EPALE - Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe

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Each of my texts describes something that I am learning about myself. I decided to share my development experiences in order to inspire others. And today it will be the same - I will write about conducting the most important workshop in the history of the world.

To begin with, it would be good to clarify the title. The logic behind it is simple. The most important challenge in the history of the world is the climate change crisis. Accordingly, any workshop on this issue automatically becomes the most important workshops in the world. And the title itself is, of course, a reference to the excellent podcast series "The biggest story in the World"^[1], in which The Guardian talks about how they were learning to write about the climate change crisis.

^{Photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash}

Because it works

The issues related to climate challenge are, in my opinion, one of the areas where it is very easy for a coach to see the relevance of what he or she is doing. I don't delude myself that delivering one speech on climate change will save the world from disaster. But we make a living out of developing people's competences. And research on people's responses to the climate crisis shows that an individual’s level of education has an impact on their willingness to engage. The more knowledge people have, the more they are aware that climate change has its origins in human activity - the more willing they are to engage in various environmentally oriented activities^[2].  In addition, the more educated a given person is, the better choices he or she makes when engaging in these activities. They are more likely to choose activities that are effective and not just those that come to mind first. This shows that we must start by educating. And who knows better about educating than we do?

Let's spread the word

Awareness of climate issues among the general public is growing. No wonder that awareness is also growing among coaches. For example, we have a Facebook group called Coaches for the Planet. In my opinion, it is time for us to serve the cause with what we can do best - educate. Writing texts, recording podcasts and talks, creating videos. We know how to teach, we know how to persuade - let us use it. All the more so because, as I wrote in the previous point, such education has a profound sensibility.

Teaching effectiveness

As a coach or a speaker, on a day-to-day basis I mainly work with business clients (which is not atypical among coaches). Those businesses are focused on the implementation of their objectives, meeting targets, and the effectiveness of their activities. These are businesses which understand that if any research shows us the effectiveness of a given persuasive strategy, we should check whether such a strategy will be useful or not.

When supporting people in pro-climate measures, we should have the same principles in mind. Let’s teach the use of effective methods which can give a chance of success. Examples? The availability heuristic tells us that events that we have more frequent contact with and a more emotional attitude towards them seem more likely to happen. Therefore, when talking about the changing climate, let's not only refer to melting glaciers or polar bears, but let's show changes in the environment that is more familiar to the audience^[3]. If we know that people react reluctantly to the word Tax, but the word Offset^[4] does not arouse such negative emotions – let’s teach people how to communicate what we can do together for a climate that takes this into account.

We teach personal and organisational effectiveness on a daily basis. Let's teach it to those who will use these competences for an important cause.

How about some work without money?

People are prepared, to varying degrees, to adopt behaviour that has the potential to make a positive contribution to the problem of global warming. Obviously, it is easier for them to stop using plastic straws than to stop travelling by plane on weekend trips to any of the European capitals. On top of this, research shows that people are least likely to opt for those pro-environmental actions that would make the most sense - acting in organisations, generating political pressure or volunteering.

Therefore, if you are a coach, knock on the door of some organisation that focuses their activity on helping to solve the climate crisis and ask: "Maybe I could provide you with some training in a certain area?" or "Maybe you could benefit from my expertise?". Most importantly, you don't need to know anything strictly about climate protection. Each of these organisations will also need development in the competences that you deal with on a daily basis. After all, each of them is simply an organisation trying to operate effectively in a complex world. There will certainly be a topic that you can help them with.

And finally

Let's all read the „Klimatyczne ABC” book prepared by the University of Warsaw (it is impossible to mention all the excellent authors). The book can be downloaded here^[5], and is free.

This is probably the first time I have written so categorically, and I encourage, indeed urge, you to do the same. But it is also the first time I have written about such an important subject.