Social Impact Leadership Guide For Better Strategy, Skills & Decision Making

It’s easy to want to make the world a better place, to create a ‘social impact’. It’s much harder to do in practice. Most people have limited success that quickly fizzles out. Rooted in scientific evidence and practical real world experience and years of study. This guide to social impact leadership empowers you with the strategy, knowledge, decision making skills and techniques enabling you to help people, at scale. Whether they are in your community or wider society. My goal is to give you expertise you need to make a difference to the people you care about.

Traditional Planning and Strategies Fail at Social Change.
Positive Social Impact Needs to be Nurtured.
Relationships Empower Continuous Learning & Improvement.

1. Traditional Planning and Strategies Fail at Social Change. People, societies and the future are unpredictable. This means that old fashioned machine ‘logical model’ view of people and society are things to be planned, controlled and fixed does not work. Social change needs to be evolved.

2. Positive Social Impact Needs to be Nurtured. The Social Impact Leader creates the conditions for change. Generating the possibilities for more stories of good to happen and less of bad. Good information and adaptability are key. We need to empower and educate people. Give people the strategic tools they need to make decisions and lead where the information is best.

3. Relationships Empower Continuous Learning & Improvement. A broad range of skills and knowledge is required to continuously observe, understand and adapt to the world as it is. Connecting information and ideas. Critical are a diverse range of relationships, collaboration and psychological safety, so we can gain fresh perspectives and insights. Learning from others what’s going wrong and right, gaining new ideas to improve. Creating positive change that flows.

This guide is designed to a one stop place where you can gain knowledge, tools and ideas to make and lead your own positive social impact and make a real difference to create a better world.

This is a big topic so I have separated it into bite sized chunks. Many of these link to blogs where you can read up and learn about the topic in more detail. I’ve peppered the blog with ideas based on my experience so that you can upskill and take your knowledge to the next level. Each section ends with 3 key learnings to make it easier to follow. Feel free to jump around and come back and visit a topic as necessary. If you need further support get in touch and let’s have a conversation.

What is Making a Difference?

The world is changing today faster than ever. Some of the changes are good some are bad. The idea of making a difference is that you want to give the world a bit of a nudge so that there are more good changes than bad. So making a difference can be stopping bad things from happening. Or it could be helping good things happen.

What truly makes a difference is not solely found in headline grabbing achievements, but also in the everyday acts of kindness, courage, and dedication exhibited by individuals in communities worldwide. These acts, whether they involve volunteering, adopting sustainable practices, or simply spreading awareness on crucial issues, collectively forge a path toward a brighter, more inclusive future. It’s the cumulative impact of these endeavours, fuelled by a shared commitment to bettering our world, that underscores the profound power of collective action and the indomitable spirit of humanity’s quest for progress.

While making a difference can be seen as the individual acts of kindness or change, social impact is a much more structured deliberate approach to making change. A bit like DIY vs project management. It does the same thing, but within an intentional professional structure to make it more reliable

Social impact represents the collective, measurable outcomes of these actions on a larger scale. Both are crucial in driving forward positive societal change, but they operate at different levels and with different approaches to solving social challenges. Generally social impact is the more strategic approach whereas as making a difference is a tactical just do it approach.

“Social impact is a visible, emergent pattern of enduring change within a social system, sparked by intentional actions. This shift marks a clear departure from past societal norms, affecting the health and wellbeing of the members of the social system.”
J-P Crofton

Social impact refers to the significant, positive emergent change that addresses pressing social challenges in our communities and the world at large. It involves actions that improve the well being of individuals, communities, and the environment, often aiming at long-term solutions to societal problems.

I explain What social impact is, why social impact is emergent, and why it matters in this blog post.

Social impact is about creating the conditions for change. Social impact is like a flower that needs the right conditions for growth. It is not a process, but a series of interacting processes. Just like a city is not one road but a web of interconnecting roads.

A-Bakery-Can-be-an-Example-of-Creating-Social-Impact

There are two types of social impact: positive and negative. The goal of social impact leadership is to enhance positive social impact whilst being aware and acting to avoid negative social impact.

Across the globe, initiatives like TOMS’ shoe donations giving one shoe for everyone sold, Water Aid’s clean water access, Build-On’s school construction, and FarmTogether’s environmental efforts demonstrate the power of compassionate action. The microfinance work of Grameen Bank empowers women, while companies are increasingly prioritizing social impact. BioLite’s sustainable energy, art projects like the Inside Out Project, and the critical assistance of Médecins Sans Frontières highlight how diverse efforts can lead to significant change. Together, these examples showcase the transformative impact of collective effort, inspiring a more equitable and sustainable world.

Our society is riven by unintended negative social impacts. For example the negative impacts of social media on teenagers include cyberbullying and sleep issues, leading to mental health struggles. Environmental pollution from industrial activities such as the largescale dumping of sewage into the sea by UK water companies worsens health problems. Whist unsafe workplaces risk employees’ such as working long hours have a negative social impact on employees physical and mental well-being. Health disparities in minority groups stem from healthcare access barriers and lifestyle factors, contributing to obesity and related diseases. Additionally, media overload exacerbates anxiety and emotional distress.

These issues underscore the urgent need for social impact leadership in our communities empowering people to address the problems people see in their lives.

We can’t always know or anticipate or even fully understand the negative social impacts we see in our lives, such as with social media. However, what helps is having clear boundaries that’s social impact leaders can then act to correct as soon as problems are detected. So many of the negative social impacts have been allowed to run away by uncertain boundaries and a lack of coherent action.

Social impact leadership entails guiding organisations, teams, or movements in a way that prioritises and achieves significant positive changes in society. It combines strategic thinking, ethical leadership, and a deep commitment to making a difference in the lives of others.

Why is it leadership?

Social impact leadership is the strategic and tactical process or act of leading change. You are creating the conditions for change which is more than just leading. Leadership is doing things intentionally not just thinking or telling. Whereas the leader is the role, leadership is the process of how the leaders create change. This guide is about giving social impact leaders the knowledge and skills of the leader into action; creating social impact.

An analogy is a garden ‘leadership’ is tending the garden, so the flowers grow, ‘leading’ is making the flowers grow and a ‘leader’ is in charge of the garden and checks the flowers have grown.

I believe anyone can make the decision to lead change in order to make the world a better place. It’s not about putting you in a leader’s chair. All you need is a good idea and the ability to act to make it happen. The rest is all momentum.

A real social impact leader though creates the time and space for other people to lead, make their own decisions and develop their knowledge and skills.

All types of leaders can have a significant contribution to creating social impact. It is often the frontline leaders who are the most important for social impact leadership. They are the real drivers of improvement as shown by the examples of change leading companies like Toyota and Tesla. They have the best information, the expertise in sight of the problems, and relationships to deliver change. In short they have the best information to make the best decisions to make change happen. Sadly they are often also the lowest on the rung of leaders with the lowest status.

One of the most important things other types of leaders can do is empower frontline leaders and give them the support and resources they need. Following a strategy to empower them to make the decisions to respond quickly and effectively to the problems they see.

A great strategy to make better decisions if your change is slow or stuck, or you know things aren’t working and you don’t know why. If you are not a frontline leader, make yourself one. Go where the action is see with your own eyes, talk to people. You will learn 10 times more than looking at any spreadsheet. You will see the difference between work as imagined and work as done. If you are a front line leader go spend a shift with someone else’s team and get a fresh perspective.

I used to help organise this all the time when i worked in the NHS. It can create new relationships fresh perspectives share training and learning, as well as provide new information to inform your decisions.

Leading social change is about a strategy for initiating and fostering movements or initiatives that aim to alter societal norms, systems, or structures in ways that lead to significant improvements in community well-being. It requires vision, courage, and the ability to mobilise and engage diverse stakeholders towards a common goal.

In this blog on social movements I discuss how technology and social media appear to have created a rich breeding ground for social movements to create social impact. Making it easier to empower people than ever before. However, we need to be mindful that movements, do not automatically result in social change. Clicking is not action. Leadership alongside the movement is required to create strategies and make decisions empowering the movement to thrive and prosper. This leadership focus the movements efforts to stay united and builds momentum and direction for change to create social impact.

What is Leading to Impact?

Leading to Impact combines the strategy, decision making and actions for social impact leadership to achieve social impact. Harmonising and aligning strategy and tactics leading to impact in a way that creates momentum for a flow of change.

Leading to Impact is different from:

‘Leading for impact‘. Focused on commissioning or investing social impact leadership for a desired social outcome.

‘Leading with impact‘: social impact leadership focused on working directly with a community to be impacted, such as a Dr or an activist setting examples and teaching others.

Leading to impact is to combine strategy, decision making and tactics create a flow between the two to maximise social impact.

A social impact leader is someone who inspires, motivates, guides supports and empowers others toward achieving meaningful and lasting changes in society. Successful leaders are characterised by their commitment to addressing societal issues, ability to think strategically, and skill in mobilising resources and people towards social goals.

Charity Social Enterprise Not-For-Profit

Empathy and Compassion: At the heart of social impact is the desire to make a positive difference in the lives of others. Leaders must possess a genuine concern and care for the well being of both the communities they serve and their team members. Being able to role model the behaviours and values is a vital quality in social impact leadership.
Collaborative Spirit: Collaboration across sectors and disciplines is often vital to achieve meaningful change. In fact I’ve found collaboration is often the starting for great projects. Effective leaders build partnerships and foster a culture of teamwork.
Ethical Decision Making: The ethical implications of decisions are paramount in social impact leadership. Leaders must navigate these considerations with integrity and transparency.
Innovative Thinking: Addressing complex social issues often requires adaptability social innovation. Leaders should encourage and even prioritise creativity and be open to exploring new approaches and technologies.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: How Leaders Can Improve their Social Impact?

A social impact leader is someone who thinks differently. Doing the same as everyone else is not a good strategy to create change. You are not going to change anything by just fitting in, and being the same. A great way to think differently is through educating yourself. Learn the theory and the practice, question assumptions: ask why things are the way they are and what decisions you can make to things differently?

Discover a Path To A Better Future With Social Innovation

The reality is that not everyone who leads and says the right things, is genuinely making the world a better place.

Puts their personal benefit ahead of others.
Makes decisions that puts profit before people (except when essential for survival)
Puts process above people. (The process exists to support people)
See their relationships as competitions for winning and losing.
Create rules for others that, they then don’t follow themselves.

Sadly working in the public service I discovered there are quite a few people who have a strategy of using the veneer of caring about social issues as makeup. One example was after the death of George Floyd there was a rush to recognise people of different colour and the disadvantages they faced. Very public meetings with senior leaders were arranged: actions and plans were agreed.

Then it went out of the news the meetings stopped and disappeared off the agenda. Yes reports were written. But they were quietly filed away and nothing happened. The decisions and actions did not follow the talking.

There is no substitute for genuinely prioritising people who are suffering and disadvantages. We must also be aware as social impact leaders, that others will quite happily try and steal our language sound and look like us as a strategy to gain social advantage,, power over others and recognition. But as soon as the social attention is away you can see what their priorities really are.

One of the main reasons i talk about leadership and leading is that it is the DOING social impact that matters, not the position of the person talking about it.

Watch what the leader does, not what they say. Their actions often reveal their priorities and what they really care about. Talking about something is very different from doing something. Especially when the doing means sacrifice.

Real Examples of People who've made a difference

Examples of social impact leadership include initiatives that address poverty, inequality, education, environmental sustainability, and health. Organisations like non-profits, social enterprises, and increasingly businesses adopting a strategy of corporate social responsibility. These practices exemplify social impact leadership by working towards these goals.

I’ve created a list of examples of social impact leadership that has inspired me and why in this blog post.

To become a social impact leader, you can follow this step-by-step process:

Identify Your Passion: Start by pinpointing the social issues that you feel most passionate about. Having a strategy of doing things you love will give meaning and fulfilment to your social impact leadership journey.
Educate Yourself: Dive deep into learning about the chosen issue. Be curious. This involves asking questions and looking for answers. Everyone has their own way of learning. Find out what works for you. Knowledge is power and forms the basis of your future actions. I love learning and I’m keen to share my knowledge and learn from others too.
Gain Relevant Experience: Make the decision to look for opportunities to work or volunteer in organisations that are active in your area of interest. This hands-on experience is invaluable, offering insights into the challenges and strategies in social impact work.
Develop Leadership Skills: Cultivate essential skills such as listening, budgeting, planning, effective communication, decision making and problem-solving. Being able to analyse data can almost be like a superpower. Leadership courses, workshops, and mentorship can be great resources.
Build Your Network: Connect with other social impact leaders, activists, and organisations. A strategy of networking can provide support, partnership opportunities, and valuable insights from those with similar goals and experiences. Having good friends can go a long way.
Implement Projects: Start small with community projects is a good strategy to address the issue you are passionate about. This could be organising community events, leading awareness campaigns, or developing solutions for local problems. I’ve created a complete guide to everything you need to know about starting your own project here.
Measure and Articulate Impact: Learn how to measure the impact of your initiatives through both qualitative and quantitative means. Learn to understand the data. Don’t just look at the report but go through it in detail will help your understanding and inform you decisions immeasurably. Being able to understand and communicate data is a crucial social impact leadership skill for garnering support and inspiring others.
Reflect and Adapt: Regularly reflect on your projects and leadership approach. Be open to feedback and ready to adapt your strategies to be more effective. The world is unpredictable. Don’t follow the plan blindly.
Continue Learning: The field of social impact is dynamic, with new challenges and solutions and social innovation emerging all the time. Stay informed and open to learning new approaches and ideas.

By following these steps, you’ll be on your way to becoming a social impact leader, equipped with the knowledge, skills, and network to make a significant difference in your chosen area of focus.

According to McKinsey 70% of change management initiatives fail. That’s far worse than the 50:50 luck of flipping a coin. Why is that?

Leadership plans And decision making failing are depicted as a Leadership boat trying to plan a straight line course through a sea of uncertainty — There is rarely a straight line journey to planning success.

People are not predictable: Organisations and social systems are complex adaptive systems, meaning they consist of interdependent parts that respond to each other and to external changes in unpredictable ways.
There are many unknowns and unknowable’s in social systems: Social systems are built up of relationships, people’s motivations, desires and there are many things that can can impact our plans that we can never know or understand.
The future is not as predictable as we think it is: I have identified 12 scientific reasons that the future is not what we think it is and why it leads our plans to failure in this blog.
Cognitive Biases and Heuristics: Our decision making is influenced by cognitive biases and mental shortcuts that can skew our perceptions and judgments, leading to flawed planning and leadership decisions. The idea of a rational human is just science fiction. We need to except our capacity to make assumptions and mistakes is hard wired into out thinking.
Emotional Resistance to Change: Psychology tells us that resistance to change is not only rational but also emotional. People may fear loss of identity, status, or security, which can deeply affect their acceptance and engagement with change efforts. Given that 70% of change efforts fail maybe resistance is a sensible choice.
Group Dynamics and Social Identity: The dynamics within a groups of people can significantly impact the acceptance and implementation of change. Leadership strategies often overlook the power of social identity and group norms in driving or hindering change. Role models play a significant factor in this and leaders who change others but not themselves are going to find creating social impact very difficult.
Psychological Safety: The absence of psychological safety in an organisation can stifle open communication, innovation, and the willingness to embrace change, as individuals fear negative consequences of speaking up or failing. So many of the problems may never be discussed or raised.
Change Fatigue: Continuous or poorly managed change initiatives can lead to change fatigue, where individuals become cynical and resistant to further efforts, a phenomenon well-documented in organisational psychology.

A lot of people seem to think leadership decision making IS planning. Making a change is coming up with a good plan and then making sure people follow it.

Everyone has a plan until they are punched in the face.
Mike Tyson

It’s always good to have an a plan. An intention of what to do next. The most important part of any plan is what you do decide to do right now. That’s based on what you allowed to do now (agency) and what you are able to do now (affordance). So if the plan is to detailed it restricts your agency and what resources you can invest in doing it, it can stop you and others from doing the right and making the best response to the situation in front of you.

I am not arguing that people should decide to do what they want. Only that they should have the scope to be able to take the leadership role be there own decision makers and act quickly to address problems if they know how.

The leadership decision makers decisions then turn into what decisions the team are empowered to make when.

The Planning Stress Cycle. What Happens When the Planning & Decision Making Fails.

The Planning stress cycle. Decision making 8 steps form plans to failure

Leadership planning and decision making failures are so common, that there is a planning stress cycle that frequently plagues many of our organisations. It is an 8 step cycle that creates repeated cycles of creation and failure in many organisations. It is rooted in the simplified plans and decision making that leaders think will work when meeting reality. Managers always reasonably think their plans will work. Sadly reality is not reasonable. Reality does what reality does. And it does not obey logic models. Sorry.

The good news is that the blog also identifies 2 ways to prevent the cycle and adapt to circumstances. Firstly by empowering frontline leaders and secondly by adopting Polarity Management. (With a helpful guide on how to implement it) Read about the planning stress cycle and how to stop it here.

There is something addictive about the stress and drama these stress cycles cause. It’s exciting something is happening. It feels like things are moving forwards. Lots of plans and decisions are being made. Even if the reality is more often the whizz off things going around the drain faster and faster.

The leadership mastery tip is for you to be aware of your emotions. It can be really hard being a positive force for change when all this drama is going on around you. I’ve learned it’s best to make the conscious decision to be the calm in the storm. (It’s tricky but it’s a skill you can practice and coaching can help) Don’t get swept up in the turmoil. It is also helpful to be aware that the failure part is the best time to make a positive change. So when things do go wrong you have already to an alternative plan you can bring to the table.

Leading Social Change is Different: Social issues and society are complex, so leading efforts to create positive change requires a special kind of leader. These leaders need to draw on many different ideas, like how complex social systems work and how people behave, to come up with creative solutions that adapt to the circumstances they are in.
Frontline Leaders Matter: The leaders who are best placed to recognise and respond to change as it happens are on the frontline. They have the expertise and relationships to make real change happen. Effective social impact leaders empower these frontline people by giving them the resources and support they need and joining them if necessary.
Change Takes Time: Social change doesn’t happen overnight, It’s more like growing a flower – you need to create the right conditions and then be patient. Leaders need to focus on creating an environment for positive change, understanding it as an ongoing process.

The journey of Social Impact unfolds across 11 stages, each crucial for achieving meaningful change. This comprehensive pathway, born from a blend of my personal insights, management theories, and practical experience, offers a structured approach to evolving from the inception of an idea to the broadening of its influence.

The journey is designed to guide social impact leadership from the spark of a vision to the expansive scaling of their impact. While it’s possible to navigate these stages non-linearly, skipping steps may impede later progress—for instance, insufficient engagement could hamper future evaluations due to not consulting the right stakeholders, and a loosely defined plan may hinder optimisation efforts as team members might pursue divergent paths.

The 11 Step Journey to Social Impact and Cultural Change

Here’s a concise outline of the 11-step journey toward impactful change:

1) Vision: Cultivate and share a compelling vision, exploring diverse ideas and perspectives to foster motivation for change.

2) Engagement: Foster a collective commitment by actively involving community members, adapting to their needs, and aligning with their expectations.

3) Testing: Validate concepts through the use of cost-effective prototypes or pilot projects to ascertain their social impact potential. Embrace the necessity for varied interventions to address complex issues effectively.

4) Planning: Utilise the Cynefin Framework to chart the project’s course, highlighting crucial milestones, acknowledging interdependencies, and synthesising insights.

5) Funding: Procure the required resources and financial support, informed by the insights gained from the testing phase.

6) Collaboration: Forge strategic partnerships to enhance expertise, share data, and streamline efforts, while managing mutual dependencies.

7) Implementation: Translate plans into action, leveraging the gathered resources and insights.

8) Measurement: Monitor the intervention’s effects, employing tools and methodologies that capture a broad spectrum of impacts to address any unintended consequences.

9) Optimisation: Refine and streamline processes for enhanced efficiency and impact, emphasizing continuous improvement.

10) Evaluation: Conduct a thorough review of the project’s outcomes, incorporating independent analyses to glean valuable lessons for future endeavours.

11) Scaling Impact: Broaden the project’s reach and influence, sharing successes and insights to amplify its social benefit.

This journey not only guides, but also empowers you to navigate the complexities of social impact leadership, providing a roadmap for creating lasting change.

There’s a wide range of skills and knowledge to get through the journey well. You don’t have to do it on your own don’t be scared to ask for help and support as and when you need it, so that you can focus on playing to your own unique strengths.

Get Fresh Insights into Problems and Make Better Decisions In A Social Change Process

The Heart of Change Framework:

The Heart of Change Framework is a tool designed to help social impact leadership create a strategy to navigate change effectively. It goes beyond traditional metrics (KPIs) to develop new perspectives understanding and insights on managing social change projects helping leaders make better decisions.

Here’s a breakdown of the key elements:

1. Environment: This focuses on understanding external factors that might impact your project, like new regulations or economic changes or more local challenges such as staff changes or resource shortages.

2. Motivation: This emphasises understanding your team’s needs and ensuring everyone is progressing with the project’s goals. But is also includes the motivations of all your stakeholders, collaborators, and service users.

3. Structure: This involves establishing clear processes and systems to ensure that we can repeat things that work. As well as maintaining clear boundaries about what we do and don’t do.

4. Adaptation: This highlights the importance of flexibility and empowering your team to adjust and respond to challenges as they arise. It also means how you are applying what you have learned to improve the social project.

5. Relationships: This stresses the importance of building strong relationships and identifying key individuals who can influence the project’s success. As well as understanding what factors are related to one another. What are the patterns in what happens?

6. The Pulse of Change: This refers to managing a rhythm and flow throughout the project, ensuring things move forward smoothly and efficiently. As well as adapting the pace of change to all the previous circumstances. Sometimes you want to speed up to progress faster. Sometimes there is a need to slow down and realign.

By integrating these elements, and seeing how these factors all interact with one another, the Heart of Change Framework helps social impact leadership achieve a balanced approach to managing change, ultimately creating a flow of change to greater impact.

The reason I created this tool is I kept seeing the same things when changes didn’t work or at least stuttered and struggled. Everything seems to fit in these categories. The problem is that people get so blinkered they don’t stop to see things from a different perspective (there’s a lot of psychology neuroscience behind this). If something works or we believe in something we stop questioning it. People simply didn’t see alternative perspective to make decisions on. The point of this model is to prompt us to view things from multiple perspectives. It’s at the core of maintaining and building our momentum behind a flow of change.

How to maximise social impact strategy leaders piecing together a jigsaw strategy

Social impact leaders need to agree make a decision to create a clear understanding of what “social impact” they want to create. Trying to do too many things, ticking too many boxes results in an messy strategy that stifles decision making, resists improvement and optimisation. A good social impact strategy should prioritise improving outcomes, enhancing peoples capability to live healthier happier lives.. Measuring impact should be done effectively, but not become a burden, focusing on necessary and useful measures. Creating more positive stories of transformational change and fewer negative ones. This approach allows for continuous improvement and learning, ensuring social impact work is meaningful and successful.

If you want to learn more about creating an effective strategy to maximise social impact please visit this blog.

Calculation of Transformational Social Impact with New Capability

Follow a Structured Journey for Impact: The 11-stage journey outlines a comprehensive approach to social impact, emphasising the importance of each phase from vision cultivation to scaling impact, highlighting the need for a structure to help guide progress towards social impact.
Collaboration and Engagement: Active and regular stakeholder engagement and strategic collaborations are critical for validating concepts, securing resources, and implementing plans effectively, underlining the necessity of fostering collective commitment and leveraging diverse perspectives.
Adaptive Leadership and Fresh Perspectives: The journey is not linear and requires continuous learning and adaptation. The Heart of Change Framework emphasises looking at problems from fresh perspectives as well as using measurement and evaluation to constantly improve your project.

Creating a social impact leadership strategy involves understanding the complexity of your social systems, recognising patterns, and making informed decisions to navigate uncertainties. Because social systems are complex and ever changing it means tools that are based on linear straight line planning don’t work well.

The core principle of managing strategy in social systems is understanding the system as it is. The intended direction of travel and the decisions available to respond and act to the current strategic and operational situation.

That might sound a little like military thinking. But given that the military has had to learn to manage social systems they have often been at the forefront of developing decision making strategies that focus on people. (SCRUM was heavily influenced by Mission Command). As opposed to the Taylorism-influenced approach that still dominates much management thinking and sees people and organisations as machines to be fixed and tuned. Whilst decision making is reduced to how to make people do things.

These powerful tools help us better understand the social system and make decisions to understand strategy.

Leadership Strategy Guide Using the Cynefin Framework

What is the Cynefin Framework?

The Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden helps social impact leadership in understanding and make sense of our environments. Recognise the situation and make decision on how best to act. It looks at the level of variation and the extent of whether it is known or understood or not. Helping tailor our actions to give them the greatest chance of success.

When to use The Cynefin Framework

Social impact leaders should use the Cynefin Framework when you need to diagnose a situation and make decisions on the best approach to intervention. Whether to apply best practices, consult experts or test and experiment with solutions, or simply act immediately to stabilise a situation. (e.g. an alcoholic in A&E)

There is real subtlety and depth behind this strategic decision making tool (Dave Snowden spent 20 years developing it) the more you learn the more the beauty and complexity of our human social world reveals itself to you. It allows you to see nuance, variation and change in the world.

A key point is that things can move around in the Framework: as we get more hard won knowledge and understanding of something it can move from complex to complicated and even to simple. However, things can move the other way and a simple system is often only one step away from chaos. Such as a fence in a zoo breaking letting the chimps go wild. Wardley Mapping developed by Simon Wardley is a tricky technique to learn, but an excellent one for understanding how products move from complex to complicated.

If you would like to learn more please read my blog on the Cynefin Framework Here.

Another Strategic decision making tool, Wardley Mapping developed by Simon Wardley is a tricky technique to learn, but an excellent one for understanding how products move from complex to complicated.

The Cynefin Framework and Project Management

How to Use The Cynefin Framework For Project Management

The Cynefin Framework is a tool that can tell us the type of project management we should use depending on the environment we are faced with. When things are simple we can create big projects that take large steps. When things are far more uncertain, with more variables instead create small highly adaptive projects that take many small steps.

Using the OODA Loop For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

What is the OODA Loop?

The OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) by Col John Boyd, ‘America’s most influential Military Theorist‘ is both a strategy and decision making tool that emphasises agility and adaptability, predicting and responding to the environment as it is perceived. It is based on a Bayesian logic approach and encourages continuous feedback and learning from actions. The OODA loop has subtle and powerful depths and is far more than the simple 4 stage loop that it is often portrayed as.

When Best to Use the OODA Loop

Use the OODA loop particularly where things have not gone to plan or you are confronted with something unexpected. It is particularly effective in rapidly changing environments where quick decision making is crucial, and the situation’s dynamics constantly evolve, requiring frequent reassessment and adaptation.

A tool of enormous depth and beauty, the real power in this decision making tool is helping you understand how people make decisions in the moment. I have written an in depth guide to using the OODA loop Here. I thoroughly recommend the ‘No Way Out‘ Podcast as a way of learning more and appreciating it’s genius. The more you learn about it the more useful and powerful it becomes.

A word of warning. Boyd was often misunderstood be aware there is a lot of very poor quality and downright wrong information about the OODA loop online too and it is often misunderstood. The problem with geniuses is they are often misunderstood.

Using Polarity Management For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

Polarity-Maps-Change-vs-stability-Actions-and-Warnings

What is Polarity Management?

Polarity Management by Barry Johnson is a strategic decision making tool used to identify and manage polarities – situations where there are tradeoffs. Often there are opposing values or perspectives are interdependent and more beneficial together than apart. Such as working individually or collaboratively. When people are all assuming/believing one thing, this can be a powerful test of whether there may be strategic alternatives and making informed decisions about how and when to use them.

When to Use Polarity Management

Use Polarity Management when facing challenges that do not have a single solution. To make decisions when there are no win situations and when there are clear tradeoffs to be made. It is useful in navigating between two equally valid, but conflicting needs, helping to find a balanced and sustainable approach.

Nature is full of tradeoffs. As soon as we improve one thing it often causes a problem somewhere else. Learn to recognise these tradeoffs and consider whether they are polarities. This will help you find balance in your career and in your life. There’s a book about Polarity Management if you want to go into it in depth, If you read earlier about how bad under thought planning and decision making processes result in the planning stress cycle. This is one of the best ways to escape it.

Using the Adaptive Cycle For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

The Adaptive Cycle Gives us a guide to a rhythm of change

What is the Adaptive Cycle?

The Adaptive Cycle by Holling and Gunderson helps us understand how a changing environment and the lifecycle of an intervention affects what decisions we need to make and how we need to act. The Adaptive Cycle represents the stages of discovery, growth, conservation, release, and reorganisation in systems. Helping understand the needs of growth and development and the challenges of maturity. It emphasises resilience and adaptability.

When to Use the Adaptive Cycle

Use it to plan and make decisions to respond to changes in social systems, as well as common patterns of development, recognising when to innovate, when to consolidate resources, and when to prepare for transformation.

There’s an advanced version of this model by the same author’s called Panarchy. It is fascinating stuff, but a little complex for most people. It goes beyond simple decision making, But if you want to learn more about this fascinating theory definitely look it up. (I expect I will be covering it in future)

One thing i should point out about about the Adaptive Cycle is that the lifecycle of everything is different. Most things don’t make the growth or conservation stage. Similarly a project may fail (70% do in fact McKinsey) do not expect that things will make it through. This is (yet another) reason why it’s better to have lots of small projects than gamble it all on one big one.

Using the Theory of Change For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

Theory of Change as a made up story of change — In my opinion The Theory of Change tells a good story, but it’s not reality for anything unpredictable.

The Theory of Change (TOC) defines long term goals and then maps backward to identify necessary preconditions. You predict one version of the future you would like then figure out all the possible things that need to happen for that future to occur.

The Theory of Change is ONLY useful for highly predictable situations in highly controlled environments. (see Cynefin). Where there are clearly understood relationships between cause and effect. For example, baking a cake or organising a ordering system in a charity shop. Unfortunately, where there are many variables some of which are unknown and unknowable, (E.g. the motivation and skill of a team of bakers making cakes) then the Theory of Change approach does not work.

Essentially the problem with theory of change is that it is like planning a journey making decision by only looking at the map to your destination. It limits decisions people can make on the road. So they can’t make decisions to reroute around accidents and traffic jams as their is no plan for them to do so.

Sadly it is widely used by many people for social systems and planning social changes. Unfortunately, it results in wishful thinking reinforced by cognitive biases. (e.g. affirmation bias). So people believe it is working when reality is not. Please do not use this model for setting a strategy for social change which is inherently complex. In complex systems limiting your decision making is usually a bad strategy. That said it may be used pretty reliably for planning a customer’s route through a charity shop.

Like fairy stories; the Theory of Change is something I used to believe when i was young. Ok maybe i wasnt that young. The real power of the Theory of Change is in telling a good story. This is why so many consultants love it. They love the story and so do their clients. The real danger of it is that the story is so good you stop looking and responding to the world as it really is. You stop making decisions and adapting and that is fatal.

Frequently when things do work it is often because of the brilliant work of frontline staff adapting and changing to make it work. (Often without telling you). I saw this countless times in retail and the NHS.

Instead, I would recommend: The Future Backwards approach it has all the same benefits, but can help with the variables and different futures we find in social systems empowering you to consider and make a much broader range of decisions. It’s a complexity informed approach, so great for social change.

Using the Future Backwards Approach For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

An-old-car-with-a-big-eletric-problem-that-seems-to-be-back-in-time

What is the Future Backwards Approach?

Future Backwards developed by the Cynefin Company (formerly Cognitive Edge) is a scenario planning and decision making process that encourages thinking from a future success (or failure) back to the present to understand what could lead to that outcome. It starts by imagining a future state—both a “Heaven” scenario (where all goes as well as it possibly could) and a “Hell” scenario (where the outcome is as bad as it could be)—and then works backward to the present, mapping out the key events, key decisions, and milestones that lead to each scenario.

This process helps identify potential risks and opportunities, encourages innovative thinking, and breaks out of linear planning models. Please note: You don’t need a time travelling DeLorean.

When to Use The Future Backwards

Future Backwards is particularly useful in strategic planning sessions where the goal is to open up creative thinking, challenge current assumptions, and explore a wide range of possibilities. It helps organisations prepare for uncertainty by considering extreme outcomes and the paths that might lead to them. This tool is beneficial for risk management, innovation processes developing resilience and decision making skills by considering both positive and negative future possibilities.

Future backwards is a great tool for planning a project as a team. It’s designed to be a group process that gets a diversity of views and perspectives out of the team. The more diversity in your team the more likely you will get powerful and useful insights.

Using the Theory of Change For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

What are Logic Models:

Logic Models are a systematic and visual way to present the relationship between the resources, activities, outputs, and outcomes of a program. The strength of the logic model is it’s weakness. It makes out there is only one variable in change and you have full control of it. It suffocates thought, adaptability and decision making.

Logic Models are very poor at planning and deciding strategies for social impact. The world is not logical, so do not use Logic Models for strategic planning. However, they are very powerful as a communication device. Look fantastic in a presentation and reports. People love a simple explanation. But unless you are working with something highly predictable. (like a machine) then it does not belong as a viable part of a strategic approach to social change. Simply put, the science is clear: people are not logical and the future is not logical. If you would like to understand why please read my article on 12 scientific reasons why the future is not predictable.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Diversity multiplies your planning power.

It is inevitable, regardless of reality, key decision makers will continue to use logic models even planning national interventions (with very high numbers of variables and variability) using them. It is therefore necessary to use them to communicate the work and the theory behind the work. But be aware that delivering the practice of social change is much complex and requires significant adaptability and fast and responsive decision making.

Hierarchy-of-Social-Intervention-Full cost and efficiency model

The Hierarchy of Social Intervention informs our decision making on how we can make social interventions at an appropriate scale and efficiently. The simple model help us a plan the appropriate level of action from basic needs provision to systemic change. It provides a map for identifying the most effective level of intervention based on the problem’s scope. When the intervention is not sufficient at a lower level it passes onto the higher level, if working appropriately. For example removing community interventions results in more higher cost interventions higher up the scale.

Use the Hierarchy of Social Intervention to strategise and make decisions on interventions, by assessing whether to focus on low cost more personalised interventions or high cost high intensity interventions.

Mental health services are an example where there appears to be real problems at the moment with a wide range of different interventions happening at all levels but very little community support, no doubt contributing significantly to the large numbers of mental health cases in the young: with a shocking 34% of 18-24 year olds experiencing mental health problems. (Resolution Foundation) If only people could use tools like this to plan strategies and make decisions on social interventions effectively and efficiently, (e.g. by boosting community services) we would surely have a better situation than the chaotic failing system at the moment. Which is described by the mental health hospitals themselves as ‘a national emergency‘.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Range and depth of knowledge are important considerations in the Hierarchy of Social Intervention.

An important factor to consider is that very often at the bottom of the hierarchy there is a real depth of knowledge about a narrow band of individuals, whilst at the top they map have much less knowledge about a much greater range of individuals. Therefore there is a big difference in the types of knowledge at different levels. Meaning there is a big difference in the types of decisions people can make. e.g. a family member will know whether a certain behaviour is normal for a certain individual and whether they are ‘ok’. Whereas a professional might look at whether that looks normal across a range of individuals, but not that person.

This has had a real world impact on decision making resulting in the introduction of Martha’s Rule in the NHS. Where family, friends and carers can get a second opinion if they thing their family member is not well based on their own personal knowledge.

These tools compare in their focus and application range—from understanding and diagnosing complex systems (Cynefin Framework), navigating change (Adaptive Cycle, OODA Loop), managing tensions (Polarity Management), to planning and evaluating interventions (Theory of Change, Logic Models, Hierarchy of Social Intervention). Each tool has its strengths in certain stages of strategy development and implementation, offering complementary perspectives when used together.

To bring these tools together into a coherent social impact strategy, social impact leadership should start by understanding the level of intervention required using the Hierarchy of Social Intervention. Once the nature of the work is outlined diagnosing the situation using the Cynefin Framework to understand the complexity level. Use the OODA Loop to maintain agility in decision-making and adapt to changes. Employ Polarity Management to navigate and balance competing demands. Apply the Adaptive Cycle to recognise and respond to the natural phases of system evolution. Taken together not only will this assist with planning, but it will help you recognise and respond to problems with speed and agility.

Embrace Complexity and Adaptability: Social systems are complex and constantly changing. Linear planning approaches don’t work well. Limiting decision making. Leaders need to understand the complexity of the situations they are facing and be adaptable in their strategies. Tools like the Cynefin Framework and the OODA Loop can help with this.
Move Beyond Traditional Thinking: Traditional management approaches often see people and organisations as machines. Social impact leaders need to move beyond this and understand the human aspects of social change. Tools like Polarity Management can help navigate competing needs and find balance.
Use a variety of tools depending on the situation: The text introduces several frameworks like the Hierarchy of Social Intervention and the Adaptive Cycle. Each tool has its strengths and weaknesses, and social impact leaders should choose the one that best suits the specific situation they’re facing. The key takeaway is to avoid a “one size fits all” approach to strategy and decision making and be comfortable using a combination of tools.

Social impact initiatives are projects or programmes aimed at generating significant improvements in societal conditions. They are designed to address specific social challenges through targeted actions and interventions. An initiative will typically involve a number of projects to strategically achieve a significant social impact goal.

E.g. A national initiative by the NHS may consist of a national strategy supported by a range of local schemes in different parts of the country to reduce the number of smokers.

Why Create Social Projects Using Passsion-Skills-Knowledge-to make a social impact

A social or a community project is a time limited specific intervention to help achieve a social impact goal. A single impact goal may have a range of social projects as a multifactored strategy to achieve it.

A social project can be defined as interventions that aim to address social issues, such as poverty, inequality, health, education, or community development.

Read this article to understand what is a social project and why social projects are different from other types of projects as they aim at changing people rather than things.

Projects offer a systematic approach to addressing social issues. Social impact leaders should create social and community projects for several key reasons:

i) Enables Testing of Hypothesis: With complex social issues we cannot really know if an intervention will work unless it is tested. By testing things systematically it helps us understand whether a hypothesis of change is supported or not

ii) Testing a Range of Solutions: Projects are an opportunity for leaders to test solutions to social problems in a systematic and controlled way to identify the solutions that are most effective for social impact informing future decision making.

iii) Enables Replication of a Successful Solution: If social projects show consistent success by having a project structure it gives a framework for a strategy where the project may be replicated elsewhere: replicating the impact.

iv) Empowers Scaling Up of a Solution: A project can start up in a small way test the idea and then the project if successful can scale up. e.g. by opening more sites for the intervention or recruiting more people.

v) Addressing Unmet Needs: They can identify and address unmet needs within communities, providing essential services, support, and resources to those who might otherwise be overlooked.

vi) Empowering Communities: These projects can empower communities by building capacity, fostering local leadership and decision making, and enabling individuals to contribute to their own development, thereby promoting sustainable change.

vii) Developing Innovative Solutions: Leaders can leverage their unique insights, expertise, and networks to develop innovative strategies and solutions to address complex social issues, which can be more effective and sustainable than traditional approaches.

viii) Building Partnerships: By initiating these projects, leaders can strategically foster collaboration among government, private sector, non-profits, and communities, enhancing resource sharing, and strengthening efforts towards common goals.

ix) Raising Awareness: They play a crucial role in raising awareness about critical social issues, mobilising support, and advocating for policy changes that benefit communities and society at large.

x) Social Cohesion: Social and community projects can strengthen social bonds, promote understanding and tolerance among diverse groups, and contribute to the overall social cohesion and stability of communities. Enabling the community to act as a single decision making entity

A lot of social impact leaders see the change they want to make and make the decision to just crack on. They don’t realise by not taking a proper project approach: they are not considering their options strategically, they often don’t anticipate risks and issues (putting their financial stability at risk). At the same time they don’t really know what’s working or not and why. A lack of structure also often creates big problems for funding, safeguarding and governance.

These leaders are often brilliant dedicated people who are doing an amazing job. But it’s hard work learning the hard way that you need a bit of strategy structure and planning to go with the creativity and initiative. A good project structure creates a stable foundation to grow your impact.

Creating social projects involves social impact leadership to identify a need, designing interventions, mobilising resources, and implementing actions. It requires a deep understanding of the community or issue being addressed and a strategic approach to achieving desired outcomes.

Please read my complete guide to creating social & community projects here to learn more. I’ve covered everything you need to know at getting started with social project.

An initiative may consist of a series of social projects as part of implementing a broader strategy. Social impact leadership set an overall initiative consisting of a series of projects. Each project’s aim of is to test and prove different paths of effectiveness, to inform future decision making. Having a diverse range of projects is often desirable to address multi-factorial social issues. Giving you multiple flows of change to catch a diverse range of people in a range of circumstances.

Embrace Projects as a Path to Impact: Social projects offer a structured way to test hypothesis and explore a range of solutions, empower communities, and develop innovative approaches. They allow leaders to move from ideas to action and learn what works best for creating lasting change. This methodical approach is crucial for making informed decisions and a coherent strategy about how to effectively address issues such as poverty, inequality, health, and education.
Think Systematically for Scalability: Don’t just react to problems. A social impact leader should design projects with clear goals, testing phases, and potential for replication. A structure helps manage risks as well as safety and governance. Building a project structure provides a strong foundation for successful solutions to be scaled up and reach more people.
Leveraging Diversity for Broader Impact: The use of initiatives that consist of a series of diverse projects is a strategy to address multifactorial social issues effectively. Recognising that no single intervention can solve complex social problems,. This diverse approach allows for multiple paths of effectiveness, increasing the chances of catching a diverse range of people in various circumstances and leading to broader social impact.

Project-Funding-Application-Complete-Guide-Banner

Gaining funding for social impact can be a tough competitive process. As many people fight over the same funds. Everything you can do to get an edge matters and can make a big impact on your community. The challenging landscape of social impact project funding can seem daunting, with a success rate of only 15-20% for grant applications in the UK. However, with a clever strategic approach and clear communication, securing funding for your impactful project is achievable. This guide offers comprehensive insights into creating a successful funding proposal that aligns your project with the needs and intentions of funders.

I’ve written a complete guide to creating successful funding applications for social and community projects here.

Key Components for Success

To enhance your project’s funding prospects, start by crafting a compelling narrative that highlights your project’s impact, aligns with funders’ priorities, and explores diverse funding sources. Networking and leveraging digital platforms for crowdfunding can also unveil new opportunities.

i. Define Your Impact Objectives

Align with broader strategic environment: Are there any other initiatives such as government or local policy that you can harmonise with?
Strategic positioning: Understand why you are uniquely placed to deliver this change vs others. Are there people you can partner with for a joint offer that will increase both your chances of success.
Clarify your mission: Understand and articulate the specific social issue you aim to address.
Map and understand the factors that contribute to the change: This will help you understand what factors you can control what decisions need to be made and who you need to engage with.
Set measurable goals: Identify clear, achievable outcomes that your project aims to reach.

ii. Research Potential Funders

Identify aligned interests: Look for funders, such as foundations, government agencies, and philanthropists, whose funding priorities align with your project’s goals.
Understand their requirements: Research the application process, funding cycles, and specific criteria of potential funders.
Match type of funding with your stage of intervention: You want to match the maturity of your intervention with the type of funding.
Understand the financial impact of existing problem. Identify who the current issue is causing additional costs for e.g. as increased hospital admissions.

iii. Develop a Strong Project Proposal

Outline the problem and your solution: Clearly define the problem you’re addressing, your proposed solution, and why it’s effective.
Create or establish an evidence base: Collate research and evidence that supports your claim.
Include a detailed plan: Provide a comprehensive project plan, including timelines, milestones, and a budget.
Demonstrate impact potential: Use data and research to support the potential impact of your project.
Align your capabilities with funders needs: Make sure your positioning and capability matches what the funder cannot get elsewhere.

Project Funding Proposal 10 Steps Road to Success

iv. Build a Compelling Narrative

Tell a story: Craft a compelling narrative that connects emotionally, highlighting real-life examples or testimonials.
Use multiple channels for story telling: If possible, use images, words, sounds video and face to face contact to get your story across in a compelling way
Emphasise your uniqueness: Distinguish your project from others by focusing on what makes it innovative or particularly impactful. Why are you best placed to deliver it.

v. Establish Partnerships and Support

Collaborate with others: Having a strategy of seeking partnerships with other organisations, community groups, or businesses to strengthen your proposal.
Gather endorsements: Secure support from well-respected community leaders or subject matter experts.
Build momentum for change: By engaging with a range of partners and collaborators you gain social proof and credibility for your offer. Communicate that their is something happening and in progress.

vi. Set Governance and controls

Put in place governance process: Include a range subject matter experts and members of the community affected. Small groups are best. Above 12 people is not practical to making decisions. More than 2 are required to ensure proper discussion and debate and that a diversity of perspectives is considered during decision making.
Clarify scope: Set boundaries for the project, what includes and what is excluded.
Establish risk and contingency management: Identify risks and potential contingencies. e.g. What may cause costs to over run and what decisions need to be made on how might this be mitigated.
Develop an evaluation plan: Outline how you will measure and report on your project’s progress and impact.
Be ready for due diligence: Ensure your organisation’s legal and financial documents are in order, as funders will likely review them.

vii. Submit Tailored Applications

Customise your approach: Tailor each application to the funder’s interests and requirements, highlighting aspects of your project that align with their priorities.
Build Relationships: Establish relationships and build trust with funders and partners at the earliest stage possible to build confidence and belief in your capability and inform your decision making about what funders want from you.
Follow application guidelines: Pay close attention to the application instructions and requirements.
Understand the priorities of your funder: This is really important as often in my experience it is not clear or explicit in the application forms what it is the funder most values and cares about. Adopt a strategy of understanding what success looks like for the funder. Is it value for money or maximum impact in a short time.

viii. Engage with Funders

Maintain communication: Keep potential funders informed about your project’s progress and any new developments.
Learn what the funder most values: Do they want you to be innovative or play it safe. Are they trying to establish evidence for a larger intervention. Or are they ticking some commissioning boxes. What are those boxes.
Be open to feedback: Use any feedback from unsuccessful applications to strengthen future proposals.
Understand what working with them looks like: Does the funder want to let you get on with it or attend regular meetings. Talk with people who have worked with them before.
Involve them in your decision making: Asking funders if they want to be involved in your decision making meetings can be a great way to build trust and engagement. It will also help your own staff understand what matters to the funders.

Raise awareness: Use social media, press releases, and other PR strategies to raise awareness of your project and its impact.
Ask for Help: Use social media to get people interested involved. Some people may volunteer their time for free (At least until the project is funded. Their may be experts out their whose knowledge you can tap into for a good cause.
Attract additional funding: Public visibility can attract more funders and create a broader base of support.
Create a media narrative: Be aware of media narratives and that media have their own strategy to engage their readers e.g. social care failing, making people angry and read more. How does your project fit or not into the media story. It is not uncommon for fantastic ground breaking projects to be ignored simply because the media want to tell a different story. Technology in particular can one day the saviour of humanity, the next evil ai spying on everyone.

x. Sustain Relationships for Future Funding

Report back: Provide regular updates to funders on the outcomes and impact of the project.
Don’t wait to be asked: Speak to the funders if you haven’t heard from them in a while request an update meeting.
Cultivate long-term relationships: Keep funders engaged with your organisation’s work beyond a single project, laying the groundwork for future support.
Build a network of contacts: A good network will tell you what the future of funding might look like, what opportunities are coming up, is someone there doing particularly well with their projects, is someone struggling? Why?
Be aware of your funders cycles of work: When does your funder make decisions on plans for next year? Are they looking to spend some unspent funds before the end of the financial year. When are people on holiday.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Avoid last minute rushes before the deadline.

There is a tendency to wait until the last minute to complete funding applications. It is seen as a chore to be put off. As you can see from the list above, there’s a lot to do in creating a successful application. As soon as you here you have a proposal timeline, make a conscious decision to create block out some time in your calendar to get started. There will always be questions that come up that you won’t have thought of and if you leave it too late you won’t have time to get them answered. So do yourself a favour and plan your time in advance. You will not regret it.

Securing funding is an ongoing process that requires persistence, adaptability, and a clear articulation of your project’s value and impact. I’ve years of experience both as a funder and a successful applicant on many occasions, so i know the process (all too) well. It is often big, bureaucratic and full of hurdles. There are endless demons in the details and decisions to be made about the most obscure things you never thought of. But that’s why I’m here to help. I offer personalised consulting and advice for funding proposals and you can book an appointment here.

Project Funding Test

Don’t wait till after you have submitted your bid to assess if the bid is strong or not. I’ve created the Project Funding Strength test. It will be 20minutes of your time well spent as you give your proposal a thorough examination seeing what is working and help inform your decision making on what needs more time and attention so you can make your bid as strong as possible before you submit it. The results comes with further detailed tips and advice for improving your proposal.

Take the free test here.

Crafting a funding proposal for a social impact project requires more than just a great idea. It demands Social Impact Leadership to create a strategic approach, effective communication, and a deep understanding of both the project’s needs and the funder’s expectations. By aligning your project with these critical elements and avoiding common pitfalls and informing your decision making you significantly increase your chances of funding success. The journey from proposal stress to success is challenging, but with the right tools and strategy, it is entirely achievable

A social impact leadership strategy for funding impact includes identifying potential funding sources, presenting compelling cases for support, and managing resources effectively.

It also involves building partnerships and demonstrating the value and impact of social initiatives to sustain funding.

The goal that social impact leadership should have for creating a successful application is to match the needs of the funder with the capabilities of the applicant.

Venn-Diagram-How-to-Wind-a-project-funding-proposal-Banner

Strategic Planning is Key: Just having a great idea for a social impact project isn’t enough. You need a well defined plan that considers the project’s goals, target audience, and how it aligns with the priorities of your potential funders. This includes outlining a detailed budget, timeline, and risk management strategy.
Tailor Your Approach: Don’t send generic funding proposals. Research each potential funder and customise your application to highlight the aspects of your project that directly address their interests and funding goals. Building relationships with funders early on can also be beneficial and means you set off on the right track from the start.
Demonstrate Impact and Sustain Engagement: Clearly outlining measurable goals and demonstrating how the project will achieve tangible outcomes is key to convincing funders of the initiative’s worth when they are making their decisions. Social impact leaders should not only focus on the immediate project, but also on how it fits into a larger narrative of change. After securing funding, it’s crucial to maintain open lines of communication with funders, providing regular updates on progress and impacts. This ongoing engagement helps to build a foundation for future support and fosters long-term relationships and trust with funders.

Measuring social impact involves social impact leaders having a strategy of setting clear, measurable objectives, collecting relevant data, and analysing outcomes to assess the effectiveness of social initiatives. It requires both quantitative and qualitative methods to capture the breadth and depth of impact. The goal is create a richness of data that can best inform future decision making.

Social Impact Leadership Measurement. Crowds of analysts discussing whether sitting down for 3.3 seconds affected mobility score

Social Impact Leadership involves guiding organisations or initiatives toward creating substantial positive changes within communities and the environment. Having a good dashboard and ability to track data is vital in creating informed effective decisions. It’s not just about tracking outcomes, but fostering deep, systemic transformations that address broader societal challenges. This is a concept I’ve tried to capture in my blog about optimising decision making to create a strategy to maximise social impact.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Leading Social Impact Means Leading for Outcomes

An important role of the leader is to emphasise the transformation that the social impact is intending to make. This means taking outcomes and measuring them seriously. Very seriously. Most analysts and teams will not want to do it because it is hard. They will make many excuses. But be decisive and push for getting the best measures you can. (e.g. intelligent proxy measures) Without a doubt it the outcomes the thing that your community and funders care most about. So fight for it.

E.g. NHS waiting times are always in the news. But the fundamental problem is that people are often not receiving care whilst they are waiting. If they were tracking outcomes then it would become apparent that the decisions on who needs treating for which conditions need to be priortised is the most important thing not the length of the ‘average wait‘.

People are not widgets to be counted:

The biggest most common mistake that people make in decision making for measuring people is that people are like machines. They are to be countered and ordered. People are not orderly or predictable. They are constantly changing. They have passions desires and imagination. People also often make the decision to lie cheat and deceive and misreport numbers if they are motivated to do so. We don’t know what people are actually thinking and never be certain what they do.

Please do not count people as if everyone should be average. Embrace the variation.

Variation is Natural

It is common thinking that variation should be reduced. People vary naturally. Evolution needs people to vary so that some survive and thrive. Societies need a range of people with a range of skills and thinking so that they make a variety of decisions and the whole of society flourishes and progresses. We need followers and leaders, if everyone was a leader who would follow. Everyone is equally valuable no matter how much they ‘vary’.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Innovation is Variation

Decision makers needs to be aware that variation can be a good thing. What is innovation if not variation? Destroying variation destroys learning and progress. It destroys what it is is to be human. We evolve adapt and grow through variation. Your unwarranted variation, may be someone else’s perfect.

We are not average we are all unique group of different community

Embrace Complexity Science Thinking in Social Impact Measurement:

Social impact leaders recognise that societies are complex adaptive systems, characterised by interconnections interdependent parts that constantly evolve. Further more, societies are open systems, meaning that we do not control who goes in or out. Measuring impact requires considering these dynamic interactions and feedback loops. It involves having a strategy of segmenting the population and looking for patterns to inform decision making.

Navigate Uncertainty:

Given the unpredictability inherent in complex systems, leaders must be prepared for unexpected outcomes. This involves adopting measurement methodologies that are as adaptive and flexible as the systems they aim to change.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Social systems are non-linear.

Social systems are non-linear. That means that the amount of effort you put in is often not related to the impact you get out. We see every day on the news that someone saying the wrong thing in a situation can escalate and end up in riots, whilst governments sometimes spend millions on a scheme that no one takes up. This is something that many people struggle to get their heads around. In non-linear systems drawing straight lines through trends makes no sense (unless you are using logarithmic scaling)

Interpretation Matters

There is a fiction that the numbers are just the numbers. The observer effect and reporting bias whether deliberate or unknowing are big things that really matter and can drastically affect people’s outcomes and decision making. There is simply no substitute for getting an independent evaluation of your social impact. If you want to learn and improve people making an impartial observation is the best way to learn what’s working and what isn’t

Who how and why the numbers are what they are could be interpreted endlessly. The cases on the margins of interpretation may seem small but they add up. Every day banks make millions of pounds simply from taking the parts of pennies as there own. If your interest is 3.1p they take 0.1p. Yes the banks are secretly taking the p and you never know.

Any analyst will tell you that there is often a lot of mess in the numbers, deciding what counts as what take up a huge amount of analyst time and can be long debated. It is surprising how often the green you see in a reporting box could easily be a red if you just move one or two numbers here or there with rounding up or down.

The Curese of the red flag. The Project maanger gasps in horror and despair as has her milestone has been flagged red

Do not Use Your Measurements as Targets.

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”.

Goodhart’s Law

This was actually a joke by the British economist Charles Goodhart. But it has since be described as a law. If people have a motivation to change their interpretation of the numbers they will. It might be gaming or cheating sometimes, it’s just the cognitive biases in our brains playing tricks on us. (The Dunning Kruger effect where people think they are smarter and better at things than in reality, is caused by our brains misreporting how good we are.)

Milestones are essentially nothing more than Measurements becoming targets, so we will misreport them, misinterpret them or make decisions to simply move or re-interpret the targets to suit our needs. This is a very good reason we should be using waypoints instead of milestones for our projects.

Acknowledge Long Tail Impacts:

Impact distributions in complex systems often follow a long tail, where rare but significant effects can occur. This is commonly known as the Pareto distribution or the ‘80:20’ rule. 80% of your problem or social impact comes from 20% of your population. Nassim Taleb of Black Swan Theory fame, has done some excellent work on what he calls fat tail distribution and how we so often don’t think of them in our decision making: leading us to problems when the black swan suddenly appears. Social impact leadership involves looking for these outliers, as they can reveal powerful leverage points within the system.

Power-Law-Distribution-Pareto-and-Averages — Where do you put the average on? What does the average of a power law distribution actually measure?

While averages have their place, they can be misleading when measuring social impact. This is because social systems often follow power laws (like the 80/20 rule), where a small portion of the population or resources contributes significantly to the overall outcome.

Imagine measuring the wealth of 10 people in a room. If Elon Musk joins, the average wealth suddenly skews significantly upward, even though it doesn’t accurately reflect the experience of most individuals. Noone else is in the room is any richer, but suddenly ‘on average’ everyone in the room is a multimillionaire. You might say oh well that doesn’t happen often. But that’s exactly how long tail distributions work. Extreme cases happen more regularly than we think and catch everyone off guard.

Noone-wants-to-be-average.-Lady-looking-at-average-glumly — Average is often not a happy place to be.

To truly understand social impact, we need to go beyond just averages. This involves considering:

Distribution of problems and impact: Where is the real problem happening? Where is change happening? Who is benefiting the most, and who is left behind?
Disaggregation: Analysing data by different demographics like gender, race, and socioeconomic status to reveal disparities and ensure inclusive progress.
Qualitative data: Incorporating lived experiences and stories to capture the human dimension of social impact.

By having a strategy to move beyond averages, social impact leadership can gain a more nuanced understanding of social impact and make better decisions to create positive change for all.

decision making and strategies for measuring social impact

Step 1: Define Impact Objectives

Clearly articulate the changes your leadership seeks to effect. These objectives should help inform a strategy to directly address the societal or environmental challenges you’re targeting. It may be that the objectives are developed through trials, testing, and experimenting. That is fine pragmatic and rigorously scientific. However any investors need to be fully on board or understanding if your objectives change.

Step 2: System Analysis

Perform a thorough analysis of the system in which you’re operating. This involves mapping out interactions that affect the impact,, understanding existing dynamics, and identifying potential points of influence. Complexity science tools can aid in this process, offering predictive insights about systemic impacts. Have a strategy of looking for leverage points in the system to identify where you can make the biggest impact.

Step 3: Choose Meaningful Metrics

Select metrics that accurately reflect the impact’s depth and reach. It’s crucial to include both quantitative and qualitative measures for a comprehensive view. What Nora Bateson calls ‘Warm Data’. Where the data is meaningfully connected to the people affected. These metrics should resonate with your leadership objectives and the communities you serve.

Step 4: Adaptive Data Collection

Employ data collection methods that balance rigour with the need for adaptability. The key is to collect the information to inform your decision making at any time. (If something does not inform decisions why are you collecting it?) Integrating qualitative methods, like interviews, alongside quantitative data can provide a richer understanding of social impact nuances.

Step 5: Develop Understanding Through Diversity & Discussion.

Develop Understanding Diversity of thinking. This means consulting people with different views of the world’s experience and knowledge. Consulting and collaborating with a diverse range of people is a great strategy to help with making sense of your problems, decisions making and being a key source of innovative solutions. Psychological safety is vital for this to succeed.

Step 6: Develop Understanding Through Diversity of Perspective.

Looking at your data through multiple lenses as a strategy to inform your decision making. This might involve looking from a financial perspective a service user perspective or a staff member. It’s only by looking at a problem through multiple perspectives can you gain a good understanding of it. The Heart of Change Framework is designed to help you look at problems through fresh eyes and finding fresh solutions.

Step 7: Reflective Adaptation

Utilise the insights from your analysis for reflective learning and strategic adaptation. Social impact leadership thrives on iterative processes, continually refining approaches based on systemic feedback. Continuous learning and adaption are the core of a successful approach to social impact leadership.

Step 8: Communicate Your Journey

Collate and communicate your results in a way that different stakeholders can understand. How and what data you show is critical to how it is understood.
Share the story of your impact, invite discussion and debate and fresh perspective. Tell people of the lessons you learned. This should highlight both achievements and the adaptive path taken to navigate systemic challenges. By communicating your journey you recruit advocates and supporters and recognise the progress and hard work of staff helping to create a momentum and flow of change.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: The power of a using a dashboard

Having worked both managing as an analyst. I have a real love of a good dashboard for managing change having designed and built many of them. Not only will a dashboard give you feedback and inform conversations and help you make better decisions. It is a fantastic tool for creating new narratives, prompting interesting questions and is a good way of keeping investors and senior stakeholders engaged with the project.

Social impact measurement methodologies are tools and frameworks used to assess the social outcomes or impacts of organisations, projects, or policies. They are the embodiement of different strategies for understanding social impact. These methodologies vary in complexity, scope, and focus, but they all aim to quantify or qualitatively assess the social changes attributed to an intervention. Below are some of the major formal methodologies, along with their strengths and weaknesses:

Social return on investment weighing people with cash

Summary: SROI measures the social, environmental, and economic value created by an intervention. It assigns a monetary value to significant outcomes, allowing for comparison with the investment made.

Strengths:

Provides a clear, monetised value of social impact,
Can be compelling and very persuasive for investors and funders.
Encourages organisations to consider their impact on stakeholders comprehensively.
It is popular amongst social impact investors as a ‘scientific’ approach
it can be scaled up and discern between different organisations impacts so makes a good comparison tool.

Weaknesses:

Quantifying non-financial outcomes in monetary terms can be challenging and subjective.
If the price of something goes down does that suddenly mean your social impact was less meaningful
Requires extensive data collection and analysis, which can be resource-intensive.
If the richest 1% own twice as much as everyone else puts together. The mathematical logic is that we should spend twice as much time helping them with social impact as the other 99% of people on earth.
More often than not the numbers coming out of this process can be ridiculously high or underwhelming low. This encourages gaming in the decision making to come up with ”sensible values’ for the benefits of the interventions’.
It has a tendency to have a multiplication effect on mistakes and assumptions. ie. a small change can lead to wild variation SROI
It is execution is usually in reality much less scientific than it pretends to be.

ii. Logic Model For Measuring Social Impact

Logic Models vs crowds of people: simple thinking that edits out reality

Summary: A logic model is a visual representation that links outcomes with program activities/processes and the underlying theoretical assumptions. It outlines the intended process of change by identifying inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impacts.

Strengths:

Clarifies how an intervention is supposed to work and the underlying assumptions behind it.
Useful for communicating presentations and reports.
Is often a powerful persuasion tool.
It is so simple almost everyone can understand what the numbers represent.

Weaknesses:

Always massively oversimplifies complex social issues and interventions.
Focuses more on the planning and less on measuring actual impact.
Misattributes causes.
Misattributes effects.
Does not understand that the world works on probabilities not certainties.
Does not understand that human populations naturally vary (significantly)
Stops proper thought and enquiry into complex issues.
Is prone to a large array of cognitive biases and assumptions.
Is not sensitive to the realities of the world

iii. Theory of Change (ToC)

Summary: The ToC is a comprehensive description and illustration of how and why a desired change is expected to happen in a particular context. It goes deeper into the causal pathways and conditions for change.

Strengths:

Encourages deep thinking about the change process, assumptions, and preconditions.
Useful for both planning and evaluation, providing a detailed roadmap.

Weaknesses:

Can be time-consuming to develop and requires continuous updates.
Might be too complex for some stakeholders to engage with effectively.
It assumes that there is only one possible outcome of actions
It limits proper consideration of alternative outcomes
It selects for data that reinforces the ‘theory’.

iv. Outcome Mapping (OM)

Summary: Outcome Mapping focuses on the behaviours, relationships, actions, and activities of the people and organisations with whom a program works directly. It does not focus on the deliverables of the project itself. It is particularly useful for programs aiming to influence change within complex systems.

Strengths:

Focuses on Change Agents: OM centres on identifying and influencing change agents, not just the final impacts, which acknowledges the complex, interrelated nature of social change.
Adaptive Learning: It encourages continuous learning and adaptation, allowing for real-time adjustments to strategies based on feedback and changing conditions.
Stakeholder Engagement: By engaging stakeholders in the planning and evaluation process, OM fosters ownership and accountability among those directly affected by the project.
Behavioural Change Emphasis: It specifically targets changes in behaviours, relationships, actions, and activities of the people and organizations involved, leading to more meaningful and sustainable impacts.
Complexity Friendly: OM is well suited for complex environments where predicting outcomes is difficult, as it allows for a more nuanced understanding of progress and challenges.

Weaknesses:

Time and Resource Intensive: The detailed, participatory nature of OM can require significant time and resources, which might be a limitation for smaller projects or organisations.
Requires High Level Skills: Successfully implementing OM demands strong facilitation, negotiation, and analytical skills, as well as a deep understanding of the local context and stakeholder dynamics.
Measurement Challenges: Measuring behavioural and relational changes can be more challenging and less quantifiable than traditional output based indicators, complicating the evaluation process.
Risk of Subjectivity: The emphasis on qualitative data and stakeholder perspectives might introduce subjectivity, affecting the objectivity of the evaluation unless carefully managed.
Potentially Overwhelming: The comprehensive approach of OM, while thorough, can be overwhelming for teams not accustomed to such depth, leading to implementation challenges.

v. Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) For Social Impact Evaluation

A compass representing Cost benefit analyisis

Summary: CBA is a financial assessment tool that compares the costs and benefits of an intervention, usually converting outcomes into monetary values in a strategy to decide if the benefits outweigh the costs.

Strengths:

Provides a clear, economic evaluation of an intervention’s value.
Useful for decision-making and comparing different investment options.
It can be an efficient tool for capturing big high level decisions and impact.
It can be very good for comparing between different options.

Weaknesses:

Like SROI, converting social outcomes into monetary values can be difficult and controversial.
Might not capture the full range of social and environmental impacts.
The tool is not sensitivity to probabilities.
Costs are often based on historical averages, that may not fit.
It breaks down with too many assumptions and details
The variance in assumptions (deviation) often out weigh the evaluation in sensitive situations.
Often misses upstream and downstream costs.

Each of these methodologies has its place depending on the context of the intervention, the needs of the stakeholders, and the resources available for impact measurement. The choice of methodology should be guided by the specific objectives of the impact assessment, the nature of the intervention, and the preferences of the stakeholders involved.

Social impact measurement team being swamped with data and records

Whilst i would be the first to say that a lot of good people have done a lot of earnest and sometimes brilliant work on these methodologies. They are often useful and value.

However, the reality and humans are messy and complex. You cannot define away complexity. That social systems and social change is about things and not about relationships and behaviours. (Which are difficult or impossible to measure)

The result is extremely complicated heavy measurement processes where there are an endless discussion over what the thing is is and whether it counts as this or that. All this effort takes away from the actual priority of DOING THE WORK that adds value and creates the social impact. Social Impact Leadership can’t be endlessly counting everything about everyone.

People in vulnerable groups can find themselves being measured multiple times for every intervention, In healthcare this even has a name: assessment fatigue. (Unfortunately, it is not really studied as noone is brave enough to give patients another questionnaire to assess whether they are fed up of questionnaires.) The concern is social impact is going the same way. If everyone is measuring someone has to produce the information.

There is absolutely an extremely high value in measuring social impact and we should definitely be doing it. But it should be measured and proportionate way. There is a real danger that the more we impact the more we measure, resulting in an exponential curve of ever more impact measurement.

When looking at these processes I’m always reminded of The Auditor’s of Terry Pratchett novels. The Auditors document and count everything that happens everywhere are obsessed with order and quantification to the detriment of understanding anything else. They want to stop time, so they can catch up with their paperwork. Focusing on quantification and categorisation can miss the essence of social change, which is more fluid, complex, and relational.

Are Terry Pratchetts auditos measuring your social impact

In social impact leadership, differentiating between activities, outputs, and outcomes is key to an effective strategy of measuring and communicating the impact of initiatives. Mixing them up is a very common mistake even in national programmes, but it makes a real difference to reporting.

Activities:

Activities are the specific actions or tasks undertaken during a project, such as workshops or marketing posts. They represent the product of efforts aimed at driving change. It is important to staff to have feedback on this and know they are making progress.

Outputs:

Outputs are the direct results of these activities, quantifiable and tangible, like the number of training sessions held or brochures distributed. They show what has been produced or accomplished immediately following the activities. Again this is important to show what has been created for the work. Be careful to measure quality as well as quantity.

Outcomes:

Outcomes are the longer-term changes or benefits resulting from the activities and outputs, such as improved skills or behaviour changes or better health. They reflect the ultimate impact on the community or environment and are more challenging to measure due to their complex and delayed nature. These are often hard to measure and require tracking people over time. It can be expensive complicated and time consuming. Although phones and the social media have made the process much easier. It requires planning and effort to collect outcomes.

Understanding these distinctions helps leaders to plan and execute projects more effectively, make effective decisions to maximise outcomes and evaluate success through specific indicators, and communicate their achievements clearly to stakeholders. This clarity is crucial for showcasing the value of their work and securing support for future endeavours.

If at all possible you should be collecting outcome data. It is often more difficult, but far more value to collect outcome data. The reason is that if your outcome data is by far the most valuable in learning how you can improve social impact. e.g. you can make thousands of cakes, but if everyone hates them then you have a big problem. Outcomes are what matters most.

It could be argued that your entire strategy and decision making leadership should revolve around the ‘does it affect outcomes metric’. This concept is captured in the UK Olympics teams ‘Will it make the boat go faster approach’. The thing that matters most for leaders is does it make the outcomes better.

As an experienced professional as soon as I hear yet another brilliant sounding project talking about activity as if it is a product of their work my heart sinks. The whole point is to improve outcomes. Period.

How do we manage unintended consequences in our impact strategy?

The key strategy to manage unintended consequences is to to detect them fast. People will generally notice something is wrong far quicker than a report. Therefore the number one thing to do is tap into people’s knowledge and expertise. They are your early warning system. Continuous monitoring and adapting your measurement strategy are key. Engage actively with community members and stakeholders for feedback, adjusting your approach as needed to mitigate unintended consequences. Waypoints capture outcomes and tradeoffs much better than milestones. Quicker feedback especially from multiple sources often beats accurate feedback. Quick decisions rely on quick communication.

“The belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes, and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking”
Amy Edmondson, 1999

Amy Edmondson’s concept of psychological safety is essential for people having the confidence and belief that they can speak up. If something is going wrong people need to feel able to say it. This requires humility and a little bravery from the leader to accept that they could be wrong and give people the time and space to say it. A good social impact leader prioritises the psychological safety of their team and gives people the time and space to have their say.

A social impact leader getting swamped in post it notes as they try and keep up with constant change

How is Impact Measured in Constantly Evolving Systems?

It is essential to have a strategy of continuous improvement and learning, where data collection and analysis are part of a continuous cycle. This flexibility allows social impact leaders to respond proactively to systemic changes.
Segment populations, to capture how different parts of the population are impacted. (Do not use averages, as many people are not average)

People are best placed to interpret their own data. Some analyst sitting behind a laptop 6 months later 100miles away has no idea what happened and why. Whereas the person who generated the data is best placed to interpret what it means. Therefore keep the interpretation of data fast and close to the point it was generated. A good principal is to make the decision as close in time and place to the original data as possible.

Is it possible to predict long-term impacts accurately?

No, not accurately. The longer into the future we go the more possible other factors can influence our results. While precise long term predictions are not realistic, identifying trends and repeating patterns and system leverage points can offer insights into a range of potential future outcomes is possible. Tools like longitudinal studies and scenario planning can aid in navigating these complexities. We should be planning for future contingencies possibilities and risks, which is different from planning accuracy. The future as far as we know, is not determined by an accurate spreadsheet.

Whilst there is unlimited demand to predict the future accurately. The reality is that is usually not a realistic or pragmatic demand. In reality there are several possible futures. By considering what those alternative futures might be we can set triggers for contingencies that tell us if we are going in the right or wrong direction. e.g. Someone rehabilitating from prison losing their job should be a trigger for us that things may not be going to plan. Planning for these contingencies usually takes knowledge and expertise. But the more you do it, the better you get.

Measure Impact with a Nuanced Approach: Move beyond averages and simplistic metrics. Consider distribution of people and segment appropriately. Disaggregate data by demographics, and incorporate qualitative aspects to capture the human dimension. Be careful to document your assumptions and challenge them.
Embrace Complexity and Continuous Improvement: Social systems are complex and constantly evolving. Utilise a flexible measurement approach like waypoint tracking. Have a strategic focus on continuous learning and adaptation through data analysis and feedback loops. Emphasising outcomes over activities shifts the focus towards the actual benefits and transformations achieved, rather than just the work performed.
Prioritise People and Psychological Safety: Recognise that people are not widgets and data can be misinterpreted. Involve stakeholders in data collection and interpretation. Foster a safe space for open communication and honest feedback within your team. Communication plays a crucial role in this process, as sharing the journey of impact measurement with stakeholders can help to recruit advocates, recognise the efforts of the team, and maintain momentum for change.

3 forms of social influence informational normative and coercive in contrast to one another.

Social influence and leadership is focused on the particular aspect of leadership that involves the ability to sway opinions, behaviours, and actions of others towards a shared goal. It’s about motivating as well as inspiring and mobilising people towards achieving collective objectives, particularly in the context of social change and social impact.

Social influence is the process of attempting to deliberately change someone’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviours. Leaders leverage different forms of social influence to inspire and motivate others. The idea of leadership though has changed over the years and the view that it is the role of the leader to be in charge of people’s feeling thoughts and behaviours is neither supported by the evidence (82% of people don’t trust their boss; HBR) or is practical in such a fast changing world where everything is interlinked. (With research by McKinsey showing global data flows increasing by 50% per year)

Informational: Influencing through sharing expertise or evidence in an attempt to change someone’s perspective. There is an assumption that the other party is making poor decisions that are merely lacking knowledge.
Normative: Influencing through conforming to group expectations and changing social norms. Normative influencers are not always obvious and known to the person affected. It can also be achieved through ingroup-outgroup dynamics.
Coercive: Influencing through applying pressure or threats (not recommended). This is commonly associated with negative psychological safety and can result in mental health challenges and in extreme cases mental trauma.

Peer Pressure: Teenagers often adopt the fashion trends, hobbies, or even risky behaviours of their friend group due to the desire to fit in and be accepted by their peers. This can include changes in dress style, adopting slang, or participating in activities they might otherwise avoid.

Social Media Trends: Influencers on platforms like Instagram or TikTok can sway public opinion and behaviour by promoting specific lifestyles, products, or ideologies. Their followers may purchase products, adopt new habits, or espouse beliefs based on these endorsements, often in the hopes of emulating the influencer’s perceived success or attractiveness or simply in the belief that these belief’s are ‘normal’.

Authority Compliance: Employees may conform to a corporate culture or follow directives from their superiors, even when they conflict with personal beliefs or ethical standards. This obedience stems from the power dynamics in professional settings and the human tendency to respect and comply with authority figures. Whilst often seen as negative there is an important role to play in our safety and security.

David Marquet a famous submarine captain rebelled against the traditional forms of leadership out of necessity as he was put in charge of a submarine he didn’t know. He was forced to rely on the expertise and decision making of those he commanded to deliver on his goals. However, he developed this as a successful strategy of delegation, leading to the submarine to break records as the best performing in the fleet. His model of intent based leadership is an inspiration to those of us who see leadership as less of a task of doing to people, but one of personal growth as you do things with people.

Share Knowledge Generously: Use informational influence by sharing expertise to enlighten and motivate your team towards the shared goals. Education bridges gaps and fosters a culture of trust and collaboration.
Shape Social Norms: Utilise normative influence to establish new norms that champion diversity, equity, and cooperation. Lead by example to encourage behaviours that align with collective objectives.
Empower Through Intent-Based Leadership: Adopt intent-based leadership to empower your team by valuing their expertise and judgment. This approach promotes ownership, encourages innovation, and supports personal growth within the pursuit of social impact goals. As people make and learn from decisions with their own experience.

Social impact leadership and motivation are closely linked, and could be argued are interdependent. Leaders must inspire and motivate others to join and persist in social change efforts. This involves articulating a clear, compelling, inspiring vision, demonstrating the impact of collective action, and fostering a sense of community and shared purpose among participants.

Why is it important for leaders to motivate others?

Motivation creates a positive team dynamic for staff and service users. Motivated employees perform 20% better than their counterparts According to an evidence review by CIPD Motivation enhances engagement, boosts productivity, and fosters a positive work environment. It also helps in talent retention as motivated employees are 87% less likely to resign. Employees feel valued, inspired, and invested in their work. Effective motivation by leaders leads to innovation, as motivated teams are more likely to seek creative solutions to challenges.

In my experience if a social impact leader is Mr or Ms motivator all the time it can appear a bit forced and loses it’s effectiveness. Motivation does not have to be done to people, at least not unless it’s a special occasion. It is often far better to create the conditions for motivation to occur. Rather than see yourself as the motivational force of the team, look around at the environment, makes decisions on what things are creating a negative atmosphere, what things lift people up. Focus on a strategy of changing those and motivation will start to flourish within the team.

How to create an inspiring vision

Creating an inspiring vision involves articulating a clear and compelling picture of the future that resonates with team members and stakeholders. To do so, leaders should:
- Understand the core values and aspirations as practiced in their team and organisation.
- Identify the unique strengths and opportunities that can be leveraged.
- Communicate the vision in a way that is relatable and mobilises practical action, using stories, images or examples that illustrate the positive impact of achieving the vision.
- Involve team members in the vision’s development process to ensure it is rooted in their knowledge and experience and reflects their collective goals and aspirations.
- Continuously reinforce the vision through actions, decisions making, and communication to keep it at the forefront of daily activities.

Sometimes-Your-Great-Vision-Can-Be-a-Great-Mirage

A vision is not a destination. It’s a hypothesis to be tested. Taking a scientific perspective we can have ideas about the future, we test those ideas, if the evidence supports those ideas we carry on. However, we should always be open to the fact that the evidence may mean the vision may become unlikely or impossible. When the evidence changes, we must make a decision to change the vision. Social impact leadership is a learning process and we need to adapt and grow as we learn.

How do leaders motivate their teams?

Leaders can motivate their teams through a variety of strategies:
- Recognising and rewarding achievements, both publicly and privately, to validate individual contributions.
- Setting clear goals and expectations while providing the resources and support needed to achieve them.
- Fostering an inclusive and supportive culture that values diversity and encourages collaboration.
- Providing opportunities for professional growth and development to help team members achieve their personal and career objectives.
- Demonstrating commitment to the team’s well-being and success by being approachable, responsive, and empathetic to their needs and concerns.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Motivation is sometimes showing up and being brave.

“Be the Change You want to see in the world”
Mahatma Ghandi

Sometimes one of the toughest things you have to do as a leader is you have to lead the line. Be the first one in when times are tough. Stand up for the team when they are threatened, be ever reliable (although everyone has an off day), don’t be too proud to do the smallest lowest status job if it needs doing. You are central to the team, not some outsider doing things to it. If you don’t do these things you can’t grumble if people don’t feel motivated. Social impact leadership is making the decision to do the right thing, and being aware that sometimes meaning you might fail.

Motivation believing in yourself as you reach the top of the mountain

What are the Theories of Motivation?

Several theories of motivation offer insights into how social impact leadership can inspire teams:
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Suggests that people are motivated by fulfilling a hierarchy of needs from basic (such as food and safety) to higher-level needs (such as esteem and self-actualisation).
- Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory: Proposes that motivation is influenced by factors that lead to satisfaction (motivators, like achievement and recognition) and factors that lead to dissatisfaction if not addressed (hygiene factors, like salary and work conditions).
- McClelland’s Theory of Needs: Focuses on three primary needs influencing motivation: the need for achievement, the need for affiliation, and the need for power.
- Self-Determination Theory: Emphasises the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and the importance of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in fostering motivation.
- Equity Theory: Suggests that individuals are motivated when they perceive fairness in the distribution of resources and rewards.

Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Why Motivation is Not Needed All The Time.

In my opinion, motivation is often assumed, but not discussed by social impact leaders. It’s simply expected of people. However, in reality, it is something that constantly needs to be monitored and worked on. It should not be imposed it should be inspired. It is normal and natural for people’s motivations to fluctuate over time. A skilled leader can build momentum in confidence and motivation as particular challenges are addressed. But then it is ok to let motivation lower to allow for recovery. I think we would be well advised to consider motivation as a polarity to be managed by polarity management. Constant high motivation to exclusion of other things has a name: Obsession.

Focus on creating the conditions for motivation: Social impact leaders don’t have to constantly be the source of inspiration. By having a strategy of creating a positive and supportive environment, motivation can flourish organically within the team. This includes addressing negativity, fostering collaboration, and recognising achievements.
Develop a clear and adaptable vision: A compelling vision for the future is crucial for motivation. However, leaders should involve their team in the decision making and be open to adapting the vision based on new information or challenges. The vision should be a guiding principle, not a rigid destination.
Lead by Example and Recognition: Motivate through recognition of achievements, inclusivity, and opportunities for growth. Demonstrating commitment and empathy, and being part of the team’s efforts, are key to inspiring motivation.

a lens focusing on social impact leadership

Being a social impact leader requires a unique set of skills that enable one to drive change and make a significant impact in society. Here are the key skills needed:

Systems Thinking Skills:
- Develop the skill to see the big picture and understand and map how different parts of a system interact with each other. Discerning different levels of relationships
- Practice identifying patterns and interdependencies in social systems to predict outcomes and impacts of actions.
Strategic Visioning Skills:
- Cultivate the skill to draw inferences and use evidence to understand the difference possibilities for the future a true visionary leader does not image a future, they imagine multiple futures. t
- Engaging stakeholders in co-creating a shared vision for change, bridging differences and finding new opportunities and connections to create a shared sense of purpose.
Adaptive Leadership Skills:
- Enhance flexibility and adaptability to respond effectively to unpredictable changes and challenges in complex systems. Being able to ascertain appropriate boundaries in different contexts allowing flexibility without losing resilience.
- Foster a culture of learning and experimentation, encouraging innovative approaches to social issues.
Collaborative Networking Skills:
- Build and maintain strong relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders, many of whom may be very different to you, including different stakeholder groups community members, partners, and funders.
- Facilitate cross-sector collaborations to leverage resources, expertise, and networks for greater impact.
Empathetic Communication Skills:
- Develop the ability to listen actively and communicate empathetically with all stakeholders.
- Use storytelling to convey the importance of social issues, convey complex situations and inspire action, ensuring messages are inclusive and resonate with diverse audiences.
Conflict Resolution and Negotiation Skills:
- Acquire skills in mediation and negotiation to identify manage and address conflicts that emerge within social systems.
- Foster an environment with psychological safety where diverse perspectives are valued and constructive dialogue leads to innovative solutions.
Data-Informed Decision Making Skills:
- Leverage data and evidence to inform strategies and actions, while being mindful of the limitations and biases in data and its interpretation.
- The skill of synthesising a mix of quantitative and qualitative data to gain a meaningful understanding of social issues and measure impact.
Cultural Competence Skills:
- Develop an awareness of and sensitivity to cultural differences, recognising the influence of cultural dynamics on social issues.
- Practice inclusive leadership that respects and values diversity in all forms.
Resilience and Self-Care Skills:
- Cultivate personal resilience to navigate the emotional and physical challenges of leading social change.
- Emphasise the importance of self-care and mental health, ensuring leaders and their teams can sustain their efforts over the long term.
Negative Capability Skills:
- Being able to cultivate the capacity to embrace uncertainty and ambiguity without rushing to resolve to conclusions or solutions. This concept, originally articulated by poet John Keats, refers to the ability to remain content with not knowing all the answers and being open to the complexity of situations.
- Develop comfort with being not knowing the answer, recognising that complex social issues often do not have clear or immediate solutions. This involves tolerating the discomfort of uncertainty while continuing to explore and inquire.
Project Management Skills:
- Skills in planning, executing, and managing projects, providing a systematic culture so that change can be tested learned from optimised and replicated.
Impact Measurement:
- Knowledge of how to measure and evaluate the impact of social initiatives, using data to inform decisions and improve outcomes. Being able to adapt measurement to capture what is meaningful and useful.
- Being able to understand distributions of data and natural variation.

Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skills: The power of a good team and a desire to learn.

Whilst all these things maybe true. In reality all you need is a good idea and the ability to act on it. If you surround yourself with good people and a desire to learn you and a good source of insight and information will get wherever you need to go.

Social impact leadership consulting is a specialised area of consultancy that focuses on creating strategies and solutions to enhance the positive impact organisations have on society. We help do gooders, do even more good. Unlike traditional consulting, which often centres around improving profitability and operational efficiency, social impact leadership consulting emphasises ethical, sustainable, and socially beneficial outcomes. This type of consulting supports organisations in integrating social responsibility into their core mission, operations, and culture, thus promoting a more equitable, sustainable, and inclusive world.

Understanding Social Impact Leadership Consulting

social impact leadership team agreeing solutions

The Core Objective: The goal of social impact leadership consulting is to empower organisations in making more meaningful contributions to society. This involves advising on decision making to address complex social issues such as inequality, environmental sustainability, education, and health. Working to identify areas where they can make a significant impact, develop strategies and tactics to achieve these goals, and measure the outcomes of their efforts.

Who Needs It?: While nonprofits and social enterprises are the most obvious clients, an increasing number of for-profit businesses across various sectors also decide to use social impact leadership consulting. These organisations recognise the importance of social responsibility for long-term success, employee satisfaction, and customer loyalty.

Services Offered: Social impact leadership consultants provide a wide range of services, including:

Strategy Development: Helping organisations create or refine their social impact goals and integrate these objectives into their broader business strategies.
Impact Measurement: Designing systems and metrics to measure and report on the social impact, ensuring transparency and accountability.
Change Management: Assisting organizations in navigating the changes required to implement social impact strategies, including cultural shifts and operational adjustments.
Winning Funding: Providing support and advice to help their clients win funding for social impact projects and initiatives. (Read our guide here)
Stakeholder Engagement: Advising on how to engage with key stakeholders, including communities, customers, employees, and investors, to build support for social initiatives.
Innovation: Encouraging innovative approaches to address social challenges, leveraging technology, and new business models to scale impact.

The Importance of Social Impact Leadership Consulting

The relevance of social impact leadership consulting has grown significantly in recent years due to several factors:

Increased Consumer Awareness: Consumers are more informed and concerned about social and environmental issues, driving demand for responsible business practices.
Regulatory Changes: Governments around the world are introducing regulations that require businesses to consider their social and environmental footprint, making social impact consulting more vital.
Investor Pressure: Investors are increasingly considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in their investment decisions, pushing companies to prioritise social responsibility.

Next Steps How Leading to Impact Can Help You.

Please visit our homepage at edgeofpossible.com. Read our guides to help you gain funding and create social impact projects to a bigger social impact. You can book a free 30 minute call if you would like to discuss opportunities to work together.

Conclusion

The journey of social impact leadership is both a challenge and an extraordinary opportunity. Armed with the knowledge, strategies, and insights shared here, you are now poised to make a meaningful difference in the world around you. Leadership in social impact isn’t just about influencing change; it’s about inspiring those around you to join in the effort, empowering them to make decisions and creating ripples that can turn into waves of progress. Embrace your role with passion, resilience, and a heart open to learning from every experience. The path ahead is bright with the potential for incredible impact.

Let’s move forward together, emboldened by the belief that each of us holds the power to contribute to a more equitable, sustainable, and compassionate world. Your journey starts now, and the future is waiting. Let’s get started.

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Social Impact Leadership Guide For Better Strategy, Skills & Decision Making

1. Introduction to Social Impact Leadership Your Guide to Making a Difference.

Three Key Takeaways For Leading Social Impact

Key Takeaways for Social Impact Leadership Explained:

Table of Contents

Navigating The Social Impact Leadership Guide.

What is Making a Difference?

What is the Difference Between Making a Difference and Social Impact?

What is Social Impact?

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: How to Understand Social Impact:?

Examples of Social Impact

Examples of Positive Social Impact.

Examples of Negative Social Impact.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: The Importance of boundaries

What Does Social Impact Leadership Mean?

Why is it leadership?

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Who is a Social Impact Leader?

What is the Best Way to Lead Social Impact?

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: What to Do if You Get Stuck on a Project?

Leading Social Change Through Social Movements

What is Leading to Impact?

What is a Social Impact Leader?

What Make a Good Social Impact Leader

What a Bad Social Impact Leader?

In my experience a bad social impact leader:

An Example of Bad Social Impact Leadership.

Lessons learned about bad social impact leadership

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: One Way to Tell if the Leader is Authentic

Examples of Leading Social Impact

How to become a Social Impact Leader:

Why Does Planning and Leadership Decision Making so Often Fail at Social Impact and Organisational Change?

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Leadership And Planning Are Not The Same Thing

The Planning Stress Cycle. What Happens When the Planning & Decision Making Fails.

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Stress Can be Addictive, but harmful.

Top 3 Key Learnings: Introduction to Social Impact Leadership Summary

2. Creating a Strategy for Social Impact Leadership

The Journey to Social Impact: a Strategy for Social Impact Leaders

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Get Fresh Insights into Problems and Make Better Decisions In A Social Change Process

The Heart of Change Framework:

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Fresh Perspectives, Leads to Fresh Solutions.

How to Create a Strategy to Maximise Social Impact?

Top 3 Key Learnings: Creating a Strategy for Social Impact Leadership Summary

3. Strategic Decision Making Tools for Social Impact Leadership

Using the Cynefin Framework For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

What is the Cynefin Framework?

When to use The Cynefin Framework

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Things Move Around the Cynefin Framework

How to Use The Cynefin Framework For Project Management

Using the OODA Loop For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

What is the OODA Loop?

When Best to Use the OODA Loop

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: According To Boyd: You are Using the OODA Loop and There’s No Way Out.

Using Polarity Management For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

What is Polarity Management?

When to Use Polarity Management

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Polarity Tradeoff’s are Natural and Everywhere.

Using the Adaptive Cycle For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

What is the Adaptive Cycle?

When to Use the Adaptive Cycle

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Balance Change for Success.

Using the Theory of Change For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

When to Use the Theory of Change for Social Impact

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: A Good Theory of Change Story is Seductive: But is She the Witch in Disguise or a Princess?

Using the Future Backwards Approach For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

What is the Future Backwards Approach?

When to Use The Future Backwards

J-P’s Mastering Social Impact Leadership Skill: Diversity multiplies your planning power and decision making capability.

Using the Theory of Change For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

What are Logic Models:

Why You Should Not Use Logic Models For Social Impact

Using the Hierarchy of Social Intervention For Social Impact Leadership Strategy & Decision Making

What is the Hierarchy of Social Intervention?

How to Use the Hierarchy of Social Intervention

An Example Where the Hierarchy of Social Intervention Could Help.

How To Use These Strategic Decision Making Tools Together

Coherent Strategy Development for Social Impact Leadership

Top 3 Key Learnings: Strategic Decision Making Tools for Social Impact Leadership

4. Implementation Social Impact Projects.

What are Initiatives for Social Impact Leadership?