The rising number of social value and sustainability directors and managers is a key factor in the changing operational landscape in the private sector. The latest industry research reveals that some boardrooms are still considering the social value as the ‘fluffy stuff’.

Social value professionals struggle with a lack of budget, mandate, and formal training. They also find various social value frameworks and reporting systems daunting. The so-called ‘tick-box’ mentality in social value management raises questions of ethics and how the new operations management scene needs to be managed.

Social value management company Whatimpact is publishing a white paper ‘Social Value Manager 1.0’ with over 150 organizations and social value-related professionals partaking in the research. The aim of this research was to explore, establish, and embrace the emerging job role of social value management-related titles which are shaping the way the private sector engages with our communities.

The CEO of Whatimpact, Tiia Sammallahti, says on research findings: “It is astonishing and sad that none of the interviewed social value and sustainability professionals had a dedicated budget for tools, systems and formulating partnerships with charities and social enterprises on the grassroots level. They need to ask for money and other resources from other departments to fulfill sustainability commitments. Time has passed on those companies whose boardrooms and executive level decision makers do not understand that social value is one of the biggest success factors in business both in short term contract revenue as in growing the overall business value.”

The research clearly concluded that social value is still a relatively ‘new topic’, and yet requires an extremely proactive mentality from social value-related professionals due to the fast-evolving nature of the social value world. This applies across various aspects: measuring, reporting, technology, frameworks, legislation and policies, accreditations, certifications - and of course methods to create the change through social value actions.

Based on the challenges social value professionals face, harnessing technology to support their goals is key. Although the market is getting saturated with various measurement and reporting tools, it is important that the right ones are chosen to avoid the tick-box phenomenon where the ability to demonstrate high-value numbers overtakes the importance of demonstrating proven impact.