(Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash)
Social value creation is about providing solutions to social, economic, and environmental challenges in ways that bring about deep, long-term, and positive transformations.
It is transformative and positive social change.
How Can Projects Create Social Value?
Ten Ways to Add Social Value:
Developing new projects or adding to existing ones to directly address challenges
Acting as a stabilizing force for individuals, families, villages, countries, the world
Bringing an underserved, underrepresented, or disenfranchised group into the project model - innovative hiring practices, sourcing of content
Creating new markets
Increasing access to markets, services, solutions, projects and economic opportunities
Partnering with a non-profit
Increasing wellbeing, development and empowerment - personal, emotional, professional, and other forms of development
Building or strengthening needed infrastructures
Building models for sustainability - sourcing of raw materials
Supporting and strengthening fundamental rights - equality, freedom, life
Increasing value comes down to three words: Remove a negative, increase a positive.
Social value creation comes to projects through design - design of models, platforms, projects, policies and practices aimed at achieving a higher social good. Creativity is required to work solutions into project models.
Social Value Creation is about Leveraging Business to Address Social Issues — Social value can be found in anti-racism and anti-corruption efforts, animal rights advocacy, folk art, road safety, and addressing economic inequality. Pioneering teams are using social problems as a starting point for new projects, new products, and new businesses.
These things are not commonly expressed or measured in the same way that user value or market value is. So, it’s important to define the metrics that enable some degree of measurability. You should be able to create goals for increasing social value that can run parallel to goals for increasing market value. It’s not enough for someone to say they are creating social value. They should be able to show a measure for it so that goals can be established and achieved.
Look at the problems we as a society face. Look at the biggest challenges facing society. Find those challenges where you want to make a difference, and make a plan to take a big bite out of that problem.
Simply start there.
What do you believe needs to be changed?
(Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash)
What are those areas that you’ve seen, in your unique experience, that you believe need to be improved?
Good projects will include many of the elements to increase user value. Better projects will go a step further and include the mechanisms for creating social value. The best projects, those that will have the most impact and success over time, will weigh user value and social value in their service to a community. When that’s done, projects can begin to reach their highest potential.