4. Quality education
16. Peace, justice and strong institutions
As Albert Einstein said: “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity”.Many years have passed since then, but the truth of this statement crosses times, generations, people and contexts. We believe that it applies with the same truth to the times that we all live in today, without exception. Yes, the present is difficult, the future looks hazy but certainly better days will come if we work as a team, manage our resources well and keep an eye on the path we have taken.
To make the trip less insidious, we have identified some obstacles that social organizations will certainly encounter and we have put together some clues to support this journey. They are not the certified recipe for the solution to success, but they are certainly tips and food for thought that, in our view,will help on the path of survival and, therefore, prosperity that we wish for all Portuguese social organizations.
That being said, what assets are important to have up your sleeve?
We are currently running a marathon. It is important to take into account three key moments of the race, which also symbolize the basic stages of the leadership processes: the starting line, the course and the finishing line.
Before running a marathon, we have to assess our physical situation. In leadership processes,the logic is the same: before we take the first step, we need to be clearly aware of where we are. Before we start, we will naturally encounter obstacles for which solutions are needed.
Once you have been able to breathe, go back to the basics. Make a realistic analysis of your strengths and weaknesses at the present moment. What's available? What has to be settled?
Now that you have a realistic and factual analysis of your situation today, it is important to decide which path you want your organization to take. Will you continue to follow the same polar star or do you intend to make a change? What strengths would you like your organization to have in the future?
Once the decision is made, it is necessary to define a plan of action - how are we going to make it happen? Do I need to reallocate my resources? Find new ways of funding? Adjust the distribution channels of the services I offer or explore new paths / activities?
Once the vision is defined, it is time to put it into practice, to start effectively running:
When we finally reach it, we stop to breathe and continue. We continue to work. We reflect on what we have learned and identify the adaptations that we can and must make to survive future crises. Management does not end when the crisis is over. We implement processes that improve our speed, endurance and flexibility to deal with what is coming. "If leadership is to lead people into the future (...) we have a sovereign situation here to put this art into practice".
By stakeholders we mean all those who, directly or indirectly, have an impact on the pursuit of the organization's mission. To ensure close monitoring of them all, it is important to:
a) Draw a list of new stakeholders: with the pandemic outbreak, there were new entities that became relevant in the context of any social organization and that must be considered - this is the case of WHO and DGS, for example. In addition to these entities, there are also others that should be taken into consideration, such as the ones that provide new funds and supportive opportunities that may also be relevant. Add to your map of your usual stakeholders the new stakeholders to consider.
b) Design a map of(new) needs: after having identified the stakeholder group in its completeness, it is imperative to update the needs of each one - customers, dependent organizations, partners, beneficiaries and employees.
c) Make a match between the (new) needs and the responsiveness of the organization: after identifying the needs, it is essential to define an action plan, considering the responsiveness of the organization to those needs based on the resources it has available or on new means that it can take advantage of.
d) Build solutions and test their applicability: after the steps mentioned above, the most suitable solution will appear naturally. Conditioned to the emerging needs, the solution that will be proposed to the business should have an agile application, based on a “trial and error” posture and pilot tests on small samples of the client population- an iterative process. In this way, resources and their scarcity are managed, adapting them to empirical results in a good entrepreneurial manner.
It is important that you build it step-by-step: create a close feedback loop to understand the needs and get the right information, and design shorter and more interactive innovation / adaptation cycles to find the solutions that work best for all parties involved. From here, you will be able to understand, more effectively,what adaptations are necessary to the business model, ensuring careful monitoring of all stakeholders.
In a one-way flow, communication is expected to be:
In a bidirectional perspective, it is important to bear in mind that communicating efficiently is not just about informing. A bipartisan environment must be created. For this, it is important to:
Based on this system, the social organization can aggregate messages and identify the main concerns by stakeholder and / or by theme, for example. This analysis can lead to the discovery of valuable information that may be integrated in the adaptation of the organization's services, as well as in the communication strategy itself,ensuring an efficient response to the needs of stakeholders.
Financial management in times of crisis can be a decisive factor in the sustainability of organizations. To promote your financial health it is important that:
That being said, we advise you to do a sensitivity analysis, in an attempt to estimate the impact of different scenarios in the short, medium and long term, on the company's revenues and expenses. Based on this analysis, different responses must be drawn for each of the scenarios on the table. This prior work will contribute to a more efficient management of your organization's resources in the future.
So, all in all,the path is made by walking and we all have a role to play in ensuring that we are going in the right direction. It is up to each social organization to build its own path, maintaining a clear and objective leadership vision, a careful monitorization of its stakeholders,an effective communication and an efficient financial management. These are essential assets to move from the survival mode, in direction to prosperity.
And this is exactly the goal that our team aims to achieve: to facilitate the journey so that prosperity can be reached quickly.
We all have a role to play
With just ten years to go, an ambitious global effort is underway to deliver the 2030 promise. We want to take a stand and we are calling on our community to showcase how they are contributing to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, whilst influencing more and more people to unravel their role to play.
Here, you will find four different ways your ideas can flourish, dialogue can be enhanced, and action can take place. You can choose one or all four, and Nova SBE will be there to support you all the way and guarantee tangible change.
We all have a role to play, and this is your way in.