Can a problem only be understood when a stakeholder experiences it for themselves?

This question is on my mind after an experience where I have raised a problem, however, I struggled to get understanding and action taken from it. It was only when the stakeholder experienced the problem first hand that they really understood it and was able to then take action from it. This I find interesting!

How do we help stakeholders understand the problem without them experiencing it first hand?

You could use the word ignorance, which to me, would sound a little harsh. However, if you looked up the definition of ignorance it is about lacking some form of knowledge. So what is the knowledge they are missing to understand the problem? The problem may have been obvious to me, but what was missing from the equation?

This where story telling comes in.

Let’s imagine this problem play out and what the impact could be.

These are the words and process I am going to use going forward.