more advocacy

One of my favorite songs is “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson. If you’re looking for a song that makes you want to be better for those around you, this song is the ultimate motivator. The lyrics speak to the importance of being the change that we want to see in the world, and how we need to correct our own hearts before we can begin to expect those around us to be better.

I believe this idea of starting with ourselves, “the man in the mirror”, is the key component of how we can enact real change with advocacy. If we don’t invest ourselves in what we want to speak up about, and have that topic rooted it in our own hearts, we won’t be able to convince anyone with our advocacy efforts.

This past week, I spent a few days participating in a virtual conference focused on how to become a better advocate. One of the key points that we learned was that in order to be effective in our advocacy efforts, we have to lead with our stories, values, and emotions, rather than just the facts. However, we have to also see those same things in those who we advocate to. If we are able to see into others’ worlds, and let them see into ours, we can build a trusting relationship that can change perspectives on both sides. Advocacy is not simply just seeing our side of things, but rather recognizing why and how someone believes what they do, and working to meet them where they are in their understanding of what we are trying to get across.

If we start our advocacy by genuinely seeking to understand others, we are able to figure out what and how we need to do to make a lasting impact with our advocacy. With the “what” and the “how” covered, the most important piece of “why” is left. If we don’t have the “why” answered, it’s pretty tough to make the rest work. One of the questions we asked ourselves this week in order to uncover that purpose was,”What do we risk losing if we fail to advocate?” While there were a lot of great answers to this question, one stuck out to me in particular. Dean Hill from California answered with,”We risk losing the world we wish to see.”  This makes me think about that song once again, and how we see the change we want to happen in ourselves first, and then go out to make that change happen elsewhere. Our advocacy starts with recognizing our own purpose, and then working to extend that to the world we hope to see.

We should all be asking ourselves what change we want to see in the world with our advocacy efforts, and recognize that if we don’t speak up, the cost is more than just losing the world we want to see, but also the world we want others to see.

There’s more to advocacy.

There’s more to it all.