How can you scale up social impact models to create a lasting impact?

Scaling up requires preparation.In preparing it is necessary to interrogate aspects such as the need,scope ,intended impact and alignment with mission and values.This interrogation can be done using different research approaches ranging from desktop research to immersion studies.The role of research is to tangibilize the idea. Through research you can obtain insights that will give compelling reasons for or against scaling up. This is an important step as it will help strengthen conviction , clarify and solidify the vision.Once this is done it will be easier to define goals that speak to the challenges or issues to be addressed and incorporate them into your scaling strategy.

Scaling has become the buzz word in the Social impact space. But in order to walk your team towards the end goal of scale, you need to define four yourself and your team what exactly you mean by scale. Is it growing your impact, size of the org, number of employees, geographical presence, size of funding, number of program offerings, number of alumni/people impacted etc. It is true that growing one or the other aspect will affect the other areas as well. But pegging the area that you are prioritizing is important to orient the team towards a north star and inspire scale readiness.

It is one thing to have a good idea and another to implement. You make positive social impact when you execute good ideas well. It is therefore important to match your organisational capacities with the intended scope of growth.Scaling up requires boldness and courage.However this must be balanced with realism. It is therefore important to ensure you are not overstretching your infrastructure,skills and funding. For example scaling up may require hiring new staff who possess skills needed for a certain project . In coming up with project milestones it is important to consider acculturation time by the new employee so as avoid project overruns.

Scaling up is synonymous with increase. Whereas horizontal and functional scaling are synonymous with increase in size vertical scaling is about increase in strength.It is about intensifying current position. An example could be a social enterprise that wants to develop into an internationally recognised human rights watchdog .The process could involve reorganising the enterprise to strengthen elements necessary to increase credibility such as governance. It could also involve partnering with international entities to increase capacity and impact. Summarily,the strengthening can take different approaches but these should culminate in a stronger legitimate and globally recognised institution.

There are multiple approaches to scale and you need to find the one that fits based on your organizational strengths. Here are three examples of frameworks I have used when scaling Social Impact at non profits, I hope helps you: 1. A data-driven geographic scaling model calibrated countries and regions for expansion based on weighted input, factoring in student preferences and market demands. This unbiased, repeatable model was also informed by secondary research of markets. 2. The flywheel model in Tim Collin's Good to Great helped grow our funding, programs, and marketing. 3. "Engine 1 and Engine 2" by Bain is a framework I currently working with for scale.

Goals and objectives serve as a guide on the trajectory to be pursued by an organization. Results will often differ from the projections and most likely there will be areas of underperfomance and overperfomance. As a social impact leader you should expect to learn from these deviations. In my view, the most important outcomes may not be results but the insights gained and feedback received. Given this understanding it is important to establish as many listening posts as possible. The scaling strategy should be treated as a live document to be continuously updated with feedback from communities .An iterative process such as described above is bound to result in succesful project that will be accepted by the majority stakeholders.