Measuring and managing social performance
Measuring and managing social performance
There is growing evidence and recognition that serving poor people requires more intentional outreach to those living below a nation's poverty line. However, matching intent with action requires strong management commitment to improving the lives of poor people through better incentives, leadership, communication, and culture. It also requires effective use of information systems - electronic or manual methods of systematically collecting, analysing and acting on information in a timely manner.
Prizma - an MFI in Bosnia and Herzegovina - faces the challenge of serving people impoverished by war and economic transition. Prizma has sought to strengthen its social performance by building greater understanding of the nature of poverty among staff, management and the executive board. It has also shaped its organisational culture around a pro-poor social mission, designing appropriate incentives to align staff behaviour with this mission, and developing systems to assess the poverty status of clients and changes in this status over time. Prizma uses a scorecard that is integrated in its automated management information system (MIS) to assess and monitor the poverty status of new clients. This has helped to identify ways in which clients were inadvertently excluded from its services as a result of existing policies, procedures, or the design of its products. Other MFIs such as LAPO (Lift Above Poverty Organisation) in Nigeria use a poverty-scoring tool while CARD (Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development) in the Philippines combines several poverty targeting and assessment approaches for similar purposes.
Measuring performance
Use of information systems is fundamental to MFIs' ability to measure and enhance their financial performance. However, using information systems to monitor the profile of incoming and departing clients and drawing out historic data to analyse trends over time can also yield other critical insights. This can show who an organisation is reaching, who it is leaving behind, and what the effects and role of its financial and non-financial services are in the lives of the people it serves. Existing information systems represent a critical resource to measure and strengthen social performance. Rather than gather large amounts of information, emphasis on the collection and use of a few select robust social indicators of clients' poverty status and changes in this status is more useful. By using select indicators institutions can control their existing systems rather than create new ones to balance:
accuracy of results with practicality of their use
proving impact with improving their practices
internal with external stakeholder information needs
cost-effectiveness with timeliness of information.
Managing performance
Several factors are particularly important to understanding and enhancing social outcomes that signal potential longer-term impacts on client, including the need to:
be aware that program design determines whether poor people will access services
ensure focus and clarity of purpose about the primary role of the institution
build management and board commitment to serving poor people with intent
shape organisational culture and staff incentives to support clients' well-being
identify clear indicators for measuring social and financial performance
emphasise vision and mission when recruiting, inducting and training all staff
train management and non-management staff to influence social performance
provide regular, transparent reporting on social performance to all staff.
Prizma has identified these factors through an intensive process to re-evaluate its primary social purpose, which may well have important lessons for other MFIs worldwide.
Social performance management: 6 questions
MFIs committed to social as well as financial performance need to have clear answers to the following questions:
What are your social performance goals?
How do you monitor who uses and who is excluded from using your services?
How do you assess the effect of these services on clients?
How do you assess the reasons why some clients leave?
How do you use your social performance information to improve your services and achieve your social goals?
How do you review and seek to improve the quality of the systems and processes through which you answer these questions?
By clearly defining who to reach, the quality and nature of services to be provided and the intended benefits to clients and non-clients, MFIs will be better able to design strategies to achieve them.
Sean Kline
Freedom from Hunger
1644 DaVinci Court
Davis
CA 95616
Measuring and managing social performance - To learn more about this author, visit id 21's Website.
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In recent years donors and practitioners have demonstrated a renewed interest in and commitment to understanding how to reach poor people effectively, assess their level of poverty, and judge the social performance of MFIs. However, for all the public and increasingly private money that flows to microfinance, there has been limited guidance on how to reach, serve, and have a positive and sustainable impact on the lives of poor and very poor people. It is time MFIs realise and deliver on this vision by becoming more responsible for who they reach and how.
There is growing evidence and recognition that serving poor people requires more intentional outreach to those living below a nation's poverty line. However, matching intent with action requires strong management commitment to improving the lives of poor people through better incentives, leadership, communication, and culture. It also requires effective use of information systems - electronic or manual methods of systematically collecting, analysing and acting on information in a timely manner.
Prizma - an MFI in Bosnia and Herzegovina - faces the challenge of serving people impoverished by war and economic transition. Prizma has sought to strengthen its social performance by building greater understanding of the nature of poverty among staff, management and the executive board. It has also shaped its organisational culture around a pro-poor social mission, designing appropriate incentives to align staff behaviour with this mission, and developing systems to assess the poverty status of clients and changes in this status over time. Prizma uses a scorecard that is integrated in its automated management information system (MIS) to assess and monitor the poverty status of new clients. This has helped to identify ways in which clients were inadvertently excluded from its services as a result of existing policies, procedures, or the design of its products. Other MFIs such as LAPO (Lift Above Poverty Organisation) in Nigeria use a poverty-scoring tool while CARD (Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development) in the Philippines combines several poverty targeting and assessment approaches for similar purposes.
Measuring performance
Use of information systems is fundamental to MFIs' ability to measure and enhance their financial performance. However, using information systems to monitor the profile of incoming and departing clients and drawing out historic data to analyse trends over time can also yield other critical insights. This can show who an organisation is reaching, who it is leaving behind, and what the effects and role of its financial and non-financial services are in the lives of the people it serves. Existing information systems represent a critical resource to measure and strengthen social performance. Rather than gather large amounts of information, emphasis on the collection and use of a few select robust social indicators of clients' poverty status and changes in this status is more useful. By using select indicators institutions can control their existing systems rather than create new ones to balance:
accuracy of results with practicality of their use
proving impact with improving their practices
internal with external stakeholder information needs
cost-effectiveness with timeliness of information.
Managing performance
Several factors are particularly important to understanding and enhancing social outcomes that signal potential longer-term impacts on client, including the need to:
be aware that program design determines whether poor people will access services
ensure focus and clarity of purpose about the primary role of the institution
build management and board commitment to serving poor people with intent
shape organisational culture and staff incentives to support clients' well-being
identify clear indicators for measuring social and financial performance
emphasise vision and mission when recruiting, inducting and training all staff
train management and non-management staff to influence social performance
provide regular, transparent reporting on social performance to all staff.
Prizma has identified these factors through an intensive process to re-evaluate its primary social purpose, which may well have important lessons for other MFIs worldwide.
Social performance management: 6 questions
MFIs committed to social as well as financial performance need to have clear answers to the following questions:
What are your social performance goals?
How do you monitor who uses and who is excluded from using your services?
How do you assess the effect of these services on clients?
How do you assess the reasons why some clients leave?
How do you use your social performance information to improve your services and achieve your social goals?
How do you review and seek to improve the quality of the systems and processes through which you answer these questions?
By clearly defining who to reach, the quality and nature of services to be provided and the intended benefits to clients and non-clients, MFIs will be better able to design strategies to achieve them.
Sean Kline
Freedom from Hunger
1644 DaVinci Court
Davis
CA 95616
Measuring and managing social performance - To learn more about this author, visit id 21's Website.
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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