Sustainability is about change and change is about psychology…
On Sunday, I heard an MP on the radio say “Of course we have to tackle climate change, but my constituents don’t want to give up their petrol or diesel cars or their gas boilers.” That ‘but’ sent fingernails scraping down the blackboard of my soul. How can the statement after the ‘but’ be reconciled with the statement after? Spoiler: it can’t, and the host of the show didn’t pick them up on this cognitive dissonance.
Then yesterday I got into a polite disagreement on LinkedIn (I know, you’re shocked). A fellow Sustainability consultant posted a piece about the skills our sector should have. All of them were technical issues regarding planetary boundaries etc, not one was about the mechanics of achieving change. When I suggested change management skills were crucial, the OP said, rightly, “you need to know where you want to go first” which is true, but is completely academic if you don’t have a clue how to get people moving in that direction.
For me change management is essential, not a luxury. In mathematical terms, it is not:
Sustainability = goal + change management
Rather:
Sustainability = goal x change management
In other words, if either of those factors is zero, you get zero.
I often say the biggest barrier to Sustainability is just six inches wide, the space between our ears. I don’t think the MP I quoted above understood how daft his statement was and you can’t change that mindset with logic or force of argument – you have to understand what makes people tick and use that. Psychology in other words.
If I were to list my top five books for Sustainability consultants, there would be at least two change/psychology books in there (Switch by Chip and Dan Heath and Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman). My Green Jujitsu approach to engagement (which permeates my approach to strategy development) is all about using psychology.
Psychology is the key to Sustainability – this is the hill I will die on!
For more on Green Jujitsu, check out our on demand course hosted on Udemy – currently rated at 4½ stars out of 5 😇.