According to the World Economic Forum, creative social innovators are addressing the world’s most serious challenges ranging from illiteracy, to clean water and sanitation, girls’ education, prison reform, financial inclusion and disaster relief. The modern organisation considers not only its own business goals, but how that affects the social context within which it is embedded.

This course rejects the dichotomous paradigm so often used in discussions regarding responsible business, where a forced choice is required between business success and issues of morality, ethics, and justice. The course covers the theory and practical tools necessary to incorporate social awareness into strategic goals without compromising your bottom-line or your morals. More than simply teaching content, this course equips participants to ask the right questions about their organisation’s relationship with society.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course you will be able to;

• Explain the difference between Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Social Innovation;
• Identify critical issues regarding the social impact of organisations, including but not limited to:
  • social justice,
  • labour rights,
  • climate change,
  • data privacy,
  • governance,
  • globalisation,
• Analyse existing social innovation initiatives in order to explore the determinants of creating economic and social value;
• Understand the role of Corporate Social Innovation in a post-COVID world;
• Understand how to integrate social issues into business strategy;
• Identify the skill and competency requirements for your organisation to be able to lead social innovation initiatives;
• Understand how to appropriately measure the desired impact of social innovation initiatives.

Teaching:

In addition to standard lecturing during sessions, you can also expect:

• Ask the expert – For a limited time prior to the course, participants will have the opportunity to submit questions to the expert facilitator. It is recommended that participants use this opportunity as a means of translating the course content into practical application by relating the course content to everyday problems they face.
• Discussions – We leverage online teaching technologies to create safe spaces for group discussions with other course participants. These breakout sessions enrich the learning experience through the sharing of unique perceptions and interpretations of the subject-matter.
• Interactive quizzes and polls – We use tools like Mentimeter to facilitate real-time engagement with the course content. Your facilitator will ask stimulating questions and pose interesting scenarios during the session to which you will have the opportunity to thinks about and respond to.
• Real-world case studies – This course combines sound theoretical frameworks that are supported by the latest research with insights from industry. During these sessions your facilitator will present analyses of real-world examples and offer an opportunity to respond to them.
• Supplementary materials – In addition to the course content used during the instruction of this course, participants will also be provided with supplementary materials that can be explored in their own time. These will include reading lists, additional case studies, and curated free resources.

We believe this method of instruction enables participants to apply insights on corporate social innovation from both the existing research and real-world examples to their own contexts. Through the acquisition of these skills, we are confident that participants will be able to initiate corporate social innovation projects that are beneficial for the organisation and the communities which it serves.

Hi! I’m Clif. I’m Principal Psychologist at the boutique consulting firm LBVC, I teach leadership, diversity, and People analytics internationally, and I serve on several startup advisory boards. My day job involves leading projects designed to give startups and SMEs access to People Science, which would otherwise be restricted to companies that can afford large HR Departments and expensive consultants. I typically focus on developing organisational infrastructure, which doesn’t look the same in every organisation. Sometimes it requires policy development and process automation, and other times it might require coaching leadership and improving inclusion.

I hold a PhD from the School of Business and Management at Queen Mary University of London, registration as I/O Psychologist in South Africa and the United Kingdom, as well as accreditation as Chartered HR Professional. I am a published author in the fields of psychology, business, and law, and collaborate with co-authors in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.