A traditional yellow, metal tape measure is looped around to form a heart shape. It is lying on a bright yellow background.

For good measure: It takes more than collecting and analysing data to measure social impact

When we think of someone who measures social impact, we might expect them to be skilled in data collection and analysis.

But if we consider social impact as something different – an active and ongoing process that is intimately bound up with the change you are trying to make – it requires alternative skills.

Not-for-profits often have to demonstrate the impact of their work to justify their use of public funds or donations. And a growing number of companies want to measure and demonstrate their social impact.

Using questionnaires, focus groups, and in-depth interviews at the end of a project can provide valuable insights into how effective a project has been.

Why measuring social impact requires different skills

However, surveys are susceptible to poor response rates or rushed responses. In-depth interviews are better, but they are still post-hoc.

I would argue for a different approach to social impact measurement (SIM) that we experienced during Coventry UK City of Culture 2021.

This centres around embedding your measurement in a theory of change that outlines the changes you are trying to make and why.

To do this you need to be flexible, transparent with your stakeholders, and open to co-creation to put their lives at the centre of your work.

Data skills alone are insufficient. You also need these 10 people centred skills.

1 Reflexivity

Reflexivity is the ability to question yourself or look objectively at how events progress, then adjust what you are doing.

Listening and learning is critical. What are participants saying, and do you need to pivot?

Don’t get caught up in your personal views of a creative practice or project. Reflexivity means working with the collective goals of the project, rather than your own mission.

2 Emotional responsiveness

Responsiveness means identifying, understanding, and engaging with difficult emotions that emerge in groups or project work.

You need to see what is happening, including positive and negative feelings or conflicts, without judging those involved or taking sides. Bring out all sides of the story as it unfolds.

3 Emotional processing

In order to respond to emotions, you also require the skills to process them. This means helping an individual or group to work through the difficult emotions they are experiencing.

For example, you could encourage participants to keep a journal after big conversations about progress and change. It may help them to express any difficult emotions that arise. Strategically, it also identifies a clear starting point for the next meeting.

4 Be positive about risk

A positive attitude to risk doesn’t mean taking risks with people’s wellbeing. It means being open about the methods you use, or explaining your findings to the group you are working with, particularly when you believe it might not be what they want to hear.

It also means being open to unintended consequences. Not all interventions for social change will work as you intended.

Young people attending a theatre production training session might end up with a network of people they connect with, rather than an actual job.

But that is still a positive outcome that might yield benefits further down the line.

5 Humility

A key skill is putting aside your professional ego to engage with what you hear and see.

For example, a SIM assessment might reveal that certain activities did not work as intended. Perhaps some festival events were not as popular or positive as you thought they would be.

Decision-makers should be open to exploring why outcomes were not what they had hoped for, instead of trying to argue why their choice was the right one.

6 Communication

Communication skills are vital. This includes active listening, empathy, managing conflict, and being able to manage your responses.

It won’t always be possible to find ‘one’ solution that will work for everyone. Instead, you can have open conversations about the options and how they will affect different groups.

The point is not for everyone to agree, but to reach a consensus on the direction to take and be transparent around the implications.

7 Facilitation

Facilitation means making events or situations more likely to happen.

Creating and analysing change is not about controlling or directing. It is about allowing events to unfold as they will, understanding them, and responding accordingly.

8 Intuition

You need to be able to read the room, pick up on clues that are not overtly expressed, and use that to engage with the conversation.

For example, expert SIM practitioners often talk about ‘sensing the room’ to understand who to invite to speak next, how to seat everyone to facilitate discussion, and how to ensure that everyone contribute.

9 Co-operation

This approach doesn’t work without an inner sense of equality with your participants.

No one expert can shine the light on all angles of the problem. Rather, guided conversation between stakeholders can yield insights into the best way to proceed.

For example, family members often have a different perspective on how to help a young person than the young person themselves.

Treating everyone’s views as valuable helps SIM practitioners identify the best solutions that work for those involved.

10 Embrace failure

No one starts out knowing how to work in this way; you learn by making mistakes. You need to be comfortable with that process and convey that mindset to employees.

Positive outcomes are great, but you need to go further and look at what you learned. For whom did it work as intended? Where did the intervention fall short? Could shifting resources, people, or focus produce better results next time?

A more logical approach to social impact

I would argue that the emotional skillset of a counsellor – active listening, empathy, communication, and the ability to create a safe space – is ideally suited to SIM, rather than a traditional analytical skillset.

This is a radical departure from the traditional approach. But it is a more logical way of conducting the business of social impact.

SIM is not a tick-box exercise; it is about transformation. Embrace these attributes and encourage them in your workforce.

You may find a more complex and productive story emerges about how projects and organisations work.

Further reading:

Six ways businesses can maximise social impact

How co-ops and mutuals can measure their social impact

Worthy suitor? How ESG can ease takeover deals

Five steps for companies to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

 

Haley Beer is Associate Professor of Operations Management at Warwick Business School. She teaches Creating Sustainable Organisations and Leading and Harnessing Diversity on the Executive MBA and Global Online MBA. She also teaches Leading and Harnessing Diversity on the Full-time MBA.

Help your organisation to achieve your sustainability goals as well as your financial objectives with a Social and Environmental Sustainability Specialism on our MBA programmes. 

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