What change are we talking about? Changing the sustainability of social organisations.
In an economic and social context where social organisations are called upon to intervene more and more frequently and with greater intensity, it is still said that "here we make omelettes without eggs"! This is the point to change. We want to help empower social organisations with good strategies and best management practices. It's not fair, nor will it be efficient, for the social sector to continue making "omelettes without eggs", which is why, as well as proposing change, we're going to contribute to its implementation.
According to data from the report "Portugal, Social Balance 2022", in 2020, the at-risk-of-poverty rate in Portugal rose to 18.4, an increase of 2.2 percentage points compared to 2019 and above the EU average, and the social economy sector is the large invisible structure supporting the state in social response. This sector has grown in terms of supply and professionals, bringing together (2020 data) almost 74,000 organisations and employing around 244,000 people. But it still has weaknesses and risks in terms of management and sustainability.
And how do we bring about change?
As a result of the partnership between the "la Caixa" Foundation, BPI and the Nova School of Business & Economics (Nova SBE), the "Initiative for Social Equity" was born in 2019, a partnership to boost the social sector in Portugal, and in this context, the "Social Leadership for Managers" programme, which aims to empower the Boards of Directors of social organisations by creating advisory boards with executives with different profiles and a lot of experience in the private sector.
And how can private sector executives contribute to this change?
By sharing their knowledge, their time and their network. By sharing good management practices from the private sector and helping to adapt them to this specific reality.
And what kind of change are we bringing to social organisations?
If we can define what skills need to be brought together to form advisory boards, I would start by saying that the priority is strategic thinking for management, which allows decisions to be guided, the Vision to be made clear and the focus to be kept on the organisation's Mission. If we add skills in management control (adapted to the organisation's reality) we will help the organisation reorganise itself, which will allow it to give more to the community it serves. To this set of skills, I would add knowledge of marketing, market vision, commercial vision. This is a key area because it is knowledge that helps optimise the way social organisations read their market and communicate, both internally and externally. Which brings us directly to the importance of adding someone with communication skills to the advisory board. And we're not just talking about current forms of communication (social media), but someone with the ability to contribute to a positive narrative that attracts donations, volunteers and partners. It's important to develop communication that reaches the entire community (and not just users and their families). And because a good organisation presupposes good, transparent and appropriate governance, I can only recommend the involvement of someone with legal skills. And it would be very interesting if we could add other skills that are fundamental to any advisory board: digital transformation, people management, coaching, quality management systems, accounting, risk management. I would say that the skills that are fundamental in private companies are also fundamental for social organisations. Each social organisation should identify which profiles complement the skills it has "in-house" and decide how its Advisory Board should be set up.
This is one of the ways we contribute to creating Social Impact: creating advisory boards. We started the programme in 2019 at Nova SBE. In 2023 we extended the programme to Porto, in partnership with Católica Porto Business School, and we hope to expand to the south in 2024. More than 140 executives have already passed through the 7 editions of the programme (Nova SBE and Católica Porto Business School) and 35 advisory boards have been set up. What we want for the future is to develop this community and strengthen the ecosystem of transformation between advisors, social organisations, academics, students, speakers and local government. We remain convinced that everyone learns from everyone else, and that social managers have a lot to teach business managers (to change!).*
* Paulo Bastos, in (PT) What the social manager can teach the business manager (sapo.pt)
- “Iniciativa para a Equidade Social”
-“Liderança Social para Gestores”: here and here.
**This article is part of a series of publications produced as part of the partnership with Nova SBE Leadership for Impact Knowledge Center.
