Impact: An Inside Story
5 ways in which working with the inner dimensions of impact — emotions, beliefs, values of stakeholders — is helpful and what this might mean for future impact work
“I used to doubt my decisions and couldn’t make them on my own. However, reading improved my self-confidence, which enabled me to make decisions.” Explains Mais, a young Palestinian girl regularly attending the children’s library and activities organized by Gaza based NGO NAWA for Culture and Arts Association. Noha, a neighbour of the library, adds that “the library’s existence has led to a decrease in rates of violence as children and young adults have a safe space to go to instead of the streets.”
Such changes in behaviour, attitudes, and circumstances are what many government policies, NGO projects, and human resources strategies are created to achieve. These changes are often referred to as “Impact”. However, in such settings as Impact Investing, Social Impact Assessments, Impact Driven Business… the term “Impact” is used to mean quite different things in different contexts. In general, “Impact” refers to the longer-term social or environmental changes (positive or negative) occurring because of a project, policy, business activities or investments.
We often find that partners and clients working to achieve such changes forget that, when you drill down to its essence, impact is always about PEOPLE changing. Specifically, people changing their behaviors, values, beliefs, or even emotional and physical states of wellbeing. In this article, we explore 5 ways in which working with these inner dimensions of impact is helpful and what this might mean for future impact work.
What do we mean by Impact?
The traditional explanation of impact is nicely portrayed by our friends Sandra and Sonia using the saying “You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”. In any intervention, policy, or strategy you will have one or many stakeholders (e.g. the horse), a number of inputs (can be time, money, human resources, etc.), and a number of activities (e.g. bringing the horse to water). The aim of these activities is to achieve a goal (e.g. that the horse is fit and healthy), and ideally to have a longer-term impact (e.g. that the horse has a fulfilling job and sleeps well at night). This same model is true if your goal is higher staff motivation, with the longer-term impact of longer staff retention and higher performance of your business. Or if your goal is reduced depression amongst unemployed men in your city, with the impact of increasing wellbeing amongst low-income families.
Unfortunately, what often happens is that people planning and implementing interventions come up with a great set of activities they have thought of, and then set about focus on carrying out as many of these activities as possible (e.g. bringing the horse to water). If they are measuring anything, it is that these activities are done (i.e. the outputs of these activities: the number of horses who have been brought to water). However, one key step towards actually achieving your goal, and therefore contributing to the intended impact, is to be measuring not only the outputs, but the outcomes (also referred to as results, objectives, and many other things — here, that the horse drinks the water).
Without the outcomes being successful, the goal and impact are highly unlikely to be successful. You might end up with a thousand horses at the water, but none of them drinking. Once you focus on whether they are drinking, you’ll ask if the water is not good, or if they prefer apple juice, or if they will only drink with Mozart playing. Already, it ensures a level of creativity, agility and to be honest, meaningfulness, where focusing on activities and outputs often feels like Groundhog Day: the same thing over and over again!
So what are the inner dimensions of impact?
However, what is the difference between the output and outcome? It is a change in the inner dimensions of the stakeholder. It is a choice to act differently, to believe something different, to value things differently. It is nothing we can control it is something we can only influence.
As the Iceberg model shows, the behavior of individuals and our ability or resistance to change emerge from the way we feel, how we think, the values we hold, and the deep needs we all have as humans. These “invisible” dimensions (needs, values, emotions, thoughts and bodily sensations), influence long-term individual and collective change in behavior, are what we call the inner dimension of Impact.
Why is working with this dimension of impact helpful?
From our experience, there are (at least) 5 reasons why including these dimensions of impact is useful:
1. Planning + monitoring: Makes planning of interventions more precise, creating a shared vision and clarity among stakeholders, and enables effective measuring and following of the truly important changes.
For example, one mid-sized, 130-year-old German business we’re supporting in transforming towards being a purpose-driven, agile and healthy-to-work-in business, had defined many great activities to support their leaders and teams to change the culture and ways of working predominant in the business. However, it was only once we defined precisely which behaviors, competencies and mindsets would be needed in this new way of working, that it was much easier for them to choose and prioritize the activities required to achieve these changes. It also ensures all of those working on this transformation are aligned on what they are looking out for as signs of success.
2. The Deep listening required is impactful in itself: The deep listening and types of questions which must be asked of stakeholders in order to know what impact is happening at these internal dimensions, can in itself support stakeholders to reflect, learn, grow and create further impact.
The quote at the top of this article emerged during an assessment of the “social impact” of NAWA, a Gaza based child rights and cultural NGO. This social impact assessment uncovered many unexpected, unintended impacts of their work — both positive and negative — whilst also giving an opportunity for many of their key stakeholders to reflect on the impact of their interactions with the NGO, and on changes in their lives. It is often the case that such assessments by NGOs into the impact of their interventions or research by businesses into the impact of their services and products on the lives of individuals and communities creates waves of change amongst these stakeholders and communities.
3. Motivating + meaningful: Means those implementing interventions or policies, can see and feel the impact of their work on people and their lives.
Equally, the focus on impact in general, and in particular on the inner dimensions of impact, creates much higher levels of motivation and meaningfulness amongst employees. In another Gaza based NGO with whom we ran a Social Impact Assessment, one senior team member who had worked decades at the organisation stated that this exploration of the impact of their work on the financial security, confidence and wellbeing of the youth they worked with had “made me love my work so much more”!
4. Sustainable: When inner change has occurred (and endures), it is likely to continue.
As the iceberg model above shows, behaviors are only the visible end of a very complex, interconnected process of creating our “way of being” in life. When the largest part of us has begun changing — the needs, values and mindsets, even the bodily sensations and reactions — the behaviors are more likely to change and to sustainably remain changed. Of course, achieving changes at this level is a very different game: it requires innovating and creativity on activities, and curiously investigating what changes really are happening.
5. Inspires innovation + creativity: Means implementers and stakeholders find creative and innovative activities to achieve the goals and impact intended but also to monitor whether this is happening.
One 20-year-old NGO based in Geneva had grown a great reputation convening a yearly conference and other specific support for their target “beneficiaries” (as they are often referred to in the NGO sector). However, many of the staff members who had been doing the same work for over a decade, felt demotivated; donors were less and less interested; and the “beneficiaries” manifested they were not feeling fully heard. Following team trainings on Impact -driven planning and monitoring, the team settled on the motto “when we have a question, we won’t first reach inside to colleagues but reach outside to our stakeholders (formerly known as beneficiaries) and listen deeply”.
The resulting adaptation of the decade old activities, newsletters, and services for their key stakeholders were seen as truly innovative and creative by these stakeholders as well as donors and staff from other organisations. Maybe more importantly, their stakeholders manifested feeling heard, feeling like they had a headquarters in Geneva that they could rely on, and created deep personal connections between staff and stakeholders.
What could it mean for the future of impact work if we focus more on the inner dimensions of impact?
These few examples are meant just as a taster of what could change if those people and organizations interested in achieving a social impact, would focus more on the inner dimensions of impact. It isn’t the golden bullet to solve the major global issues we face, however, we are confident that integrating these dimensions in future impact work can support teams in being more strategic both externally and internally, because looking inside also is relevant within teams working with impact. It is just as crucial to look at what impact you want to have within your team, as on the inner and external dimensions, with the work you are doing. No good in doing fantastic work “out there” whilst burning out all your team members doing so (which we unfortunately see happening quite a lot, especially in the impact sector).
We know that for many, it can seem inappropriate or intrusive to talk about our inner dimension, about emotions and values, in a work context. And we know from experience that not everyone is open for or capable of doing this, and certainly that no one should be forced in any way to go there. However, building the ability to work these inner dimensions (which we’ve not been including in our impact work until now) can ensure more transformative moments like for the children/girls in Gaza shared at the beginning occur.
Personally, I know I really love supporting teams to build their ability to be impact-led, including both the external and internal dimensions. It’s one of the reasons I co-created Purpose+Motion, and believe that it can be a real contribution to us all co-creating healthier and more regenerative futures on this planet! Let me know if you want to have a chat about how we can work together to support your team or company on its impact journey!
NB: Much of the descriptions of impact and the amazing artwork is inspired by or directly from our friend Sonia Herrero’s incredible “Integrated Monitoring” Manual on Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning produced by InProgress. If you’d like a free PDF copy (all copyrights are healthily respected), email us at contact@purposeandmotion.com
