Executive Education > Our programs > Seminars > Social Innovation: A Strategic Driver for Organizational Performance

Social Innovation: A Strategic Driver for Organizational Performance

Fee

$2,095 + taxes

Length

Three days - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Language

Course given in French

Dates

Offered at HEC Montréal
September 29, October 6, 13, 2022

Customized version available

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If you are looking for a proactive solution to implementing practical strategies that address the social and environmental ramifications of your organization’s activities, this program is for you.

As climate change, ecosystem degradation, social inequalities, poverty and other critical issues continue to affect the planet, they are also having a major impact on business operations, weakening supply chains, driving resource acquisition and allocation costs upward, and creating barriers to growth.

At the same time, internal and external stakeholders’ expectations in terms of environmental and social engagement are more demanding than ever before. There is a business opportunity to be seized here and it requires moving beyond corporate social responsibility (CSR) to integrate social impact directly into your organization’s value chain, business model, governance, company culture and its very mission.

In this program, you will explore the social and environmental issues linked to your organization and come up with proactive solutions to tackle them head-on. The tools you receive will help you overcome any hurdles you may face in implementing your strategy.

In collaboratin with:

Goals

Understand the specific context in which your organization operates and the opportunities open to you in terms of innovation and social impact.
Define an impact strategy tailored to this context and your business realities.
Critically assess your impact strategy to expose your blind spots and to better align your organization’s mission with key social and environmental issues.
Identify and minimize barriers to buy-in from project users and beneficiaries.
Explore a range of strategies for setting up and scaling your project.

Is this for you?

This program is meant for:

Professionals.
Managers.
Intermediate- and senior-level executives.

This program is for you if:

You see a strategic opportunity for your organization to be proactive in responding to social and environmental challenges.
You want to play a leadership role in this regard and take the initiative within your organization.

Special features

Future-focused program designed by the Maison de l’innovation sociale and Pôle IDEOS (HEC Montréal), combining academic rigour with the real-world insight and experience of its instructors.
Methodology prioritizing practical knowledge and participants’ experience.
Cutting-edge tools and techniques in innovation, social impact and multifaceted project management.

Testimonials

Instructors:

Luciano Barin Cruz
MSc, PhD (Management Sciences)
Professor, HEC Montréal

Patrick Dubé
MSc
Executive Director, Maison de l’innovation sociale

Hugo Steben
MSc (Management)
Director of Social Entrepreneurship, Maison de l’innovation sociale

Program

Module 1: Demystifying social and environmental impacts

Learning objectives:

Understand the basics of social and environmental impacts.
Identify potential benefits for your organization and the key factors for success.
Determine where social and environmental considerations fit within your organization.
Establish the types of impacts relevant to each participant.

Module 2: Understanding the contexts and opportunities for innovation and social impacts

Learning objectives:

Identify angles for analysis in a complex situation.
Determine positioning and arguments of key project stakeholders.
Identify strategic contextual factors from a strategic perspective.

Module 3: Defining your impact strategy

Learning objectives:

Determine the characteristics of short-, medium- and long-term impacts for a project.
Define the project’s short-, medium- and long-term impacts.
Differentiate between different types of strategies used to attain target impacts.
Describe the advantages of defining a theory of change for a project.

Module 4: Fleshing out your impact strategy

Learning objectives:

Identify possible biases, limits and challenges.
Define strategies to minimize or remove these biases, limits and challenges.

Module 5: Identifying barriers to buy-in

Learning objectives:

Understand user motivations, needs and concerns.
Pinpoint barriers to buy-in for your solution.
Design an experience that promotes user buy-in

Module 6: Exploring different strategies to deploy your impact proposal

Learning objectives:

Identify different methods for deployment of a social impact strategy.
Formulate deployment scenarios for the impact strategy that are context-appropriate and tailored to the issues faced by the organization.
Choose a preferred scenario to prototype.
Design a plan of action to deploy and scale your impact strategy.

Training approach

Introductory readings and videos.
Brief lectures on each topic.
Case studies of real-life projects presented by the people who designed and implemented them.
Individual exercises.
Small-group and class discussions.