The impact can be strangely unsatisfactory.
What ?!
A big reason to focus on impact is that it brings fulfillment and satisfaction, right?
If you feel that your impact is not satisfying you, that is a clue.. You may not be having all the impact you want.
The impact is multidimensional. When it comes to business, I think about it in terms of three main parts:
- Collective care
- Entry
- Legacy
Let’s take a look at each one, so you can see how tackling them all makes the best and most satisfying impact:
Collective care it’s the contribution you make with your impact, the lives you affect, the ways your business helps make the world better for everyone, not just the privileged few. It is love enacted.
If the collective care aspect of your impact feels neglected, ask: How do you care for others through your business? Do your offers refer to at least that as income? How do you pay attention to the way you do business? Your hiring practices? Are you being inclusive and diverse enough in the internal workings of your company and in your relationships with customers and suppliers?
Here’s how you can put the answer to these questions into practice:
I have recently become much more aware of diversity in sourcing vendors. Rather than a large team of in-house employees, my business is structured around a satellite group of key vendors who do the important things that keep the business going, such as website design, building the learning platform for the Impact Breakthrough program and the Work Alchemy Podcast edition. I always just hire through a referral network. The problem with that is that I am limited by who I know and who they know. As we are seeing, this can generate an insular world of little diversity, and in privileged groups, it perpetuates the hierarchy. So, I changed the process. I’m still using references, but instead of a general request focused only on tasks, I ask specific questions about various references. I’m also looking for my own ever-expanding network to use the skills of a more diverse group of people.
Entry It is the income you bring to your business through your efforts. You might be wondering, how is that part of the impact? It is part of the impact because you need money to support you and your business. The more money you contribute, the more options you have to use it to make an impact. When money is a stressor, it actually interferes with the impact because you are distracted and too focused on this aspect of the impact.
If this area feels neglected, ask: How can we generate more income while remaining true to our values and impact purpose? Can we increase the number of sources of income? Can we offer ideas to our current clients that will result in more revenue? How can we improve our marketing and sales? Is the right person in that role? How can we develop better processes that ensure we don’t lose track of valuable leads?
To put your answers to these questions into practice, here is an example:
One of my clients is increasing his sources of income by collaborating with several people to offer new programs online and in person (yes, even now!). Lorraine is really leveraging her close connections and the people she recently met to develop new offerings that she wouldn’t have come up with on her own. It has even meant moving to new areas that you hadn’t planned on, but you still draw on your expertise.
Legacy it is sharing what you have learned with those who would benefit from it. It’s acting as a mentor to a younger person who could use a role model. It’s also the way you present yourself, every day, as that affects everyone around you. As the leader of your business, your daily legacy is even more important, because it affects not only your customers and the people who work with you, and therefore your behavior. It also builds and affects your company culture.
If your legacy feels neglected, ask: Am I presenting myself in a way that consciously affects people how I would like them to be affected, that contributes to a healthy culture in my company? Am I presenting myself with love and respect? Are there things that I have learned that I know would be valuable or have I been asked to share? Am I impressed by the potential of a young person that I can help?
Here’s how a colleague put these questions to use in her business:
Tamara is an efficient and hardworking person who values making good use of her time. However, in his focus, he was projecting the energy of ‘Don’t interrupt me’ onto his staff. That led to misunderstandings and a culture of tiptoeing around her, which were the last things she wanted. Fortunately, Tamara was willing to hear this and changed her focus. She thought about how she could make connecting with her day to day easier for everyone. She spoke with her entire team and they agreed on a way to approach her that allowed her to address important issues and that is evolving to be even better. She is shown to be a better leader who welcomes feedback and at the same time models effectiveness in getting things done.
This impact trifecta – Collective care, income and legacy – it’s really improved by tackling them together – you get a synergistic effect. If you spend your time and effort strengthening two or all three aspects of impact through the same actions, you will have a much greater impact.
Here is an example:
My client Lorraine noticed that one of her joint venture partners cared about their clients differently than she did, with excellent customer support on purchases (Collective care). In addition to agreeing to use that approach for her joint shows, Lorraine incorporated some of these practices into her own solo offerings. Lorraine also noted that one aspect of their joint work highlighted an area of teaching, not their core business, that would be very useful to their audience (Legacy). Along with the increase Entry Since these partnerships have already brought her business, Lorraine is leveraging the impact trifecta to get the most results.
Your dissatisfaction with your business and its impact does not necessarily mean that you are on the wrong track. It may mean that you need to shed a light on what aspect of your impact is not being met.
With that clarity, you can focus on what matters most and leverage your resources to make the impact that you deem most significant.