Corporate Social Innovation for Startups and SMEs

Persons most likely to benefit from attending this course include Entrepreneurs and Founders who want to explore social awareness as a strategic imperative.

Additionally, individuals who have an active role to play in innovation and the strategic direction of an organisation will also find this course particularly insightful.

Course Outline

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:

1. social justice,
2. labour rights,
3. climate change,
4. data privacy,
5. governance,
6. 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.

Meet Your Tutor

Clif Lewis is a licensed I/O Psychologist, Chartered HR Professional, published researcher, and Queen Mary alumnus. His career spans 15 years, having worked in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, as both inhouse specialist and independent consultant. His areas of expertise are diverse in breadth and depth, including fields such as Learning, Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion, Recruitment, Talent, Employment Law, Psychometric Assessment, Research Design, People Analytics, Governance, Strategy, and Policy. He uses this broad expertise to solve interdisciplinary problems, by producing viable solutions for diverse contexts – some of which never need to be replaced.