Healthy Impact

Over a million people displaced in less than seven days. Refugees - first from Afghanistan and now Ukraine - forever impacted. The ‘S’ in ESG has never been more confronting.

Environmental, social and governance commitments are an opportunity to plan for positive impact. We are bombarded with environmental targets such as lowering carbon emissions and corporate commitment to Net Zero by 2030 or 2050. But imagine if we delivered positive social impact with the same focus and to the same extent.

Social targets are less frequent in corporate communication but no less important.

There are a multitude of factors to explain why. There are fewer best practice guidelines and a misconception that social impacts cannot be easily quantified.

Consider how we might plan for positive social impact. How many people has your organisation impacted in the last 12 months? Putting a number to it can be challenging, defining how significant those impacts are, even more so. Quantifying impact retrospectively is resource intensive and not possible in most cases.

Instead, plan ahead and monitor impact now, with the same care a parent would take to monitor their baby’s achievement of developmental milestones. Take small toddler steps: 0-3-m, 3-6-m, 6-9m, 9-12-m. Create short-term targets to invest time and money for future impact. Start with what you want to achieve and define that important first step.

In the healthcare sector, Patient and Public Involvement is embedded into impact planning to enable co-creation of products and services to solve problems. Learn from this sector by identifying and engaging with your key stakeholders to jointly create meaningful targets.

The pharmaceuticals industry is aligned with a clear social objective, to improve care and save lives. Social purpose is at the heart of people working within this industry. You too can define your social targets to attract and retain employees who will be the driving force.

Lead the pathway to impact; your stakeholders are waiting.