The document discusses the relationship between social impact and happiness. It argues that both are enhanced by supportive relationships, community involvement, good health, financial security, meaningful work, and a healthy environment. Unemployment is shown to significantly reduce well-being by damaging self-esteem and social ties. Additionally, relative social status matters - people generally prefer earning less money in a society where others earn even less, compared to earning more where others earn much more. Going beyond traditional measurement of social impact allows organizations to tell the story of change and focus on what really matters - love and bringing people together.

1. What do social impact and
happiness have in
common?
Steve Coles
Intentionality CIC

2. What do social impact and
happiness have in
common?
Everything!

3. Question: What makes
you most happy?

4. “Wellbeing is a positive physical, social and mental state;
it is not just the absence of pain, discomfort and
incapacity. It arises not only from the action of individuals,
but from a host of collective goods and relationships with
other people. It requires that basic needs are met, that
individuals have a sense of purpose, and that they feel
able to achieve important personal goals and participate
in society. It is enhanced by conditions that include
supportive personal relationships, involvement in
empowered communities, good health, financial
security, rewarding employment, and a healthy and
attractive environment...”
UK Government’s Whitehall Wellbeing Working Group, 2006

6. Question: How many
people do you know
who would help you
in a crisis?

7. Relationships Matter…
“What seems to be the most important factor in
providing happiness is close social relations. People
who are married, who have good friends, and who are
close to their families are happier than those who are
not. People who participate in religious communities
are happier than those who do not. Being connected
to others seems to be much more important to
subjective well-being than being rich.”
Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice, p. 107

8. Employment Matters…
“We can be needed by our family, but most of us need
more than this: we need to feel we are contributing to the
wider society. Thus work provides not only income but
also an extra meaning to life. That is why unemployment
is such a disaster: it reduces income but it also reduces
happiness directly by destroying the self-respect and
social relationships created by work … So unemployment
is a very special problem … And even when you are back
at work, you still feel its effects as a psychological scar.”
Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, Richard Layard, p.67

9. Employment Matters…
Unemployed Britons show high levels of mental distress. Using
a particular scale to measure mental distress, the mean levels
are the following:
In other words, the 522 jobless people in the
sample had approximately twice the mental
distress score of those with jobs

10. Trust Matters…
From: Do we really know what makes us happy? by Dolan, Peasgood and White http://pauldolan.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/do-we-really-know-what-makes-ushappy.pdf
Year!
1959!
56!
1981!
43!
1990!
44!
1999!
“…social trust (trust in
most other people) is
associated with higher
life satisfaction and
happiness, and a lower
probability of suicide”
Percentage
saying that
most people
can be trusted
(Britain)!
29!

11. An Experiment…
Imagine you had to choose between living in
two imaginary worlds, in which prices and all
other factors are the same other than:
– In the first world you get £50,000 a year, while
other people get £25,000 (on average)
– In the second world you get £100,000 a year
while other people get £250,000 (on average)
Which world would you prefer to live in?

12. An Experiment…
When asked, most say they would
prefer to live in the first world - the
world in which they earn £50,000
and everyone else earns £25,000.

13. Relative Position Matters…
“There is increasing acceptance
that the welfare of individuals is not
solely determined by their material
circumstances but also depends
heavily on their relative position in
society.”
From: Inequality, Happiness and Relative Concerns: What Actually is their Relationship?
by Ed Hopkins, University of Edinburgh http://www.homepages.ed.ac.uk/hopkinse/ineq-survey.pdf

14. What’s all this got to do
with social impact
analysis and going
‘beyond
measurement’?

15. Mission
Focus on what
really matters
Organisational culture
Tell a ‘story of change’
People at
the centre
Environment
Creating
overlapping
impacts

16. Focus on what
Mission
really
Recognisesmatters
Organisational culture
that all
Tell a you need
‘story of change’
Creating
People at is…? overlapping
the centre
Environment
impacts

17. Focus on what
Mission
really
Recognisesmatters
Organisational culture
that all
Tell a you need
‘story of change’
Creating
People is…? Love?
at
overlapping
the centre
Environment
impacts

18. Discussion,
Questions and
Answers
1) What is beyond measurement?
2) Why should we go beyond measurement?
3) How do we improve beyond measurement?

19. Many thanks for listening
Steve Coles
Intentionality CIC
Web: www.intentionality.co.uk
Email: steve@intentionality.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)7791 868 597
Twitter: steve_coles
Twitter: Intentionality_