Before Theory of Change: Engage Stakeholders

Eventually I want to talk about Theory of Change: an elegant 'if this-then that' logic model key to developing an effective ESG strategy. However, what I often find with my clients is that they're too early in their ESG journey to create one.

It's easy to come up with an aspirational mission statement, such as: "Company X is committed to fighting racial injustice / ending world hunger / closing the wage gap."

This fictional Company X might have a lofty ambition indeed, but when companies undertake CSR (corporate social responsibility) or ESG initiatives, they eschew a crucial first step which should be the basis of any impact campaign: they don't take the time to listen and engage directly with their stakeholders, specifically the communities directly impacted by their activities.

This process is called perspective-taking, "the act of perceiving a situation or understanding a concept from an alternative point of view, such as that of another individual."

It's an important concept from behavioral psychology that is very useful to impact practitioners, especially as it pertains to social impact strategy design.

I'll give a real world example: Former Stockton, CA mayor Michael Tubbs is currently the “economic mobility and opportunity” advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom. He is sitting down in intimate group dialogue sessions with Californians throughout each of the state's 48 counties, listening to them as they describe, in their own words, their experiences with poverty. Through these efforts, Mr. Tubbs seeks to end poverty “by elevating the voices of people experiencing it.”

(You can read more about Mr. Tubb's work in this excellent write-up by Mackenzie Mays for the Los Angeles Times).

How can you create a successful ESG strategy if you have no idea what your stakeholders really want, and how they identify key issues, hurdles, barriers and challenges?

This is foundational primary research, and if you don’t conduct it, you don’t actually have a strategy that can address the problem, because you don’t understand the problem well enough.

Like all methodical approaches, you have to develop a Change Hypothesis, then engage your stakeholders as primary research, before forming a comprehensive and well-supported Theory of Change.

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