Examples
Get in the Loop - Buy Recycled used a telephone survey to determine why people were not buying more recycled-content products.
When participants expressed concern to The Environment Network's home advisors about the effectiveness of the alternative cleaning products they were promoting, these concerns were addressed directly. In addition, such comments were used to identify people who might be motivated by concerns about cleanliness and hygiene.
Marley Station Mall focused on the two most common motivators for exercising - health benefits and weight control.
During Green$avers EnerGuide For Houses visits a blower door test was integrated, because air leakage was considered to be the most serious area of energy loss, and the most effective and noticeable way to improve comfort and savings on energy bills.
Tip: See also the Tools Building Motivation Over Time and Overcoming Specific Barriers.
Tip: With face-to-face approaches you can look for clues and ask questions that identify the most important motivators and barriers for each person you contact. Train your program implementers to do this.
Your Program
Please refer to the step-by-step instructions for identifying motivators and barriers in Getting Informed
Make a list. Motivators:
Barriers:
Examples
To motivate clients to feed and care for their baby before birth, the Montreal Dietary Dispensary emphasized the idea of a fetus as an individual with real needs ones only the mother was in a position to provide. Women were taught that they were eating to feed their unborn babies, as well as themselves. A developing babys special needs for growth, the "building of a baby", was compared to the "building of a house" requiring the intake of nutrients as building blocks for the child.
We're Toxic Free used a simple, non-confrontational questionnaire to engage residents. Of the people they approached in this manner, 6 out of 10 agreed to participate further.
Peterborough GreenUp used a blower door test to estimate the combined total size of all the gaps in a home. They also asked residents to feel the air rushing in at several trouble spots.
Pacific Gas and Electric trained home assessors to appeal to concerns about heat loss,energy costs and comfort, as follows:
You know, if you were to add up all the cracks around these doors here, you'd have the equivalent of a hole the size of a football in your living room wall. Think for a moment about all the heat that would escape from a hole that size. That's why I recommend you install weather-stripping. And your attic totally lacks insulation. We professionals call that a naked attic. It's as if your home is facing winter not just without an overcoat, but without any clothing at all.
Tip: Use images that are as close as possible to the experience of the person or people with whom you are communicating.
Tip: If you are talking about something that is intangible, make it more tangi-ble. If the person does not have much experience with it, relate it to something with which they have more experience.
Tip: Use as many senses as you can since some people are more auditory, others more visual, others more kinesthetic.
Tip: Make comparisons with well- known landmarks.
See also the Tool School Programs that Involve the Family.
Tip: Click on an image to enlarge it. Click your back button to return to this page.
Cover of the Shade Trees for Guelph brochure.
Your Program
For each of the motivators and barriers listed in step 1, how might you do the following?
Link to activities people are already doing:
Describe the full effect of combining many small, contributing factors:
Use bar or pie charts to illustrate statistics and other numbers and make the charts "come alive" by using vivid icons as labels:
use descriptions to illustrate statistics and other numbers:
