Empathy and Inclusion – considerations for change agents

Empathy and Inclusion – considerations for change agents

by | Communications, Engagement, Opinion

We live in an increasingly fractured world. A world of tribalism. A world where we identify as part of a group, or groups, and increasingly ignore the views of anyone who thinks differently to ourselves.

Social media hasn’t helped. We’re now served content that reinforces existing beliefs. Algorithms serve content based on your connections, and the content you prefer. Meta, TikTok and X will unfollow or hide posts from sources you’re less interested in. The result? Availability bias has become one of the biggest barriers to genuine social discourse, empathy and inclusion in human history.

Scanlon’s most recent social cohesion index (Nov 2023), a survey of over 7,000 Australian’s, plummeted to its lowest ebb since it began 16 years ago. It came on the back of the Voice referendum, and as conflict began in the Middle East.

Most of us see the world in binary. We’re right, they’re wrong. Or worse, we’re right, they’re (insert slur). We label. We insult the ‘other.’ Even those of us who try to be mindful, who seek to change the world for the better, do so anchored in our own biases, shaped by our own values, values which typically mirror those that we surround ourselves with, people like ourselves.

Some aspects of empathy are intuitive. Mimicry is a good example. But to be truly empathetic requires systematic thinking. It’s a learned behaviour. We need to be deliberate with it, in our personal lives, and in our professional practice.

And this is where empathy can help. For me, empathy is the engine of pro-social behaviour. Empathy is an innate capacity that we all share, but it needs to be developed. We get better at it the more we practice.

I’ve always been quite empathetic. I sometimes refer to myself as a grumpy old man. My wife calls me insufferable. But I’m not grumpy because of my age. And I’ll park ageism for another day, other than to say it’s one of the most dangerous “isms” out there and we need to do more to combat it. Much more.

I’ve come to the conclusion, albeit without strong empirical evidence, that I’m grumpy because I’m empathetic. It doesn’t escalate to anger because I choose to channel it in a positive way, through my behaviour change practice. The same may be true for some of you here. Rather than feeling overwhelmed or angered by the depth of feeling you have for others or for the state of the planet, we take action.

And that’s the important bit. Some commentators believe empathy can be counterproductive. And they’re right. Imagine, just being sad for others. You now just have more people feeling sad, but no solution. Acting on that empathy, working with those you have empathy for to affect change is the key. Channeling your empathy into action is the key. It’s not just more effective. It’s cathartic.

Of course, empathy is enhanced by spending time with, and listening to, people who are different to ourselves. For the past 25 years I’ve been mindful of sourcing news and opinion from all sides of politics. I talk to victims and perpetrators; climate activists and deniers, I watch ABC and Sky. I actively seek to understand why people feel as they do, and then try and empathise.

Many well-intentioned programs and campaigns fail because we assume the values that matter to us, and those like us, are shared by those we’re trying to influence.

I could give many examples but approaches to influencing anti-social attitudes and behaviours on things like racism and gender equity spring to mind.

Too often change agents with the best intent allow their own ideology, their own values, get in the way of effective behaviour change practice. More empathy for those who don’t think like us greatly increases our chances of success. After all, are we trying to convince people our way of thinking is right or stop behaviours that do harm?

As Henry Ford put it: “If there is one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get to the other person’s point of view and see things from his angle, as well as your own.”

That means that when we are designing programs and services, we need to be deliberate in application of empathy. We need to listen, and act on what we hear. We need to create solutions with, not for, those we seek to serve. And this brings me to inclusion, a universal human right that speaks to the need for all to be included and have access to opportunities, inclusive of minorities, the disadvantaged and the under-represented.

As change agents, we seek to influence behaviours and attitudes for the good of individuals, and for the good of society as a whole. But if we’re honest, most of the work undertaken in the pro-social context in the past has been designed for the 80%, the majority. We need to be deliberately inclusive too.

We also need to understand that often the people who have the attitudes and behaviours we want to influence are not likely to respond to those things we believe are important. We need empathy to drive inclusion of the disadvantaged, the vulnerable, the at-risk. But we also need empathy to ensure our programs and services account for the lived experience, values and views of those we seek to influence, no matter how much we many not like them. We can’t be selective with our empathy. It must extend to and include everybody.

For me, inclusion and empathy are two sides of the same coin. While not quite synonyms, where you find one you will more often than not find the other. Empathy is the foundation upon which inclusion is built. Empathy promotes inclusion – it helps us understand and appreciate diverse perspectives.

Practicing empathy with priority populations creates a sense of psychological safety and supports a culture of inclusivity.

And empathy, through active listening, helps prevent micro aggressions and unconscious bias. Affinity bias (the tendency to favour those who are similar to us) and Confirmation bias (the tendency to seek out info that confirms our beliefs), Anchoring bias (the tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information we receive) and Availability bias (the tendency to overestimate the importance of information that’s readily available) have been key features of virtually all social change initiatives over the past 70 years, including, at times, my own.

Over the past decade I’ve become more mindful of trying to mitigate the impact of these biases on inclusive program design and tried to proactively apply an empathy lens to my work. It’s not easy, particularly when procurement and much of contemporary practice still lacks an empathy lens.

And so, when I was asked to convene a panel for Change, empathy and inclusion was an obvious choice.

In a world plagued by dissent, social unrest and tribalism, empathy is the secret sauce, the glue that has the potential to hold society together, and perhaps, even bring us back together.

It will take a concerted effort and a recognition that we all need to learn how to be more empathetic, through reason and systematic thinking. Today’s panel will provide a few insights into how. And I suspect, much much more.

– This post is a transcript of Luke’s introductory remarks to an Empathy and Inclusion panel at Change 2024

Youth engagement on alcohol nominated for Public Administration Achievement Award

Youth engagement on alcohol nominated for Public Administration Achievement Award

by | Engagement, News

The BCC was recently invited to attend the Institute of Public Administration of WA’s Achievement Awards after a youth consultation process we developed and facilitated for East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS) was nominated in the 2022 Best Practice in Children’s Consultation category.

In early 2021, The BCC was commissioned by EMHS to support the Belmont, Victoria Park, South Perth Local Drug Action Group (BVPSP LDAG) develop its Youth Alcohol Action Plan. Minimising alcohol use and related harms among young people is a key priority for the LDAG.

Following the facilitation of two successful stakeholder engagement sessions with over 26 local partner organisations, we suggested meaningful consultation with young people was needed to sense check stakeholder outputs, and to obtain additional insight for potential use in the plan.

EMHS immediately supported the idea and leveraged its strong relationships with partner organisations to arrange two sessions with small groups of young people (aged 12-17) in South Perth and Belmont. The sessions were planned and facilitated by The BCC’s Luke van der Beeke, with the support of Olivia O’Connor Liv by Design.

The engagement captured the useful, and at times very candid views of 45 young people on their exposure to, and use of alcohol. We met on their terms, in places they felt comfortable and listened. Then we listened some more.

The sessions were designed to provide young people from a range of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds with the opportunity to have their say in a safe and fun environment within their own community.

The two informal workshops proved to be confirmatory of stakeholder priorities, while also providing useful insights which were used to augment and fine tune the final plan.

We’d like to thank everyone we worked with at EMHS for the opportunity to engage on such a rewarding project, and particularly Megan Milligan, Colby McGuire and Linda Parsons. Thanks also to the BVPSP LDAG and all the local stakeholders we had the pleasure of meeting on the journey.

Congratulations to everyone involved on the nomination, and more importantly, on the development of the Plan itself.

EMHS Youth Alcohol Action Plan (PDF)
Perth residents combat the urban heat island effect

Perth residents combat the urban heat island effect

by | News

An innovative greening project designed to reduce the urban heat island effect has positively influenced community attitudes toward urban greening in some of Perth’s most heat stressed suburbs.


Over the past two years, The Behaviour Change Collaborative (The BCC) has worked in partnership with Greening Australia to deliver the innovative Our Park Our Place program at high-risk locations in the City of Canning, City of Bayswater, and Town of Bassendean.


The BCC’s Founder and Managing Director, Luke van der Beeke, said green space and canopy cover has declined in almost all major Australian cities over the past decade.


“Evidence has shown that this has resulted in urban heat islands, with daytime temperatures in affected areas being up to six degrees Celsius warmer than in surrounding areas.


“With lower socio-economic neighbourhoods most at risk, the costs are not just environmental. The urban heat island effect contributes to a range of socio-economic and public health issues that disproportionately impact low-income communities,” he said.


Mr van der Beeke said while revegetation to combat urban heat was the primary goal of the project, it also placed a significant emphasis on motivating and empowering people to take action in their own gardens, and on their front verges.


“First we looked to build awareness of urban heat and its impacts to motivate residents to act. Then, working with project partners, community members were offered skill building workshops so that those who wanted to make changes had the ability to do so.” Mr van der Beeke said.


Dr May Carter, Senior Research Associate at The BCC, said: “We engaged with the community and talked with them about what they would like to see in their local park and what improvements could be achieved through planting more vegetation.


“We looked at the benefits of increasing understory and plants that would attract wildlife, as well as nature play and discovery by young people.


“This helped to build interest and provided people with the knowledge and confidence needed to try things in their own homes,” Dr Carter said.


Mr van der Beeke added: “The parks were our catalyst for change, our focal point. Almost everything we did in the parks could be replicated in people’s gardens because we focused on households in the immediate surrounds. The soils and environs were much the same.”


At the conclusion of the two-year project, a comprehensive evaluation was undertaken evidencing a change in attitudes and behaviours towards urban greening.


Fifty-six per cent of people surveyed said they had been encouraged to plant trees and shrubs in their own garden, with a further 18 per cent saying that they would like to.


In local governments where verge planting was encouraged, almost one-third of respondents had planted trees or shrubs on their verge, as opposed to just 11 per cent where policy was more restrictive.


People who participated in Our Park Our Place were also encouraged to join an environment or community group. For example, in the City of Canning 15 per cent of respondents joined a local group after participating in the project, with a further 45 per cent indicating they were still considering joining one.


Following the conclusion of the project, participants were also more likely to agree that spending time outdoors was important, that green spaces contributed to their health and that they wanted to know more about their local environment.


Over 35,000 seedlings are 344 trees were planted by participating LGA’s and members of their local communities.

Video Credit: Greening Australia


Greening Australia’s Project Lead, Ruth Cripps, said: “These results are incredibly encouraging, because the whole aim of Our Park Our Place has been to inspire and equip residents in heat-affected suburbs with ways to cool their neighbourhoods and better connect with their local green spaces.


“As our climate changes, it is vital for the resilience of our communities that they feel better connected to each other and enabled to improve their environment. That has a profoundly positive effect on health and wellbeing. By encouraging people to plant more greenery and join local groups, the project has helped take these neighbourhoods a few steps further towards being cooler, greener, more climate-resilient places.”


Our Park Our Place was a Lotterywest funded project, managed by Greening Australia in partnership with The Behaviour Change Collaborative. Key partners included the City of Canning, City of Bayswater, Town of Bassendean, and Water Corporation.

Image credit: Jesse Collins