Leadership
SOCIAL IMPACT
adjust mid-project to correct that. In Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, where I was Social Impact Evaluation Lead, there was one event for which certain postcodes weren’t signing up. The evaluation team realised it was because fewer people had smartphones with data in these areas as they were on pay-as-you-go. We changed our strategy to advertising with paper posters and the team noticed an increase in sign-ups. Another question to consider is: have you reached an entirely new audience that you didn’t expect to? If you are flexible enough, this can become part of your evaluation of success. 3 Put your stakeholders centre-stage Involving and co-creating with stakeholders from the beginning is vital to a project’s success. Engaging with your stakeholders is not only motivating, but it also helps avoid costly mistakes. Stakeholders can discuss the effectiveness of your mission and your story of change and help you understand the best impact measurement techniques. During 2021’s UK City of Culture in Coventry, we held a change strategy workshop with some of the beneficiaries of the events. Refugees and migrants were presented with some data that referred to them as marginalised communities. They said they were not marginalised, just “seldom heard”. We took this reflection away and implemented a change immediately. One of the most difficult challenges for any organisation or project is finding the right measurement tool for stakeholders. Is it reasonable, for example, to ask time-poor, physically
Just good business How companies can measure social impact more effectively
Biases, gaps, and limitations of your measurement How you have collected, assessed, and reported your impact data Being open with and accountable to your stakeholders. 6 Using your data to transform Impact assessment should not be a tick-box exercise. When done effectively, it can improve how you work before, during, and after a project. It can help organisations learn to be better and build capacities within their organisations. Your data can also help you advocate for your stakeholders with policymakers, the media, and the wider sector. The benefits of engaging in social change activities for business include increased customer support, better
or energy-stretched people to fill out long questionnaires, sometimes repeatedly? What kind of measurements work for their lives? For example, questionnaires and interview guides could be translated to overcome language barriers or replaced with interviews to include illiterate stakeholders. 4 Think about proportionality Organisations do not always have the resources to engage in a complex impact measurement exercise. It’s critical to choose manageable and relevant methods of assessing impact. The benefits of measuring impact should outweigh the costs of completing the exercise. 5 Be transparent In the OECD report, we offer a framework for conducting impact assessments that is applicable to any organisation. However, it is flexible and will depend on resources, stakeholders, and what happens during the project. Being transparent about how you conduct your impact assessment will allow others to learn best practice from your project. That includes:
by Haley Beer
P urpose has become a new frontier for businesses and organisations that are conscious of their public image and bottom line. A considerable challenge, however, is to make this a meaningful change, rather than a tick-box exercise. The social economy – which the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also defines as ‘mission- driven organisations’ – has much to offer here, helping to shape the language and practices of the broader business community. But, to do that, the sector needs a common language to communicate best practice that makes sense to business leaders, policymakers, and governments alike. That means creating a shared framework to measure what works, which is what we sought to establish with our OECD report Measure, manage, and maximise your
impact : A guide for the social economy . I want to share six lessons from that guide on how businesses can measure and understand the change they are making. Social change pays. A recent study by the non-profit B Lab Global found that B Corp companies – which are certified as acting on sustainability – outperformed ordinary businesses in both revenue and resilience. However, it only pays if you can show what you have achieved. This is problematic, as research by digital marketers Dentsu Aegis found that 60 per cent of brands that have purpose-driven initiatives are not measuring their impact on society. This leaves those companies exposed to accusations of greenwashing. It also means firms cannot learn from their mistakes and may even do accidental harm. We wanted to ensure our framework would be flexible and adaptable enough to suit different contexts and organisations. We also
wanted to go beyond traditional quantitative measures to a holistic, mixed-method approach that could track meaningful change. If we can begin to measure these successes using the following steps, other companies may be more likely to follow suit. 1 Translate your social mission into a narrative of change Organisations need to create a story about the change they want to achieve. Who will it impact on? How will you go about it? What impact would you like to have and why? What is your change strategy or your pathway to change? Use this story to identify your most meaningful targets along the way. 2 View the change strategy flexibly Impact measurement should be ongoing and flexible. What if you don’t reach your intended audience? There may be something you can
returns, and more resilience. Businesses have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
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Sustainable Development Goals
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