The Changing Potential of WIIFM
Learned during a speech course, WIIFM means “What’s in it for me?” My instructor ingrained that the speaker needs to be cognizant of the audience’s WIIFM if they want them to take an action. In other words, their motivations, beliefs, and values have to be central to the ask, so that they are more likely to engage proactively in the request for change.
What are our institutions’ WIIFM? What do we value? And, more importantly, how does equity initiative connect with them?
One of the reasons change is difficult is our risk aversion; we tend to be more mindful of what we can potentially lose versus what we can potentially gain. Thus, equity work is viewed through the lens of look at what has been loss so that others can gain. The scarcity model and entitlement contribute to this sentiment that overlooks the collective improvement. Remember the acronym is WIIFM and not WIIFU(us).
Additionally, James Clear applies Newton’s First Law of Motion, an object at rest stays at rest, to help explain why most people do not change. Our schools’ previous successes have cultivated an environment of rest. Our schools are not often innovate leaders because there is no reason to shift our way of being. Our college lists are still populated with elite universities, our families continue to pay climbing tuitions, so we our worry that a change can affect our desired outcomes increases exponentially, resulting in inaction.
We have to overcome our strong desire to stay at rest and our aversion to change. One possible solution includes interrogating our WIIFM. We have to be able to answer this question to move our institutions towards equitable systems and environments.
