The Toolkit
Probing
Narratives that move people to act need to connect to what your audience already believes and values. Before you can build those narratives, you need to understand the current situation: who influences it, which narratives make it feel normal or inevitable, who your audience is, and where change is possible. This gives you the foundation for everything that follows.
This phase has four steps:
1. Understand who influences the status quo
Analyze the power dynamics in a system to understand what keeps the status quo in place, which narratives sustain it, and who influences whom.
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2. Identify where you can intervene
Identify where you can influence decision makers in the system and which audiences you need to reach.
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3. Map the dominant narratives
Surface the dominant narratives that make the current situation feel normal, inevitable, and difficult to change.
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4. Explore the values of your audience
Identify which values shape how your audience understands the issue and what matters to them.
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After this, you understand which narratives to change, which actors matter most, and where you can intervene. You are ready to define the future your audience wants to work toward in the Reimagining phase.
This toolkit grows through use — share what you learned or get in touch.
Sources: Donella Meadows, Peter Senge, Russell L. Ackoff, Common Cause Handbook