You're trying to build a team culture that is focused on social impact. What are the best strategies to use?

1 Define your purpose

The first step to building a social impact culture is to define your team's purpose. Why does your team exist? What problem are you trying to solve? Who are you serving and how? Your purpose should be clear, compelling, and inspiring for your team members and your audience. It should also be aligned with your organization's mission and vision, and reflect your team's core values and principles. You can use tools like a logic model, a theory of change, or a social impact statement to articulate your purpose and communicate it to others.

2 Engage your team

The second step to building a social impact culture is to engage your team members in the process. You want to create a sense of ownership, commitment, and collaboration among your team members, as well as foster their skills, knowledge, and passion for social impact. You can do this by involving them in setting goals, planning activities, making decisions, and evaluating results. You can also provide them with opportunities for learning, feedback, recognition, and growth. You can use methods like participatory design, co-creation, peer review, and mentoring to engage your team members and empower them to contribute to your social impact.

3 Connect with your stakeholders

The third step to building a social impact culture is to connect with your stakeholders. Your stakeholders are the people who are affected by or have an interest in your team's work, such as your beneficiaries, partners, funders, supporters, and critics. You want to build trust, understanding, and alignment with your stakeholders, as well as learn from their perspectives, needs, and expectations. You can do this by involving them in your research, design, implementation, and evaluation of your social impact. You can also communicate with them regularly, transparently, and authentically. You can use tools like stakeholder mapping, surveys, interviews, focus groups, and storytelling to connect with your stakeholders and co-create value with them.

4 Measure your impact

The fourth step to building a social impact culture is to measure your impact. Your impact is the difference that your team's work makes in the lives of your beneficiaries and in the world. You want to track, analyze, and report on your impact, as well as use the data to improve your performance and accountability. You can do this by defining your impact indicators, collecting and managing your data, applying appropriate methods and tools for analysis, and sharing your findings and recommendations. You can use frameworks like the logic model, the social return on investment, or the impact management project to measure your impact and demonstrate your value.

6 Collaborate with others

The sixth and final step to building a social impact culture is to collaborate with others. Your team is part of a larger ecosystem of actors who share your vision and mission, or have complementary skills and resources. You want to leverage the power of collective action, synergy, and partnership, as well as avoid duplication and competition. You can do this by mapping and engaging your potential allies, finding common ground and mutual benefits, and establishing and managing effective relationships and agreements. You can also share your knowledge, experience, and insights, and learn from others' best practices and lessons. You can use platforms like networks, coalitions, or alliances to collaborate with others and amplify your social impact.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?