2023 is right around the corner. And, for many, these coming weeks will be full of reflection and looking forward. It’s a time to consider the value you’ve created this year, as well as visualising the impact you hope to have throughout the year ahead. Questioning how you want to evolve or level up your social value priorities and approach.
Setting social impact goals is a great way to keep your organisation on track. It’s one thing to make sweeping promises about being better, but that doesn’t help with actually seeing them through. Having tangible targets to hit will keep you and your staff engaged and motivated to work towards your wider mission. And it allows you to better allocate your time and resources as the year progresses and the situation changes.
But setting impactful, realistic goals is a skill in and of itself. So today, in our final blog of 2022, we want to share three tips for setting social impact goals that stick. Let’s dive in!
Be specific and targeted
Many goals – social impact or otherwise – fail simply because you put too much on your plate. You begin the year with all these great intentions. You’re going to double staff volunteer hours, reduce your waste by 50%, AND launch one brand new initiative a month.
While aiming high is great, trying to do too much means you can’t give anything the undivided attention it deserves. Nobody wins if you spread you and your team’s resources too thin.
So rather than trying to do it all, pick a few core issues or interventions that are important to your organisation and stakeholders. And give your full attention to seeing them through.
Pick those that align with your core values and will have the greatest impact on your customers, beneficiaries, employees, or investors. It’ll be better to see the critical issues through to completion, rather than ending the year with a handful of half-started initiatives. Plus, if you get a few months in and realise you’re making great progress, there’s no reason you can’t add more to your plate.
Link to your core business strategy
Tackling social value, ESG, and sustainability issues becomes much easier when everyone understands how important they are. And while it sounds like the obvious thing to do, it’s a step that can be missed, leading to a silo of social impact information. But when you make a specific effort to link this to your core business strategy, it becomes much easier to get everyone on the same page.
Linking your impact goals in this way ensures you’re in the best position to actually achieve them.
Make your impact goals as vital as other business or financial goals you choose for 2023. Address them often in company-wide meetings and communications, integrate them into your financial goals, and use them as a pillar of your annual planning. This way, you can get everyone involved, pulling in the same direction. And you leverage your progress in these areas to drive other business objectives, too.
Prepare to measure
Setting goals at the start of the year is great. But how will you know if you’re on track to meet them throughout the year? How will you quickly identify if something needs to change? Or if an initiative is actually having the intended outcomes?
To ensure your social impact goals are a success, you need to put the infrastructure in place to accurately measure them in real time. And, ideally, you want to do this as soon as possible.
If you haven’t already, consider the social value tools and technology you’ll need to capture, analyse, and report on your data. Identify what KPIs you’ll measure against, how often you’ll perform progress reviews, and make sure all staff are confident logging and reviewing the data. The first few months of the year should be spent ironing out your processes to make sure you can not only meet your impact goals, but are in the position to exceed them.
We’re not sure where this year has gone, but 2023 will be here before we know it. So why not take some time now to identify your social impact goals for the year? Now is as good a time as any to lay the solid foundations you’ll need to achieve them.
Impact is an intelligent, intuitive tool for capturing, evaluating, and reporting your social value. We’re framework-agnostic and include smart features such as decentralised data capture and real-time reporting to make tracking your impact goals a breeze. To find out more, schedule a demo or get in touch with the team on 0161 532 4752.