Crucial elements for increasing impact
Impact optimisation
Many organisations want to measure impact or communicate about impact. In our view, this is only meaningful if you also act on the information you collect and want to communicate. Can you use this information to make choices that increase your positive impact (and reduce negative impact)? What do you need for that?
Some tips:
- Be critical of the measurement tools you want to develop or deploy. Is this necessary and appropriate for the person who will be using it?
- Before you start measuring impact, always investigate what information is already available: which data are already being collected? Or which effects are already sufficiently substantiated? Is there literature on certain effective approaches? Could you perhaps already make adjustments to your approach based on this?
- Dare to stop activities that you know are not effective. Sometimes it is difficult to make these kinds of choices, but it does create focus and more impact.
Transparency
Learning is central to impact management. It is not about presenting the best impact results, but about continuously refining your approach and thereby increasing your impact. Precisely the things that do not turn out as expected are interesting. What can you learn from them? How can others also learn from them? We advise organisations to be transparent about their impact results, even if they are disappointing.
A few other tips:
- Be transparent about the limitations of your measurement method. Did you have to make estimates or certain assumptions? Name them.
- Have there been changes in the organisation, adjustments to the approach, or has the context changed? This can affect your impact.
Stakeholder involvement
Involving diverse stakeholders is an important component in all phases of impact management. After all, making and managing impact is not something you do alone. By taking the interests and perspectives of various stakeholder groups into account, you create a stronger foundation for increasing your impact. Do not do this just once but make it part of your way of working. Stakeholder interests can also change over time.
A few examples of involving stakeholders:
- Ask stakeholders how they view your organisation’s unique strength. This could be the target group for whom you are ultimately doing it all, or collaboration partners or funders. Involving them in shaping your vision and strategy often provides interesting insights. What is important to them? Which blind spots do you still have? For example, validate your (draft) Theory of Change with the target group or partners.
- Let stakeholders review the results of your impact measurement, for example, during a sensemaking session. How do they interpret the outcomes? What context can they provide? Which lessons can they also learn from?
- Avoid working in silos: exchange experiences, align activities, and in this way ensure an optimal approach to the problem you want to solve.
Future-proofing
Future-proofing is a core component of impact management. By working in an impact-oriented way, you ensure that you respond to changes and remain relevant in the future. You zoom out and make adjustments. In a changing world, with changing regulations, this is even more necessary.
Some tips:
- Do not only think about the positive impact you want to achieve, but also about the negative impact your organisation may create and how you can mitigate it.
- It can also be useful to look at risks and opportunities for your organisation. Which risks could affect the realisation of your impact? Think of climate risks, reputational risks or market risks. And which opportunities are emerging in society that you could take advantage of?
- Impact management is a growth path. Start small; not everything has to be perfect all at once. What is important is that you regularly pause and reflect - and integrate your insights into your way of working. In this way, you work step by step on increasing your effectiveness and substantiating your impact.
Would you like to know more? Please contact us:
Corien te Brummelstroete
Manager Specialist Advisory
T +31 (0)88 676 94 30
Impact round table
Learn from other social organisations that are working on the same challenges in the field of impact management. During the Impact round table, the exchange of experiences, insights and challenges is central, where we primarily want to have an open conversation with each other: how do different organisations approach impact measurement and steering? What works and what does not? From experience, we know that it is enormously valuable to engage in dialogue with each other and to learn from each other’s approach.
From Impact House we facilitate this meeting. What can you expect:
- A valuable afternoon including lunch
- Exchange with other organisations with different perspectives in terms of themes and approach
- Inspiring examples from our professional practice
- A new network in your field of work.
We will welcome a maximum of 5 organisations. There are no costs associated with participation. Register via impactcampus@nl.gt.com.
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