What are the best ways to balance innovation and stability in social entrepreneurship?

Before moving forward, it’s crucial to have firm convictions in your core values and vision. Think of these as your ‘North Star’, guiding you through the intricate balance between making an impact and maintaining stability. Social entrepreneurship is challenging, but a strong, well-defined sense of your mission – understanding the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of your actions – is invaluable, especially during tough times. It’s not just about having a vision; it’s about deeply believing in it. This conviction becomes a stabilizing force, helping you to stay focused on your goals and make decisions that are consistent with your social mission, even when faced with the temptations of fleeting trends or short-term gains.

It is usually considered that between Innovation and Stability, is usually a trade-off. However, often it is seen that stability in social enterprises is achieved through some innovation. The social enterprises, depending on the cause they are working on, need to be innovative for their sustenance.

Core values and vision serve as a compass for social enterprises, especially when venturing into uncharted territories of innovation. They provide a framework for decision-making that ensures new ideas are not only groundbreaking but also ethically aligned and purpose-driven. This approach fosters a culture of innovation that is responsible and sustainable, as it keeps the social mission at the forefront, ensuring that growth and change do not compromise the organization's foundational principles.

Equilibrar la innovación y la estabilidad en el emprendimiento social implica establecer procesos flexibles y adaptativos sin comprometer la coherencia de la misión. Fomentar la creatividad, pero con enfoque estratégico, y mantener la transparencia en la comunicación son clave. La colaboración con socios y la evaluación continua permiten ajustes para mejorar la eficacia sin perder la estabilidad operativa y la sostenibilidad a largo plazo.

In my experience, the world doesn't give enough room for failure to social enterprises. A profit-oriented business is often given enough room (with time and money) to experiment and fail. For a social enterprise, it is important to have all stakeholders involved in the creation of solutions before they are implemented on the field.

This is a very important aspect and building up collaborative skills is essential (e.g. i) communication, II) active listening, iii) engage, motivate and resolve conflicts with whom you collaborate)

Center community ("customer") feedback and input to consistently balance innovation and stability in social entrepreneurship. If you have built a solution that truly meets your target community's needs, the stability will come from consistent revenue. If you continue to stay agile as your community's needs change, and tweak your innovative approach as their needs change, your stability will persist.

When building a sustainable impact-focused business, it's always important to evaluate your assets and resources through the prism of long-term benefit. For example, you may not want to take investment from a VC fund if that would force you to achieve hypergrowth at the expense of the impact you're trying to achieve. Nor should you cooperate with organisations and funds that will pressure you for short-term results at the expense of building a sustainable, long-term impact venture. It's better to grow slower, but aim further.