"Collaborative Business Models: High Impact Coalitions Modality (to solve Social Problems)".
Hugo Cespedes A.
Entrepreneur, Adviser (Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Technology, Strategy, Collaboration); Start-up Mentor; former Professor; MBA; MBEvolution
(Area: Collaboration, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Strategy, Technology)
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(Reading material "Advanced Course: Collaboration: Collaborative Business Models and Strategy in the New Era", Hugo Céspedes A.)
The definition of Collaborative Problem Solving, which is related to "the ability of a person to engage effectively in a process in which two or more participants attempt to solve a problem by sharing the understanding and effort necessary to reach a solution and pool knowledge, skills and efforts for that purpose”; implies that the Collaborative Capacity is part of human nature.
For its part, Social Problem Resolution refers to "the resolution process by which a person attempts to find or implement an effective coping response".
When we refer to Social Problems, we must understand that "they are those that affect various sectors of a population, and are linked to the conditions of life in society". Its existence dates back to the beginnings of humanity. However, in certain historical stages they have become more acute, such as when there have been wars that have endangered people's rights.
Due to the above, international organizations have emerged that have within their responsibilities various recurring actions to resolve social conflicts (UN; UNICEF, as well as some NGOs).
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THE PROBLEMS IN OUR DAILY LIFE.
On the other hand, since we wake up in the morning until bedtime, we can experience events such as getting out of a traffic jam and economic problems or more difficult cases, in which totally new and different possible solutions are required before the different problems that arise and we can live.
Thus, the way in which we face certain situations is a determining factor for our success or failure in many aspects of life, and perhaps one of the most important is in the workplace.
If a person has psychological problems, and this represents him with the improper use of violence, their ability to make decisions and in the search for how to solve a social problem can be greatly affected. In this way, it is necessary to go to the root of the situation to have answers according to the case analyzed, understanding each of the parties and opting for the best alternative according to the condition. It is therefore advisable to pay attention to the state of mind of a person who may be facing any situation, as they may be facing any situation, since the actions may be associated with emotional problems such as depression or anxiety, which require treatment. a specialist.
This means that if "how to solve a social problem" is sought, the participation of a multidisciplinary team is required, which have the knowledge and professional tools to diagnose and address this situation.
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MAIN CAUSES OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS.
To know how to solve a Social Problem, it is necessary to know its main causes. Let's see some of them:
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HOW SOCIAL PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED SO FAR.
Resolving conflicts is something that we should all know and more when they involve many people. For this, special "Knowledge" is required.
Commonly, our brain goes through the following steps to solve a problem, which can even help entrepreneurs to start a business idea.
Therefore, we can observe that, in order to know "how to solve a social problem", the application of steps that have indicated a logical and sequential order of the information has been required.
However, most of the Social Policies emerge as options and responses that aim to solve Social Problems, whose options are part of a broader Political Process, with the participation of actors who assume positions in front of them, giving rise to a game of supports. , resistances and negotiations.
The Policies are embodied in a set of programs and the Programs in Projects.
Regarding the "Characterization of Social Problems", according to one of the classic definitions, a Social Problem is "a condition that affects a significantly considerable number of people, in a way that is considered inconvenient and that, it is believed, must be corrected." through collective social action". In this regard, four dimensions are emphasized:
First Dimension: "A condition that affects a significant number of people". This dimension is what characterizes it as a Social Problem and distinguishes it from individual problems and group problems. The statement of the condition leads us to ask ourselves who are the actors who suffer from the situation, who denounce it and who have some interest in the condition not being modified.
Second Dimension: "In ways considered undesirable". This condition must be considered detrimental "for a considerable number of people" that, put in other terms and meaning, other technical traditions in this regard can be considered as "significant discrepancies between a standard of desirability and some real situation observed as problematic".
Third Dimension: "The belief that a solution is possible through collective action". Horton argues that some type of available technological knowledge must be visualized that allows formulating a set of alternative solution proposals, which will probably embody the visions, beliefs and interests of the various actors involved.
Any situation of racial, religious or sexual discrimination is considered a social problem, as long as in that society a vision in which all people have equal opportunity, regardless of the race they belong to, the religion they profess or do not profess and their sex.
Social Problems are modified over time, either because "desirability standards are more demanding" due to a growth in collective consciousness "or vice versa" because a deliberate policy does not "reduce aspirations and expectations".
The dynamics of Social Problems can show positive transformations of undesirable conditions or they can suffer a deterioration that exacerbates the problem.
What may not have been considered a problem at one time may be so later, as would be the case of equal employment opportunities for men and women if we observe the evolution of the issue from the beginning of the 20th century, and so could be cited. problems that cease to be problems and others that appear due to the modification of some of the terms of the standard relation of desirability and condition of the observed reality.
This dynamic and socio-political character of Social Problems can be understood even better if the concept of "Socially Problematized Question" (Oszlack & O'Donnel) is introduced. No society has the capacity or resources to fully meet all the needs and demands of its members. Only some are "problematized", in the sense that certain classes, fractions of classes, organizations, groups or even strategically situated individuals believe that "something can and should be done about it" and are in a position to promote its incorporation into the agenda of "Socially Current Problems”.
These socially problematized issues (needs, demands) are called “Issues”.
Every Question goes through a "Life Cycle" that extends from its social problematization to its resolution. During its existence, various actors are in favor or against the emergence of the issue; take a position in front of it.
A Social Issue is characterized by capturing the attention of the population; they have press and it is news; generating public concern and controversy, sometimes leading to Collective Action.
According to Francisco M. Suárez (“Social Problems, Massive Program Problems”), for a Problem to become a Social Question, it generally occurs when a sequence is characterized as follows:
When the third stage is in the process of moving on to the last mentioned stage, it can be said that a Problem has become a Socially Problematized Issue for which "the debate will just begin regarding the type of Social Policy to formulate" and the Programs and Projects to be developed to overcome, control or minimize the negative effects to be controlled.
It is very probable that the Social Problems that become Socially Problematized Issues for which policies are formulated, follow a process or cycle that goes through a period of great creativity and development, then through a process of increasing institutionalization-professionalization, to later enter in a stage of bureaucratization, reduced clientelism and routinization.
As a synthesis, we can say that not every Social Problem becomes a Socially Problematized Issue, nor does every Socially Problematized Issue translate into a Social Policy with a definition of objectives, a legal system, an organizational structure and a set of mechanisms and devices that clearly establish the stimuli and discouragements necessary to induce the desired behaviors and a clear evaluation of effects. Therefore, it is very common that "there are a number of Social Problems, perhaps very important to which attention is not paid".
For Social Problems to attract the attention of a significant number of people, something special must happen, be it a catastrophe (such as the problems of atomic power plants), the emergence of a social movement that articulates the demands of the groups that suffer, the problematic situation or any other event that stirs public opinion.
Under the name of Social Problems, a number of the most diverse situations can be located, such as, among others, Poverty, Unemployment, Family Violence, Drug Addiction, Crime, Forced Relocation, Illiteracy, Labor Exploitation, Alienation, Abandonment of Minors, Torture, Housing Deficit, Child Malnutrition, etc.
This list can become voluminous, and we would not know for sure what they have in common without making an effort to attempt a classificatory scheme in the first place.
Defining a Social Policy also requires an approach based on a typology as complex as the reality of Social Problems, whether or not they are perceived as relevant social issues by the community as a whole.
In this sense, it should be considered that the levels of Public and Community Awareness on Social Problems do not always correspond to the true incidence of the issue. There are Socially Relevant Issues, because they have a high social concern and the action of various forms of pressure, on decision-making structures and others, equally important, that are marginalized from collective concern.
Thus, for example, the Low Coverage of Retirement and Pensions, assumes the dimension of a Relevant Social Issue and the undervaluation of the elderly in society and their increasing exclusion from the family environment is not.
Within this framework, a typology of Social Problems is formulated in the following terms:
DEFICIENCY: Due to Social Problems of Deficiency, it refers to all those situations of insufficient satisfiers of needs that endanger the survival of the human being, in the short or medium term, or that produce an organic condition of deterioration that affects the possibilities of performance. self-valid. This set of problems usually includes the needs for food, housing, clothing, health care, etc.
Like most types of Social Problems, deficiency problems do not necessarily present a situation of congruence, but on the contrary, they occur in non-random multidimensional configurations, in which, therefore, various deficiency profiles can be delineated, depending on of the contextual situations, the specific historical developments and the survival strategies of the actors who suffer from the type of deficiency configuration and those who benefit the most.
VULNERABILITY: Refers to those situations of potential risk to which various incumbents of critical roles may be exposed, which for reasons of changes in the life cycle or technological changes in the nature of the work process, or recurring changes in the cycles of nature, can change their living conditions, making them more unfavorable.
In this sense, problems related to the Life Cycle could be the situation of abandoned minors, such as that of the elderly who, if self-valid, progressively increase the possibility of acquiring increasing degrees of disability.
Technological changes can be generators of typical problems of technological unemployment, as well as certain occupational roles that are more associated with serious accidents at work or precariousness in terms of occupational hygiene.
The recurring changes of nature can generate problems linked to catastrophes, such as floods, earthquakes, cyclones, etc.
Smoking or alcoholism is a source of potential vulnerability, like all the other problems mentioned, insofar as they can endanger the bases of physical, social or cultural survival.
SOCIAL PARTICIPATION: Refers to Social Problems related to the modality and intensity of participation considered undesirable. The problem in question arises in relation to the nature of the web of social relationships and the linking structures that affect the sociability needs considered desirable by a significant number of people at any given time. The dominant theme is that of exclusion, forced integration or pseudo-participation or isolation or social marginalization.
Several Social Problems can be linked directly or indirectly, such as Social Discrimination Problems of the most diverse groups or social categories, whether by sexual roles (as in the case of women), or by ethnic, religious, occupational groups, etc. .
Isolation problems, such as that of the elderly who see their bonding plots increasingly weaken, ex-convicts or any other socially stigmatized group. Example: AIDS patients and other diseases.
The problems of forced participation, such as those linked to plantation-type labor organization systems, or the link to privilege systems that violate elementary principles of equity or forms of participation in total institutions, such as institutes for minors and their consequent forms of institutionalization, which hinder forms of adult labor and family insertion, etc.
SOCIAL PROBLEMS RELATED TO IDENTITY: The concept of identity is elusive and difficult to define, despite being frequently mentioned to refer to a situation that is considered understandable by itself. However, the most distinctive elements are, on the one hand, those of unity and historical continuity.
As a Social Problem, it is not one of those that is most frequently dealt with in the literature, but it is not for this reason that it lacks existence and has extremely harmful consequences for the groups that have been the object of various forms of expropriation of it.
This group of Social Problems is related to issues such as the uprooting of migrant groups, the impact of large enterprises on population groups and the consequent population relocations, or the problems of forced acculturation exerted by majorities on minorities or by more powerful groups on groups with much less relative power. But it also has to do with family situations, for example, when in a society the rate of separations and the formation of new couples increases remarkably, the theme of "yours, mine and our children" appears is another form of manifestation of the identity-related problems.
QUALITY OF LIFE: The issue of quality of life begins to be raised in a more than simple way, making a basic reference to overcoming the quantitative sphere of human needs. It is not the issue of the quantum of satisfiers or the means to acquire the satisfactors that exceed the poverty line in each of the basic needs.
What is that different? It is not clearly specified if what it is about is an adequate and harmonious composition of these satisfiers, or if it is preaching some other dimensions.
As traits, which in Suárez's opinion are behind various conceptions of quality of life, the following can be found:
A) The Possibility of choosing alternatives that include:
i) A component of intrinsically rewarding activities at various levels of work and extra-work life.
ii) Being able to choose environments and conditions of work and family life at the scale of the value options.
iii) The ability to grasp the meaning of the actions in which one gets involved.
iv) The ability to influence the most significant aspects of the situations in which the various actors become involved.
B) Another dimension closely related to the previous one is the possibility of expressing their personality; it is characterized by a return to oneself and a revaluation of oneself, and not an acceptance of social conformity.
C) Creativity, which supposes an openness to change and to a spontaneous and expressive behavior and less determined by rules of conduct.
Obviously, it is not a conceptual definition, but the presentation of some dimensions and sub-dimensions that may be included within this type of needs.
Are there Social Problems associated with the issue of Quality of Life? Very probably it is not considered as a socially problematized issue; It is difficult to consciously, explicitly, formulate demands around needs of this nature, or articulate social movements, or formulate policies or social problems.
Despite the environmental movements, the problems of dissatisfaction with working conditions and many ways of expressing job dissatisfaction, not only refer to the problems of unemployment and low wages, but also to issues more related to the problems of the various forms of alignment.
The Social Problems linked to the family, not only refer to family violence, to the abuse of minors. Perhaps many mental health problems are associated with the restriction of alternatives for the expression of personality and deep dissatisfaction with homogenizing lifestyles, which are expressed in educational institutions as well as in work, politics, etc.
PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL DEVIATION: It refers to various forms of transgression of the normative codes actually in force in the reference societies, such as forms of delinquency and criminality, urban violence, incest, corruption, etc., against which the need to implement some collective action because they are considered undesirable and harmful at an individual and collective level.
This way of grouping Social Problems is surely not the only one, nor is it surely the best, but it probably allows us to discuss problems that have not yet moved onto the socially problematized issues agenda and therefore may not constitute part of Social Programs or sometimes, they appear implicitly, as expressions of desire for which there are no assigned resources and technologies proposed to overcome them.
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PROGRAM PROBLEMS.
Following the line of reasoning proposed in the definition of Social Problems, "Program Problems" can be considered as a condition or situation of the programs that affects a significantly considerable number of people, in a manner considered inconvenient and that according to it is believed that it should and can be corrected through collective social action; put in the terms previously expressed, it can also be seen as a significant discrepancy between a standard of desirability and some real situation observed in the operation of the programs.
The difference between one type of problem and the other is that one involves some type of unsatisfied need of the population and the other, a lesser benefit or harm to the population as a whole due to some aspect of the programs. that makes them less effective or efficient than they could be.
Some of the Problems of the Programs can be had:
a) "Difficulties in reaching the most needy populations", which are their raison d'être, that is, problems of “achieving adequate coverage” in extension and depth. In this sense, a significant number of programs fail to "identify and reach" the population that could potentially demand essential goods and services and that by themselves could not achieve them. Others, the majority have difficulties to go in descending depth, that is to say, in the order of the highest degree of deprivation, vulnerability and social marginalization, although the coverage is great for the deprived sectors, vulnerable but not for those who are in the extreme levels .
b) "Rigidity problems or limited capacity to respond to changes" in the context of application in global policies, or in the target population subject to the sufficiently transformative action of the program and these rigidities are linked to difficulties in learning from experience and to reflect on it.
c) "Problems of Overlapping Programs" that from different organizations try to reach the same target population, to respond to population needs that are very similar, if not the same, this, like the problems of insufficient coverage, can be linked to misdiagnosed, and therefore, otherwise defective, by duplicating activities due to ignorance.
d) "Poor Coordination Problems" with other complementary programs, the achievement of whose objectives may be sequential, or may have integrable spaces, or subject to which differentiated sectoral services are being provided, but in which a number of of activities or at least until appropriate forms of coordination are sought to avoid unnecessary inconvenience to the population served, or to achieve savings in effort and resources.
e) "Inefficient Management Problems" linked to execution, monitoring, control and evaluation.
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f) "Problems derived from the Strategy and Degrees of Centralization and Decentralization of the Programs".
g) "Problems Related to the Modalities of Termination of the Programs", where the social programs, like most programs of any kind, arise with the intention of existing for a certain time, but they exist "beyond the permanence of the need attended by the MSP (Massive Social Programs) that obviously influences its continuity". There are two processes that are repeatedly presented as contributing factors to the indefinite permanence of the programs. The processes referred to are those of "bureaucratization" of the organization of the program and the processes of chronic "dependency" of the target population, which that makes it "difficult to cut that relationship with the MSP".
These problems related to the need to end the programs by way of transfer to a relatively permanent service provider organization, or their delivery to the target population, so that these programs assume participatory modalities of a self-managed nature, these situations indicate the need to raise the issue of “Social Participation” as a possible type of program problem as well, when this is insufficient or not adequate to the characteristics of the MSPs.
h) "Vulnerability Problems": If we try to define "vulnerability", we could affirm that it refers to a constitutional weakness in certain critical points that affect the development of the program to meet the basic objectives that make up the very reason for their emergence as programs, or, as to their performance. This type of problem is more acute in programs arising from public welfare entities. To try to explain this axis on the degree of vulnerability to which programs are exposed, we do not refer to three fundamental points:
i) Another type of problem can be linked to "Differential Degrees of Obsolescence and Technological Inadequacy of Massive Social Programs": An important point to highlight is to establish the difference between "obsolescence and inadequacy". If obsolescence refers to a lack of updating related to what exists with the state of the art of the matter, that is, it implies a temporary dynamic, a delay, but for the fulfillment of a certain objective, technologies are not used more appropriate. That is to say, we are talking about inadequacy when there is no agreement between it and the central and support technology used to complement a certain objective. When we talk about the "type or degree of obsolescence", we are predicating both the organizational structures of public welfare institutions and the technologies used in programs to transform reality. For its part, "inadequacy" supposes that the The method used is not in accordance with the object that is proposed to be transformed and, as indicated, it is predicated on social technologies, both central and support technologies, used in the different massive social programs. Obsolescence Problems are directly linked to incomplete professionalization, to non-professional updating.
j) “Technological Problems”: When we talk about technology, we refer to all used and/or usable knowledge capable of transforming people, material or symbolic elements into goods and/or services. Technological knowledge is, therefore, a special type of knowledge whose purpose consists in the possibility of its implementation in order to produce an action, a modification, or an alteration with respect to a given situation. Generally, when talking about technological knowledge, there is an immediate reference to production technologies, through which wood is transformed into paper or a drug into a pharmaceutical product. Much more discussed and less accepted, for various reasons that we will ignore, is the statement that Massive Social Programs also require adequate technologies in order to get the focal units of a program or social policy to pass from a certain degree of vulnerability state, deficiency, marginality, or disability to a more satisfactory one at a certain time and place.
In all Social Action, a set of technologies and sub-technologies come together, which we will call “Central and Support Technologies”.
"Central Technology" is the set of logically interrelated activities to achieve a certain objective. The implementation of this central technology implies adequate knowledge, its possibilities, its limitations, in regards to its transforming power, in addition to a whole series of technologies, those of support, which are essential for its proper functioning. In other words, we are faced with a central technology that cannot function in isolation from another, the so-called "Support", which should also be appropriate to the objective to be achieved.
"Support Technologies" refer to the set of ways to use or manage the inputs to achieve essential partial sub-objectives so that the central technology can achieve the desired end. The problem of technologies is directly linked to that of the objectives that are intended to be achieved.
A Massive Social Program can have a fundamental objective, the construction of houses, for example, through the system of own effort and mutual aid. The central technology appropriate to this objective will therefore be fundamentally a constructive technology, but in order for it to work it would need support technology, no longer constructive, but eminently social, which will allow the objective to be met in the shortest possible time.
In this way, it is possible to observe that, when we refer to "obsolescence", we are referring to the updating of the technology used, in relation to the state of the art in the matter, qualifying it as modern or obsolete. On the other hand, with regard to "inadequacy of technologies" we assume that the same, both the central ones and the support ones, are not the most apt to complement the intended objective. Inadequacy can be related to obsolescence and vice versa, but both involve different concepts.
Summing up, the central point that is interesting to highlight is that, precisely, inadequacy and obsolescence are central axes to understand the low objective results due to actions undertaken in the social area.
IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATION IN SOCIETY.
Today they are emerging every day, and is also being recognized the existence of Collaborative Business Models to address Social Problems.
Prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic, pockets of Social Outbreaks began to emerge in different parts of the world (United States, France, Chile, ...) that began to be indicative of various unresolved Social Problems.
Therefore, we can say that today there are challenges that must be addressed, which are not only being addressed in Chile, but also in the rest of the world. There are several ways to address these challenges and this is where "Collaborative Systems and their various Collaborative Business Models" enter the scene. These are one of the ways by which we can address these social challenges, and that is where the "Collaborative Model of High Impact Coalitions Modality" enters the scene, which is integrated jointly with many members, as a Collective Project.
Why is it necessary to opt for these Collaborative Business Models (Mode of Work –Creation, Distribution and Capture of Value-)? The "challenges" that we face as humanity "are complex", which require "complex solutions", and no one alone, neither the public, social or private sector, nor the citizenry, none of us individually have the capacity to solve. Therefore, it is necessary to COLLABORATE.
There is a reason that has to do with our “Thought Structure”. Human beings think linearly, and complex challenges require "Nonlinear Thinking". Therefore, to break with this, there is a way to do it and it is to "bring together different linear thoughts, from different trajectories and worlds to form that non-linear thought that allows us to address these complex challenges", says Claudia Bobadilla (lawyer and director of companies, who also leads Puente Social), who also says “she is convinced that it is one of the ways by which we can address these social challenges (and that is where this model comes in), which she calls “High-Impact Coalition Models”, which is integrated jointly with many members as a Collective Project.
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THE CASE OF CHILE AND PUENTE SOCIAL.
Claudia Bobadilla maintains that "Puente Social arises from an experience that is born from pain (the Social Outbreak of October 2019) that was the trigger for this experience of Puente Social, because I had the pain of ignorance, I did not understand what was happening in my country".
In this context, what we did was go to "listen mainly to the voice of those who inhabit different communes, 10 communes of the great Santiago". In this case, they represent 70% of the social, economic and cultural reality of our country, in this process of listening. It was very revealing and eloquent to understand what was happening, why there was this disconnect between the macro figures that show progress in our society, which is real, but at the same time a reality or perception that their quality of life in instead of progressing, it was declining. It is also necessary to understand that there are emotional states, perceptions and day-to-day realities that do not necessarily agree with the macro figures that our country has had lately in the last 30 years.
After the Social Outbreak and the Covid-19 Pandemic, Public-Private entities have undergone a relevant change, there is a change in consciousness that I believe is deeper every time, says Claudia Bobadilla. We are all asking ourselves questions that perhaps we did not ask ourselves before, and that has to do not only with the Social Outbreak, not only with the Pandemic, which more eloquently reveals the lack of trust that has been systematically declining several years.
In this sense, there is a higher level of awareness of all sectors of society, and of trying to find bridges and dialogues, agreements that allow us to move forward and rebuild the social fabric, which is quite fractured. We live in cities segregated by their own conformation. Therefore, we live rather disconnected and that has produced a crisis of care, of how we care for each other.
The Social Role of Companies has evolved after the Pandemic. This is a global-business movement that was born from what is called the "Round Table", which suggests that there are some challenges that we have to address from the Private Sector.
First, we rethink the Purpose: what are companies for? Companies are not only due to their shareholders, without a doubt that without financial sustainability there is no company. But it's not enough". They must also look at the other stakeholders that are part of the Company Relations Ecosystem, such as workers, contractors, suppliers, communities where companies operate, and the Citizenship in general.
In fact, in the case of women and the advances that have been achieved in Chilean society and in companies, there is an increasingly present co-responsibility in companies, which is essential if we want to have equal opportunities to deploy in professional life and make it compatible with the option that each person or woman has of wanting to have a family, says Claudia Bobadilla. Therefore, if there is no co-responsibility (and I think that the Pandemic was once again a space that revealed this challenge), it is essential in the care not only of children, but also in the care of the elderly, to name a few examples. We are in societies that are progressively aging. All child care continues to fall mainly on women, which limits the possibilities of women to study, work, have free time for recreation that is necessary. Therefore, the "System of Co-responsibility" is essential in a society to allow everyone to freely exercise the life options that remain.
Puente Social puts the dignity of people at the center of organizations. On its website, Puente Social maintains that "they are an experiential and collective experience anchored in the territories to discover reality without a filter and build an infrastructure of relationships that allows organizations to understand and reconnect with the new social context. A platform for reflection for companies that allow them to design actions to reconnect with their workers, contractors, client-citizens and communities".
Puente Social maintains that the Social Outbreak broke out leaving the political, intellectual and business elites totally baffled. They didn't see it coming. Perhaps because we live in a world of geography and relationships that is quite homogeneous and very far from the majority of the country, with minimal points of intersection that are merely functional.
The way of understanding reality from the elites is very restricted. Although there may be exceptions, in general it has been reduced to documents, surveys, studies that only reflect what is happening at the macro level, with media that do not adequately reflect what It happens to the immense number of families and people with lower incomes that make up 75% of the inhabitants of our country (Socio-Economic Groups C3, D and E). Furthermore, this way of understanding social reality does not generate an emotional or empathic connection with what is happening around us. There is a mismatch between the macro and the micro that we have not been aware of. We have lost the ability to look without a filter, from the territories and face to face to know different realities and visions.
"We do not know, therefore we do not understand". Not knowing prevents us from seeing and hearing. the disconnect is not just social. As Otto Schammer describes it well, "today's world suffers from three great disconnections: that of us with nature (ecological), that of us with others (social) and that of us with ourselves (spiritual)".
At the same time, we live in a time of deep mistrust towards institutions, which makes it difficult for us to create a common project of society where the infrastructure of relationships is the structural base from which we can generate social cohesion.
They maintain that Puente Social was born between December 2019 and February 2020, when the director of companies Claudia Bobadilla together with a multidisciplinary team made up of María Luisa Gumucio, Bruno Gilberto, Constanza Hola, Galo Eidelstein and Geraldine Kemeur, were dedicated themselves during for 40 days and 40 nights in ten municipalities of Santiago. They toured passageways, cities, restaurants, gyms, social centers, offices and houses in Cerro Navia, Renca, La Florida, Puente Alto, Recoleta, Independencia, Pe?alolén, La Granja and Maipú. They held 92 meetings with 430 people from the 75% most vulnerable sector of the country's population, including social leaders, community groups, neighborhood associations, municipal workers, and neighbors. In addition, the team met with mayors of the communes. From that experience, Puente Social was born.
HIGH IMPACT COALITION.
The High Impact Coalition refers to a Collaborative System to solve complex social challenges. An inclusive, diverse space based on collective-collaborative work. The Purpose of this Coalition is that life, the day-to-day of people, is not only better, but fuller, with more hope and with a deep sense of love and pride for themselves, for their community and for their community. .
Finally, this Coalition is an open invitation to everyone who wants to join. It is an invitation to action, to work together with our best talents and knowledge, with the most advanced methodologies and above all, with a lot of love to prevent, for example, mental health illnesses by and for the people who empower communities to to intervene.
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Role of Bonds in Society: One of the tasks we have as a society is "to find ways to design solutions that address problems that are shaped like a pancake cake", that is, you have a problem and then you have another problem. Usually they coexist in us: the difficulty of social life with family life; the difficulty of climate change with inflation. Thus "Life is Complex".
The great “Pains” that are affecting our society are related to the “Pains that Affect Happiness in Our Society”, says Bobadilla.
In this way, High Impact Coalitions, such as Puente Social, are the trigger for a clearly ignored process. Like any Innovation Process, one does not know what the next step is coming. You don't know it, you build it along the way, and the main trigger, or what Bobadilla rescues the most from this experience, is showing in a very eloquent way "the deficit we have in Collaborative Human Systems or Collaborative Infrastructures". We have excellent physical infrastructure (roads, airports,...) which are essential for the development of the country. We have a very good Digital Infrastructure (which is what allows us to have the promise of being part of the 21st Century Economy). But "we have never noticed that there is something that is essential, foundational and basic for everything else to make sense, which is Having a Relationship Infrastructure, above all a Collaborative Relationship System or Infrastructure."
We emphasize this of Collaborative Infrastructure Systems, since it is not enough for us to say "Let's collaborate to solve a problem that one of our neighbors has". There is a Will. We are reaching an agreement and we surely share a Purpose. However, "we have to design the way in which we are going to help, understand the origin of our neighbor's problem", Design a Process, Know who else is going to have to Collaborate today, we need Infrastructure that welcomes Collaboration.
For Bobadilla, today the issue of the Infrastructure for Collaboration in Chile, being honest, is "totally non-existent" because the three central pillars on which Collaborative Coalition Systems are founded to solve Complex Problems, which, due to being complex, are they refer to the fact that they do not have a single cause, they are multicausal and do not have a linear solution, but rather have different possible solutions that therefore require an interdisciplinary group of actors who come together to solve the problem.
In this context, the 3 Fundamental Pillars of the Coalition Business Models are: "Trust, Common Purpose, Leadership".
1. TRUST: Let's look at the trust rates of our society. Deficits for a long time. We are not talking about the last 2 or 3 years since the Social Outbreak in Chile. The confidence deficits of all organizations, with the exception of firefighters and mayors, have been declining increasingly and sharply, says Claudia Bobadilla.
2. COMMON PURPOSE: What is the Common Purpose that we have as a Society? We are in a discussion of something like that with the Constitutional Convention (at the time of writing this article). But it will not only be resolved there. What is it as a society, what is the concept of society, development of our society, understanding that it has to be both environmentally and socially sustainable, is what we are all imagining together. We are not clear about that Common Purpose.
3. LEADERSHIP: It refers to a leadership that is not short-term. A Leadership that looks to the Long Term and that does not give in to the temptation of having to render the political account in the short term, the financial account in the case of companies, in the short term; the short-term social account (if you are a social leader for the community). But along with managing the legitimate and necessary challenges to respond to in the short term, always keep an eye on the Long Term, since complexity is not resolved in the short term.
If we do not have any of the three pillars, how can companies be part of that solution? This question is important to ask because companies are also one of the spaces where this pain is most inhabited (since we spend a large part of our lives working in companies). This suffering (high prevalence rates of depression, medical licenses), is established as many difficulties to establish collaborative environments that finally fulfill the purpose for which the company was created.
Well, first there is an "Awareness". There are different dimensions:
First, a Dimension that has to do with a Growing Awareness from the Corporate Business Sector of its Role as Social Actor: Companies are Social Actors, they have spatiality, they are spatially located, they coexist and interact in an Ecosystem of Actors (workers, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, customers, citizens, communities) in a broader sense. Therefore, not understanding that the company is a Social Actor, is not understanding something fundamental. And why is it so important that the company cannot be given the same social context in which it operates, where its infrastructure is deployed and where it does business? your exchange of goods and services? Because it has an impact on your own Operation.
If we want to be only pragmatic, it is not the same for me to develop my business in a social context with Low Social Cohesion, than with High Social Cohesion or with Peace and Social Harmony. It is totally different. With High Social Disconnection (or High Social Conflict), my business is going to be much more expensive, starting from that.
Second, there is a Movement that is known as ESG or ASG (Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria): This movement that arises in the company in the world, does so in particular in the United States. It means that the company has to respond to three different dimensions: “Corporate Governance” (which has to do with Corporate Governance practices and standards), “Environmental”, “Social”.
Let's look at the Social Dimension (we can intuit the environmental ones). What are those practices that can be expected and how are we in Chile in this matter? First, that "S" is an "S" that has to be at the center of the company. We mentioned that, since we had gotten used to it, and there is no judgment of whether it was good or bad. One started with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which was a very peripheral conversation. Then it migrated to Shared Value, quite successfully (by the United Nations Sustainable Development theory). So, this is a Process that is evolving and in a positive evolution.
The interesting thing about these criteria is that they do not come from a Regulatory Entity, but rather from the Company itself that begins to “Self-regulate”, added to the fact that the Institutional Investment Funds begin to look at this, when deciding where to invest their resources (and increasingly with a greater focus on the environmental and social spheres).
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HOW THEY WORK AT PUENTE SOCIAL.
1. METHODOLOGY: The Puente Social methodology is based on the "Ethics of Encounter", whose main axes or pillars are.
I. Recognition of dignity in the Other:
II. Its Exploratory Character:
III. Its Experiential Base:
2. TERRITORIES: They organize meetings on the ground, in the territories where the workers, suppliers, contractors, client-citizens and neighbors of their organizations live to learn about the "unfiltered reality", listen and reconnect with the new social context.
3. INDICATORS: They accompany the company in the process of incorporating the "social dimension" to the other dimensions of the business strategy that are already managed financial, regulatory, environmental and technological. They support the development of "indicators, competencies, processes and incentive structures necessary to monitor and measure the social dimension".
They make corporate governments aware of the need to integrate the "social complexity" variable into the company's risk matrix.
4. REFLECTION: "They promote processes of Reflection" within corporate governments in a series of structured meetings regarding the role of the company in the new social context.
Finally, it should be noted that within the Puente Social Projects, there is also:
SCHOOL OF EXPERIENCE: The School of Experience is an alliance between the Faculty of Sciences and Engineering of the Adolfo Iba?ez University and Puente Social to create a new learning space to train cutting-edge professionals connected to the reality of the country. It seeks to incorporate in students in 4th and 5th year skills to understand social reality, innovation, sustainability, teamwork with social leaders and ethical interpersonal relationships, from diversity, in the creation of an engineering project with impact social in territorial contexts.
PUENTE FORUM: Pilot instance where senior executives of a company deepen their knowledge of reality through meetings with social leaders from the Independencia commune, learning about their life stories and the collective projects they lead, all under the ethic of meeting as a way of relating. Puente Forum seeks to strengthen ties between companies and communities, exploring the possibilities of working together.
RADIO ADN PROGRAM: Since November 2020, Claudia Bobadilla -founder of Puente Social- and journalist Felipe Gerdtzen have hosted the Puente Social program on radio ADN every Saturday. The program has been configured as a space to provide more legitimacy to the Constituent Process in Chile, having as guests experts in different subjects, as well as candidates for the convention.
FINAL WORDS.
As we have seen, the way of solving and solving social problems / needs is changing, as well as the business models of public-private organizations, stakeholders and the State as such used for this purpose. For new social needs, new value offers in which different actors in society must update their role as stakeholders, with greater social awareness and co-responsibility.
For more than 15 years ago, when I was teaching Social Entrepreneurship classes at the university, I imagined that the third sector (social sector) at some point in the future would end up influencing the commercial entrepreneurship industry (even at that time, certain practices from the commercial entrepreneurship sector were being used in the third sector as part of strategies to ensure the sustainability of social businesses in the long term) I must admit that at some point I must have had a conversation about the efficiency of the commercial startup world for addressing social issues, but I didn't think that established commercial companies would also participate in this Social Purpose.
Hoy en día, dado que los clientes / usuarios se encuentran totalmente empoderados, gracias a las TIC (tecnologías de la información y comunicaciones), sumado al aumento de consciencia social y corresponsabilidad, no me cabe la menor duda del éxito de la Modalidad de Modelo de Negocio Colaborativo de Coalicion de Alto Impacto para abordar problemas/ necesidades sociales que están presentes en las diferentes comunidades y mercados alrededor del mundo, que dará que hablar con sus resultados a futuro.
Today, given that clients / users are fully empowered, thanks to ICT (information and communication technologies), added to the increase in social awareness and co-responsibility, I have no doubt about the success of the Collaborative Business Model High Impact Coalition Modality to address social problems/needs that are present in different communities and markets around the world, which will give us future results to talk about.
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(Note: For those students in the course, go back to the course and follow the instructions to assimilate the knowledge delivered).