Goal Setting Fundamentals: Building Social Impact Into Your Business Goals

I was sitting in my car, staring at the steering wheel, frustrated. I had just spent 20 minutes driving in circles, trying to find a café I’d been to once before but couldn’t quite remember how to get to. But for some reason, I thought, I don’t need directions—I’ll figure it out. Spoiler alert: I didn’t.

As crazy as that sounds, too many people unintentionally run their organizations in the same way, leading their teams without a clearly defined mission – driving in circles, failing to reach their destination. 

People often forget that in order to develop this kind of mission, a vision that will allow your organization to prosper in a changing world, you need to first understand how your business affects that world, and determine what type of impact you want to have, and how that will feed back into your ability to win new customers and keep your team engaged. 

“Social impact” isn’t just a buzzword, a nicety–it's a necessary component of modern business. 

Impacting Your Community

Consumers increasingly want brands that share their values. They want to spend time with and give money to organizations that are like them, that they can believe in. You want your customers to know that you are that kind of business. You want them to feel it in your messaging, in how you support the communities you operate within, and how you treat your employees. 

People aren’t stupid, they will know when you’re being inauthentic, riding some social trend. That’s why it’s critically important to know what you actually believe in, what is important to your business and what you’re willing to genuinely fight for in the arena of public opinion. 

When your goals are well defined and well aligned with your organization, it makes it significantly easier to create authentic and impactful messaging. This will not only drive current business, but also open up opportunities to bring in new customers who see you as an authentic voice among the noise.  

Impacting Your Team

Employees stay longer and work harder when they believe in what they do. Businesses that engage with their communities see stronger teams and better retention. HP, for example, boosted employee morale when it made its packaging more sustainable.

They did this by focusing on something that animated their employees, that differentiated them from other brands. 

Your employees have goals and aspirations that go beyond business logic. They want to know that the place they’re spending their time, devoting a big part of their life to, cares about something more than profits. And they want to have a part in shaping the organization and its values.

By giving them a seat at the time, you let them see their work in a broader context, and understand their jobs in more humane terms. This will drive increased loyalty and more creative output. 

How to Make Social Impact Part of Your Business Goals

• Align It with Your Business Strengths: Choose an initiative that fits naturally with what you already do. HP focused on sustainability because it aligned with its operations. Find a cause that makes sense for your company.
• Get Employees Involved: When I introduced volunteer days, my team became more engaged. Giving employees a say in how your company contributes to the community makes the mission feel real.
• Measure and Share the Results: Social impact should be tracked just like any other business metric. Show progress, share wins, and make sure employees and customers see the real effects.

Social impact isn’t just a feel-good initiative, it’s key is to a comprehensive business strategy. You can start focusing on social impact today, by asking yourself a simple question: How can my business make a difference?

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Stay Connected with Kelly

Kelly Feeney consults and advises business leaders on strategy, planning, and execution. As an Operations Exec, Kelly has led teams as large as 300 with budgets of $100M+ at enterprise companies like Uber and Airbnb.

Connect with Kelly on LinkedIn or learn more about her work at Kairos Studio.