July 22, 2022
The Social Value Tsunami is on its way, are you ready?
With Social Value now becoming monetised, both in Government, Local Government and now in the business supply chains, what can we learn?
The larger Enterprise businesses already report on their Social Value activities, both Environmental and Community focus, and provide written and published statements
Like GDPR before it, Social Value will cascade down the supply chain, to reach every business of every size within the next year.
There may or may not be a statute law to report by then, but there will be irresistible commercial pressure to conform and report
For now, the imperative for business directors should be the following
- Bring this to the regular board meeting agenda, it is a critical risk to your business and should have a director assigned to the task
- Engage with your teams internally, to ensure a joined up and fully understood strategy is devised
- Translate this strategy into operational action. You do this for Health and Safety and GDPR already – now do it for Social Value
- Review and revise your policies to safeguard your business and your employees
- Understand your activity, and make a plan for the periods ahead
- Audit your measurement systems. Spreadsheets are no longer acceptable, as the data you confirm needs to be to an auditable standard
- Check for fraud, the same way you do for the finance function
- Engage a Social Value accreditation, as a starting point for your next steps
- Utilise external reporting platforms that allow transactional audit. Investorsincommunity.org provides this for all Community work, and emerging platforms allow Environmental audit recording
- Avoid any system where a judgement-based self-input is required by a staff member, as this is where the control and audit falls over, leaving the directors exposed. There are lots of “portals” for example that ask you to input your own data but does not verify any of it.
- Avoid fancy reports, and be authentic in your statements, backed by auditable facts
The Social Value journey is just starting. From new-born to adulthood in just a few years, with commercial pressures exacerbated by Covid, fractured global supply chains, and the war in Ukraine
We are in a changing world, but anyone who understands bell-curves will tell you – delay too long and your will miss the profit curve, enjoyed by those who act now
At the end of the day, Social Value is a euphemism for personal values, irrespective of the legal or commercial positions. It touches everyone on this planet who cares, from our employees, our customers, our investors, our secondary stakeholders. Personal values make the world go around, and this just became centre stage.
If you need support to devise an actionable plan, install Social Value as a profit driver, find and deploy proper auditable measurement systems, and want to engage your team, I’m here to help. Contact me direct on philip.webb@citercom.uk
