as the Senior Narrative Advisor - Insights. Minette steps into this role with over 20 years of experience as a researcher, analyst, writer and teacher specialising in discourse and ways of making meaning. We’ve asked Minette some questions to get to know her more.

What were you up to before The Workshop?
Before joining The Workshop, I worked at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington in the Media Studies programme. I taught and supervised in the area of popular culture (particularly visual culture), media history and critical theory. My research focused on cultural encounters via media, and the ways in which social scientists and other experts historically used media to try to interact with and influence popular culture. I have a particular love for silent cinema. Before that, I was in Auckland for a time, where I grew up, and before that I lived in San Francisco where I was working towards my degree in rhetoric.

What does your ideal Saturday look like?
An ideal Saturday for me would involve sleeping in, followed by a cup of tea and making some bread. I would like to be tramping, or if not tramping, going for a long walk, doing some yoga, spending happy time with my kids and partner and dog, talking with my siblings, seeing a movie, reading a book, and cooking and eating, with no cleaning or shopping involved. I might need Sunday as well, for all that!

What drew you to The Workshop?
I was drawn to The Workshop because I wanted to work in a supportive, collaborative environment which actively worked toward social and environmental justice. I also felt like I really recognised the basis of the narrative work being done at The Workshop, and that my skills and experience could be of use here.

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Get in touch with operations@theworkshop.org.nz if you would like to talk to us about how we can help you with specific advice or do training for your team.

The Workshop Team - Marianne, Jess, Carolyn, Jordan, Gidion, Ellen, Nicky, Jayne, Tom, Julie, Hannah, Minette, and Nick.

PS: If this email was forwarded to you, you can get future emails like this by signing up here.

Start with hope — narrative strategies for climate change narrative

Kia ora from Hannah and Julie, 

Here at The Workshop, we have been reflecting on Jess’s latest blog post and thinking about the big changes that are needed to address climate change.

Last month the government released the first Emissions Reduction Plan. It was awesome to see a commitment and resources dedicated to ensuring our children inherit a survivable planet. It is a good step towards a thriving and healthy environment, but there is still much more work to be done. Crucially, this work requires public support and understanding. How do we build this support and understanding? One way is by shifting the unhelpful mindsets that get in the way of effective action. This involves using narratives to build better public understanding of the problems and solutions.

Currently, there are outdated but habitual ways of thinking that hold us back from the changes that will make the biggest difference. These unhelpful climate change mindsets and the narratives that reflect them are the ones that leave us feeling hopeless. For example, a focus on individual behaviour change can crowd out people’s thinking, making it harder to think about the collaborative action that focuses on their role as citizens. We need to put forward new narratives that deepen people’s understanding of climate change and inspire people to act together to make changes that make the biggest difference.

This is where mindset and narrative work comes in. As Jess writes in her blog post, “Effective policies are nothing without the public's ongoing belief in them as important, effective and helpful to the problem, as they have been led to understand it.” People will be drawn to solutions that match the description of the problem. If we want big changes, we need to work on building public support and understanding for them.

Climate Change Q + A with Jess

We've been watching and listening to the public response to the launch of the Emissions Reduction Plan, which sparked more questions and conversations about how narratives can contribute to the changes we need in the climate space. We asked Jess to share her responses to these common questions.

What is your vision for climate change communication?

Oh, that is interesting! For me it is communication that is a plethora of hope filled stories from across many of our different communities. And, in those stories, in which people talk about what matters to them and why from their own unique experiences, there are golden threads (narratives) that people can find that say similar things about how climate change happened and what we can do about it. These golden threads help people grasp the deeper and more complex understanding we have about climate change, the environment and our interconnected systems that all of us are embedded within and reliant upon.

You’ve said we need to talk about people as citizens rather than consumers. What are other shifts we should make when talking about climate change?

People have to be able to feel like we can solve this problem, not perfectly - perfect solutions are not what people do - but in a collaborative, creative and iterative way that puts the things most of us deeply care about at the centre.

It is also vital that we find ways to communicate about the solidarity we need to solve these problems. That it is working together, and recognising all our unique strengths to their utmost. I think that is why in Aotearoa there's so much power in Te Tiriti led solutions, because at the heart of Te Tiriti is a story of solidarity - it’s about collaboration between different people to value and recognise the different strengths of each other’s ways and take best care of each other. If we can find ways to talk about and help people understand the potential for all people to thrive through Te Tiriti led solutions to climate change, and notably to properly recognise the leadership of mana whenua in this space (because we have no problem talking about the leadership of Tangata Tiriti), that would be very powerful too.

What’s the one thing you recommend people who are communicating about climate change start doing now?

Start with hope and our ability to collaborate across communities at scale, it will automatically redirect your own narratives and people's thinking from individualism.

The Workshop in the Media

5 Resources for Talking about Systems Change

In this blog post, Sam Rye recommends five of the best resources, reports and articles on communicating about systems change. The list provides a great starting point for those who are working on the changes that will make the biggest difference and want to deepen people’s understanding on these issues.

We feel delighted to see our guide - Mapping the Landscape, How to Talk About Systems Change in Aotearoa - included in this list, alongside great work from our friends across the globe: Narrative Initiative, ORS Impact, Ella Saltmarshe, the Centre for Public Impact, Dusseldorp Forum and Hands Up Mallee. 

Read the full blogpost here: https://www.samrye.xyz/communicating-systems-change-5-best-resources-reports-articles/

How to Talk about Systems Change - an Interview with Jordan and Jess

“[Systems thinking] is not new to our people. Whakapapa is one of the most complex systems. It is the very fabric of our universe. There are heaps of systems change and systems thinking capabilities in our communities and it’s about listening and learning from our leaders.” - Jordan Green

For a deeper dive on our guide, Mapping the Landscape, check out this interview with our Kairangahau Jordan Green and Co-Director Jess Berentson-Shaw by Paul McGregor from Business Lab. Drawing on their work, Jordan and Jess talked about systems change in Aotearoa and the importance of listening and learning from Māori leaders and te ao Māori.

Check out the interview: https://www.businesslab.co.nz/beyond-consultation-podcast/45

Examples from the Narrative Movement

Unlocking People from Poverty - Dr Innes Asher

“Most parents have a vision that their children can thrive and have opportunities. Most parents want that. Unfortunately, the system has locked a lot of families in so their children cannot thrive and have opportunities - that is, really, called being in poverty.”
- Dr Innes Asher

In this interview on poverty in Aotearoa, New Zealand, Dr Innes Asher does several great things. She:

• Leads with a vision 

• Explains the barriers to that vision, and names the government as an agent - someone who can make change

• Points upstream, towards the systems that have locked families into poverty

• Uses the ‘locked in poverty metaphor’

• Outlines clear solutions. 

For more in-depth recommendations on this topic, check out our guide: Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform in Aotearoa.

Haere rā Sharon!

It was with equal parts sadness and excitement that we farewelled Sharon Bell from The Workshop this month. Sadness because Sharon has been with us from near the start of our growth into the organisation we are now. She has helped build a solid foundation for this organisation to grow further from, especially in our insights and research work.

Her work on our mode shift project in the early days is especially worth mentioning as part of our "just get stuck in" approach. She managed our projects with aplomb - Sharon has always had a steady hand on the tiller in rough weather. We are excited for Sharon because she heads off to MFAT to reacquaint herself with her real passion - aid and development work. As Sharon says, it's back to her knitting and we know she will knit something fabulous while there. Thank you, Sharon, from all of us at the Workshop. It is never goodbye, only a divergence of the path.

You can get more guidance on narratives on topics from transport, climate change and  justice reform in our freely available message guides on our website.

Get in touch with operations@theworkshop.org.nz if you would like to talk to us about how we can help you with specific advice or do training for your team.

Marianne, Jess, Carolyn, Jordan, Gidion, Ellen, Nicky, Jayne, Tom, Julie, Hannah, Minette, and Nick at The Workshop

PS: If this email was forwarded to you, you can get future emails like this by signing up here.

Emissions plan needs public support to succeed — how we talk about climate action will make the biggest difference

The Emissions Reduction Plan is out and buried deep under the equitable transition chapter is a small but important objective for ‘informed public participation’. As experts in helping people understand complex issues and changes that make the biggest difference, what’s our take on the opportunity and risks in this objective?
 

Collective action needs collective understanding and support

Aotearoa New Zealand’s First Emissions Reduction Plan is out. People across Aotearoa have worked hard together for a future where government and industry act so all our children inherit a survivable planet.

The plan shows people care about what our planet can sustain. It’s a good first step in creating the conditions where all people and our environment can thrive. But we still face a barrier to implementing the plan, and the other effective actions that experts tell us are still to come. Many people who are both for and against effective climate action continue to tell the public that making individual low-emission choices as consumers is where their role starts and finishes.

The success of the emissions plan hinges on building people’s understanding and support for the transformative changes set out in it — everything else flows from this.

We need to help people reach a deeper understanding of how climate warming has happened, what the solutions are, who needs to act, and our own place in the collective solutions beyond our role as consumers and individuals.

Read Aotearoa New Zealand’s First Emissions Reduction Plan on the Ministry for the Environment website

People can’t buy or behave their way out of climate change: informing people about ‘low emission-choices’ will fail

The plan signals the government wants informed public participation in climate policy and actions (objective 5). This objective is a fundamental building block for implementing climate change policies that work to ensure we have a survivable planet. One action under that objective is to investigate setting up a new centre to provide public information on the climate:

‘Inform low-emissions choices through a Climate Information Centre: investigating the benefits of a Climate Information Centre that provides a trusted source of information to promote and socialise the wide-scale behaviour changes needed for the transition.’

But a climate information centre that’s designed to ‘inform’ people about ‘behaviour change’ and help them make low-emission ‘choices’ is destined to fail. It won’t ensure informed public participation in effective climate policies and won’t build the necessary public support for the big changes to come. This approach frames the problem and solution of public information as: individuals need information poured into them so they can choose to buy or behave their way out of climate change.  This is simply untrue.

Read the table of actions from the Aotearoa New Zealand First Emissions Reduction Plan on the Ministry for the Environment website
 

Are we citizens or consumers?

Picture the word ‘consumer’. What sorts of feelings and thoughts does it bring up for you? What does the word ‘consumer’ make you think about, what images come to mind, how is that person interacting with the world, and what are they doing? Try to notice what you do not think about?

Try the same exercise with ‘citizen’ or ‘community member’. What images come to mind? How is that person interacting with the world, and what are they doing? What do you not think about?

This exercise is an example of framing — the lens people see something through. ‘Consumer’ and ‘citizen’ are two very different frames that lead to two very different types of thinking about problems, solutions, and who’s responsible for fixing things.

Individual choice won’t solve climate change — we should stop talking like it will 

Consumers making greener choices won’t solve climate change and people know this on a deep level — the scale of the problem is too big. And people get exhausted by being told they’re the ones that need to change when they see what they believe to be not enough action by people in government or businesses, including those causing the problem.

Focusing on individual behaviour can also lead to victim blaming — people get angry with other people if they feel they’re not making ‘better choices’. Consider the vitriol directed at people who bought petrol utes after the subsidy for electric cars was announced. Sure, it's not an ideal action in a time of climate change, but it is misdirection to blame individuals and say they don't care enough to change their behaviour. This thinking doesn’t acknowledge that some people have no choice. 

People don't have the resources, the physical structures, or the right policies to support them to do things differently.  The sorts of changes that will make the biggest difference — ones that enable people’s default behaviours to be low emissions ones — are only a glimmer in the eye of policymakers.  And that’s, in part, because these changes lack public understanding and support and the political will that follows this support.

Effective policies are nothing without the public's ongoing belief in them as important, effective, and helpful to the problem, as they have been led to understand it. If people can’t understand how these policies relate to the problem as it has been framed and explained to them, they won’t support those policies or fight for them. People will also become easily influenced by the stories and narratives of those working hard to maintain business as usual.

How a problem is explained has to match proposed solutions. It’s a hard equation for people if you tell them that the problem and solution of climate emission is one of individual consumer choice — ‘buy an EV’ — and then try to get them to support a complete redesign of urban centres and housing infrastructure.
 

A Climate Information Centre could focus on citizen-level understanding and behaviours 

To deepen understanding and increase participation in climate policies, climate information could engage people as citizens who are working together, over individuals who need to choose to change their behaviour.

A climate information centre that engages people as citizens, not consumers, could help people understand the complexities of climate change. It could help people see what big systems changes are needed, and are being planned for, and see their own role within this. A centre like this could:

• develop a comprehensive strategy for deepening public understanding drawing on the best social science, mātuaranga Māori, and communications theories and research

• research into what works in the Aotearoa context to deepen public understanding on climate problems and solutions in a bipartisan way

• avoid the trap of fact-led descriptions of climate change as the problem about to consume us all

• avoid a myopic and unhelpful focus on helping consumers ‘choose’ low emissions products

• focus on hope-led, realistic stories of the collective solutions that are possible and already being done

• explain the origin stories of climate breakdown and our planetary boundaries in ways that people can connect with and feel empowered to act by

• work in partnership with ‘experts’ including those with lived experience of climate change harms — to build communications for different communities in ways that work 

• deliver participatory models for peoples’ involvement in climate action

• resource  the critical voices and work of Māori and pacific climate change communicators 

• provide resourcing, tools, and support to communicators in different communities to build their own communications that work, for example in schools, workplaces, and rural communities.

Climate communications based on the idea that we are citizens who together can shape effective solutions first, will help people see the bigger picture and the connections between things. This approach helps people understand, agree with, and support needed change — all other actions and behaviours stem from this.

For more guidance on narratives around topics such as transport, climate change,  justice reform and more, visit our website. We have freely available message guides.

Get in touch with operations@theworkshop.org.nz if you would like to talk to us about how we can help you with specific advice or do training for your team.

The team at The Workshop - Marianne, Jess, Sharon, Gidion, Jordan, Carolyn, Ellen, Jayne, Nicky, Hannah, Julie and Tom

Communications tips for these changeable times

Kia ora  from Jess,

As things change rapidly with this pandemic, almost weekly it feels, we're seeing stories about fear and division. Now more than ever we need to remind ourselves that acting together for our communities is how we've got through so far and will continue to get through this global pandemic best. A long term collaborative and caring response will limit the spread, allow us to adapt as things change, help us cope with the impacts, and enable us to emerge better than before.

If you're someone who plans and communicates every day, you’ll understand the challenge and the opportunity to bring people together and provide calm reassurance.

Whether you’re a community collective, a school principal or a public commentator, here are some things to keep in mind when you’re trying to lead a conversation about important things and you want to support good decision making.

Better decisions based on deeper thinking can help create a world where everyone thrives.

Focus on what we know so we can adapt and grow

At the moment, we face constant uncertainty that feels different to when the pandemic started. And it’s hard to hold on to a clear vision for something that’s always changing and we don't know what will happen next.

In this situation it’s important to communicate what you do know, and to focus on what we know will help. Explain that learning and adapting to new information is a core part of a good response, and will help us get through.

For example, “The best way to make sure everyone is taken care of is through our public services. They are there for all of us. As new science on COVID-19 comes in, skilled people who care are assessing and responding. We have the skills within our public institutions and our health and science communities to get us through this with the right support from all of us”.

What does this look like?

Here’s an example of how you might explain that adapting to new information is part of a good response.

“Health professionals really care about our wellbeing. It’s their job to monitor our public health actions. They’re making sure we always have the most up-to-date advice. That care demonstrates being good at their job at caring for other people.”

A great example of what we already know is illustrated in Toby, Siouxsie and the Swiss Cheese. In this explainer, cartoonist Toby Morris and science communicator Siouxsie Wiles use a well-known metaphor to help frame vaccination as the next empowering tool we use in our COVID-19 journey. The Swiss Cheese metaphor emphasises the importance of vaccination, but also the importance of all the other things we’ve been doing, like handwashing, border controls, testing, and tracing.

A consistent communication structure can build togetherness and trust

The main communication structure to keep in mind is to:

• lead with a clear, positive vision based on shared values

• name the barriers to achieving that vision

• state the solutions to overcome those barriers

Lead with a clear positive vision

Lead your communication with what matters most to people — what we collectively care about. That might include connectedness, community, fairness, or manaakitanga.

Develop and reconnect people to a clear positive vision. What do we all want to see? Visions help give people hope and stop communicators leading with problems or alarming statistics. Visions help stop people getting derailed by misinformation or unhelpful narratives.

Paint a vivid picture of how the world will be better in concrete terms. How will people’s day-to-day lives be better? In what concrete ways will things be improved?

Name the barriers to achieving the vision

Be clear about the barriers to achieving the vision — what is standing in our way? Attribute cause and effect, use facts, and name human agents.

State the solutions to overcoming barriers

Make it clear how your solutions relate to the cause of the problem. For example, “tools such as getting vaccinated, getting boosted, and wearing masks, can help us all get through when things feel uncertain”.

What does this look like?

Vision – One day this pandemic will be over. We’ll be doing the things we love again with the people we love – gatherings, festivals, travel to see loved ones, uninterrupted education!

Barrier – But right now, the pandemic feels never ending, and we’re not certain of the best course of action to ‘get us through’. Some in our community are angry and upset with the solutions that are being used and scared about not knowing what’s next.

Solution – There are tools that we know will help, like getting vaccinated, boosted, and wearing masks. People in health and science are learning and adapting their approaches, and continuing to put our care for each other first. We will get through this pandemic by acting together.

We also love this mask accessibility example of a clear vision – barrier – solution structure by Action Station.

Focus on people, collective action, and clear communication

Once you have your main structure of vision – barrier – solution, you can think about other evidence-based communication tips.

Avoid repeating divisive or unhelpful stories

Tell your story, rather than arguing why someone else's story is wrong.

What does this look like?

An unhelpful COVID-19 story is framing COVID-19 protests  as a crisis with many selfish, panicked people: “People are selfish, and angry and they are only getting worse”.

Instead of trying to argue against this story, tell your own. For example, you could say, “We’re all in this together, and together we will get through. It’s ok to be scared when things are so uncertain, reach out for support and do the right thing to help others”.

Rather than negating the crisis or panic frame, you put forward your own story about solidarity and interdependence.

Why we need stories of strength, not division

In this recent op-ed Jess makes the case for focusing on our strengths and our collective action, framing our assets, rather than on deficit framing.

“Consider the difference in talking about the strength and resilience of disabled people in this pandemic and then moving on to discuss how this leadership has not been able to come out in its full force because of controls on the funding or lack of trust from people in funding bodies. That frames a very different way of thinking about the issues and the types of solutions people are considering than simply talking about the vulnerability of disabled people and why we must act”.

Collaboration and care are core human characteristics. Reminding ourselves of this and using these values will get us through these changing and challenging times.

For more guidance on narratives around topics such as transport, climate change,  justice reform and more, visit our website. We have freely available message guides.

If this email was forwarded to you, you can get future emails like this by signing up here.

Get in touch with operations@theworkshop.org.nz if you would like to talk to us about how we can help you with specific advice or do training for your team.

The team at The Workshop - Marianne, Jess, Sharon, Gidion, Jordan, Carolyn, Ellen, Jayne, Nicky and Tom

Not another Xmas gift list, but a list of all our new guides and reports in 2021

Kia ora from Jess and Marianne,

Well, it's been a year for us all (another one!). The challenges don’t stop, and for us that is very true personally and professionally. Standing back and considering the amazing work that has been done by people across all our communities, in government and business to help us through COVID-19, we are reminded again that coming together is what we do.

Our shared values, and vision for what is possible drive both ordinary and extraordinary acts of care and love for each other in challenging times. Thank you to all of you for being part of a larger us this year.

We hope our contribution to this collective effort has been helpful. As founders and co-directors we feel very proud of our growing team, their hard work, and their ability to respond to the needs of people across different sectors from health to environment. You can see below the wide range of areas the team has worked on.

We’ve welcomed new people and said goodbye to others, as we continue to adapt and work out how we do this narrative work best. All with the goal of helping you implement changes that will make the biggest difference to people and the planet.

We hope you all find some time for rest, joy and reconnection over the coming months, and thank you for all the support you give us. It’s your optimism, enthusiasm and enjoyment of our work that continues to motivate us.



Our publications this year (general):

The Workshop: Measuring our impact, 2019-2021

How to talk about the future of farming in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021

How to talk about co-governance of our bioheritage, 2021

Mapping the landscape: How to talk about systems change in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021

Talking about early brain development: A short report, 2021

Talking about early brain development in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021

Our publications this year (Covid-19):

Flowchart for navigating vaccination conversations, 2021

Conversations with friends & whānau about Covid-19 vaccination: Connecting, not correcting, 2021

Talking about Covid-19 vaccination with whānau Māori, 2021

Encouraging Covid-19 vaccinations: A guide for workplaces, 2021

How to talk about Covid-19 vaccinations: Building trust in vaccination, a guide, 2021

How to talk about Covid-19 vaccinations: Tip sheet, 2021

For more guidance on narratives around topics such as transport, climate change,  justice reform,  and more, visit our website - we have freely available message guides.

If this email was forwarded to you, you can get future emails like this by signing up here.

Get in touch with operations@theworkshop.org.nz if you would like to talk to us about how we can help you with specific advice or do training for your team.

The team at The Workshop - Marianne, Jess, Sharon, Gidion, Jordan, Carolyn, Ellen and Nicky

How to talk about co-governance of our bioheritage

Kia ora  from Jordan,

When it comes to our natural environment I’m pretty confident that we all want the same thing – to ensure the wellbeing and protection of our taiao for future generations. Threats like myrtle rust pose a serious risk to the ngahere ecosystem of my own hapū and iwi whenua, so this kaupapa – supporting community-led environmental solutions through narrative change – is one I am so honoured to be involved in.

To awhi our friends at the BioHeritage Science Challenge and the kaitiaki doing this deeply important work, we are really pleased to announce the release of our new messaging guide, How to talk about co-governance of our bioheritage.

This guide has been designed to help our environmental and Treaty advocates and communicators use effective narratives and communication strategies to build support for mana whenua-led environmental management, and shared-decision making between tangata whenua and tangata tiriti in protecting our taonga species and ecosystems.

Some of the key thinking this guide can be used to help bring to the surface:

• We can create legislation, policies and practices that support co-governance partnerships and actively create a healthy taiao/environment together.

• When mana whenua-led kaitiakitanga is honoured, and environmental management centres on local expertise and knowledge, the benefits are collective and shared by all of us.

• Through agreements that honour this work and create legal pathways to tino rangatiratanga, we can bring together distinct knowledge systems and approaches that complement each other. 

• Through partnership and reciprocal balanced relationships we can realise the joint hopes and ambitions that our ancestors had for their future generations in signing Te Tiriti.
  

  How we can use narrative strategies to surface this thinking:
   

• Lead with a concrete, shared vision of a flourishing taiao, balanced decision making and tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti thriving as a result. Be clear about the pathways to achieving this vision – co-governance might be one of these. 

• Don’t focus on the hard to persuade people who are in opposition to this work, look instead for and talk to people who care but need effective communications to draw them in. 

• Draw on self-direction and equity values to help audiences understand the importance of co-governance and tangata whenua-led environmental management. 

• Use a leadership frame to communicate the strengths that iwi, hapū and local communities bring to this work and how Māori leadership of shared spaces will benefit us all. 

• Use solidarity frames to remind tangata Tiriti of their obligations as Te Tiriti partners and how they should offer their support.

If you’d like to learn more about the project, the BioHeritage adaptive governance team are holding a webinar on the 15th of November, follow the link to register: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7965708174554449163

Mauri ora from Jordan and The Workshop team

For more guidance on narratives around topics such as transport, climate change,  justice reform,  and more, visit our website - we have freely available message guides.

If this email was forwarded to you, you can get future emails like this by signing up here. 

Get in touch with operations@theworkshop.org.nz if you would like to talk to us about how we can help you with specific advice or do training for your team.

Communications that build trust in the Covid-19 vaccine

Kia ora  from Jess and Jordan,

I (Jess) got my second COVID vaccination this week, another two weeks and I will be very relieved to be able to say I have immunity to the worst of COVID-19. It felt a very empowering thing to do in the face of a lot of concerns I have about Delta. Emma, the nurse who talked me through it, was brilliant. I have anaphylaxis to some medications, and she really took time and care to make sure I was well looked after. 

As a really powerful (but not the only!) tool to help us keep COVID-19 out, lots of us are talking about vaccination. From the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, to Elmo from Sesame Street reiterating the importance of getting vaccinated, 2020 and 2021 have seen a wide variety of communication campaigns and strategies about COVID-19. Showing there are fantastic stories to tell when we have a great narrative strategy in place.

Our recent publication How to talk about COVID-19 vaccinations: Building trust in vaccination, provides evidence-based communications techniques and tools for those people and organisations telling stories about the importance of getting vaccinated. The purpose of this guide is to help understand the foundations that underpin vaccine hesitancy and build our narrative strategies in response. Describing eight techniques and tools that effectively address vaccine hesitancy, while showing techniques already in use. We also provide tools and templates to help you use these findings. Including posters to print out explaining how immunity works to protect us all.

This month's newsletter showcases communications that build trust in the Covid-19 vaccine in a positive, creative way. We highlight some of our favourite effective communication campaigns that encourage vaccination in the ways the research suggests works.

P.S. Keep a lookout in your in-box because in the next week or so we will be releasing the latest in our COVID-19 communications suite of tools: How to talk to whānau and friends about vaccination. The conversation guide is designed specifically to help with those tricky one on one conversations we are all having.

Examples from the Narrative Movement

Giving Covid Its Final Curtain Call

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra encourages Australians to give us the performance of a lifetime and get vaccinated against Covid-19.
 

• The extravagant two minute video leads with a vision of a brighter future, “Let's give Covid its final curtain call and go back to what we love most”.

• They emphasise the importance of unity and collective action, “We need you to come together and get vaccinated as soon as you’re eligible, to give us the performance of a lifetime”.

• The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra leads with collective benefits that the vaccination offers us, using values of responsibility and care getting back to the things we love. Collective responsibility is emphasised, “This isn't just about you as an individual soloist … It’s an ensemble effort”.
  
  
  

They do a great job at framing decision making in the context of collective benefit over individual choice. The video is visually engaging while encouraging vaccination through intrinsic values and collective action. Great mahi from The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, you can see the full video using this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDfug35d5fU

Elmo Encourages Vaccination 

“That's why I got the Covid-19 vaccine, so me and my family and neighbors can get back to play-dates, trips, cookouts and sports”, says Father Louie, Elmo’s father. Sesame Street has led vaccine communication with intrinsic values of care and love; and to get back to the people we love.
Through our research on how to effectively communicate the Covid-19 vaccine, we have found that surfacing and engaging people’s intrinsic and collective values helps them to understand complex collective social problems and solutions. Sesame Street does a wonderful job of encouraging vaccination through values of care and love for one another.

https://twitter.com/sesamestreet/status/1430590900175056900
 

The Value in Hearing directly from Rangatahi Māori

Hāpai Te Hauora communicates the Covid-19 vaccination by sharing Rangatahi Māori voices and values of care, responsibility and empowerment.
In our guide How to talk about COVID-19 vaccinations: Building trust in vaccination, we emphasise the importance of amplifying experts who can speak to people’s personal experiences and concerns, including Māori, Pacific and disabled experts; or people most trusted by these communities.

Hāpai Te Hauora gives a personal voice to the Covid-19 vaccination, while communicating good information from someone trusted within the community. This communication campaign is effective at providing vital vaccination information to Rangatahi Māori while using intrinsic values that lead with a vision for a better future.

https://www.facebook.com/hapaitehauora/photos/a.203529373020349/4608648622508380/?type=3&theater

The Workshop in the Media

Emphasising Creative and Effective Vaccine Approaches 

Vaccination provides the best protection to everyone when we have collective immunity. High levels of immunity in a population shield everyone from the worst of Covid-19. To achieve this, individual level benefits to get the vaccine should not be emphasised. Instead, framing the vaccine as a part of a collective effort to protect the community is important in encouraging more of our population to get vaccinated.

Co-Director Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw discusses this in her recent article with Newsroom titled Jess Berentson-Shaw: On ‘incentives’ and the vaccine hesitant. Jess mentions that when we use rewards and punishments to get hesitant people vaccinated, we send the message that the benefits of the vaccine are so weak, that people need an external motivator. This frames vaccination only in the context of individual-level gain and loss. Jess instead, highlights three main ways to encourage vaccination: 

• Through making vaccination easy and accessible to all communities, removing financial, social and physical barriers that stop people from accessing the vaccine.

• Providing ‘social proof’, if people we trust get vaccinated, we are more likely to do the same.

• Making vaccination the default, using an ‘opt-out’ not ‘opt-in’ approach. This works under the presumption that everyone has the positive intent to get vaccinated, limiting talk about choice and encouraging healthy vaccination behaviour.

You can read Jess’s full article here: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/jess-berentson-shaw-do-vaccine-incentives-help-hesitant-people

Notes from the Narrative Movement 

Passing The Message Stick 

We have been deeply inspired by the work done by many people, including some of our friends and collaborators in Australia, to produce advice on messages that are effective in building public support for First Nations self-determination and justice. This report, and the beautiful website that accompanies it, is the result of a two-year research project led by Dr Jackie Huggins AM, Larissa Baldwin and Karrina Nolan, supported by GetUp, Original Power and Australian Progress. Research on this project was undertaken by our colleagues at Common Cause Australia. Check out their website and report.

https://passingthemessagestick.org/

Latest from The Workshop 

Encouraging COVID-19 Vaccinations: A Guide for Workplaces, 2021

Mapping the Landscape: How to Talk About Systems Change in Aotearoa, New Zealand, 2021

Talking about COVID-19 vaccination with whānau Māori, 2021

All Covid-19 publications from The Workshop

For more guidance on narratives around topics such as transport, climate change,  justice reform,  and more, visit our website - we have freely available message guides.

If this email was forwarded to you, you can get future emails like this by signing up here. 

Get in touch with Rachel@theworkshop.org.nz if you would like to talk to us about how we can help you with specific advice or do training for your team

Marianne, Jess, Sharon, Carolyn, Jordan, Rachel, Ellen and Nicky at The Workshop