The "How-To" of Impact Statements
|
|
We all want our work to have an impact, and it's no secret that your value increases if you can effectively share the impact of your work with others. We want to help you know how to
make the biggest impact with your impact statement
! This Thrive outlines the important questions you need to answer in your statement and shares a simple formula you can follow as you write it.
|
|
So what?
Who cares?
We're not trying to be dismissive. These are the two questions that
require an answer
in your impact statement. If nothing else, focus on these when someone asks about your work, whether it's your boss at year-end reviews, a potential employer in an interview, or your significant others' parents. (Ha! But really...)
|
|
Thanks to the Virginia Tech CALS's Office of Communication and Marketing, we have
The 4 R's:
- Relevance: What was the issue? State the problem your work addressed.
- Response: What actions did you take? State what you did, who for, and how you did it.
- Result: What happened because of your actions? State how your work affected those you did the work for, as well as any social, economical, and environmental impact your work had.
- Responsibility: Who were key players in your work? State collaborators and contributors to your success.
Lastly, if you're sharing your impact statement with an external audience, make sure you
include your contact information so those interested in collaborating with you in the future have a way to get in touch.
|
|
To help even more with the formulation of your impact statement, we decided to create the
"fill in the blank" guideline below to give you somewhere to start and expand on. Next time you're about to enter a review meeting, interview, or are considering asking for a promotion or bonus, take a half-hour to prepare an impact statement or two!
"Around
(state the time of year)
, I noticed
(state the issue)
which affected
(state the target audience it impacted)
,
because (
state the negative effects of the issue)
. I decided to
(state the actions you took)
which involved
(state key elements)
. I accomplished this by utilizing
(state the resources used throughout the work)
. Because of this project,
(state qualitative and quantitative environmental, social, and economic impacts on target audience)
. Of course, I must give credit to
(state collaborators and contributors)
for their help. I am proud of how we worked together to ensure the success of this project and the results we achieved."
|
|
What better way to inspire you to thrive than to hear about real people making it happen? And what better way to learn about Evans than to make those real people Evans employees?
|
|
I have helped a lot of government agencies and private sector companies charter not just the
“what”
of their work, but the
“why”
and the
“how”
in the form of values statements, customer journeys, and impact statements. Beyond what work an organization delivers, they need some set of guiding principles-
values, ethics, and goals
- to define how they aspire to execute on their work. When finalized, the organizational values statement goes beyond particular situations and applies more broadly to the organization's area of activity.
|
|
Values grow from the organization’s start, reflecting the
personalities, character, attitude, and preferences of the founders
. Only after an organization has developed can core values fully emerge, agreed to, and formed into values statements. The purpose of developing an organizational values statement is to help the organization achieve its goals in
keeping with the beliefs
of its members. The values statement highlights those values that are relevant to the carrying out of the activities of the organization as it works toward meeting its targets. When members have to make difficult decisions in the course of their work, they can look at the
values statement to help guide them
.
|
|
Similarly, in creating
impact statements
recapping achievements, project completions, and capping off goals achieved, helping clients tie these back to their values statement can highlight how they executed on and
stayed true to their values while delivering
to their customers, stakeholders, investors, etc. This is most valuable when framing external messages outside their organization, and clients have opportunities to celebrate their successes!
|
|
The Evans Thrive Team
(Nicole, Kaitlin, Laura, Bob, and Sean)
|
|
(This image was adapted from a commonly shared internet image.)
|
|
Missed a Thrive in Five issue or want to revisit this one later? Click below to access all issues on FRANK!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
