There's More to Impact Than the Positive
understanding the impact you didn’t intend to make is just as important
Let’s talk physics for a moment.
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This is Newton’s third law of motion.
...and truth be told, that’s as much physics as I know. Thank goodness this isn’t a science publication.
I bring up Newton’s third law to make a point about impact.
When we talk about our impact, we’re almost always talking about the positive things we do or achieve—like reducing our carbon footprint or providing meals to those in need.
However, we don’t typically look at our negative impact—you know the opposite reaction.
I’m not sure it’s right or fair to say it’s always equal. But I am sure that there’s something happening as a result of your actions that you didn’t want to happen.
That’s why when it comes to impact, I think it’s more productive to talk about and understand intended impact and unintended impact. In other words, what is the impact we set out to achieve vs. what things happened even though we didn’t aim for them.
Sometimes, unintended impact can be quite negative, but it can also reveal opportunities by helping you identify other problems or needs that you can address—intentionally.
The only way to mitigate the negative and embrace the opportunities is by putting assessments in place and then taking the time to look at them. This can be through feedback loops so you understand your customer’s experience. It can also be through quantitative data. Likely, it’s a combination of both.
Then to really ice the cake, communicate about these unintended impact points and how you’re responding to them, preferably by doing first and telling later (don’t just tell me you pledge something…show me you’re taking action).
Unintended impacts will always be there (see that science above), so we need to make it a part of our process to understand what they are and what we do next.
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