How to Increase Social Value

Most organisations already create some social value through their everyday activities. The question isn’t usually whether you’re creating value, but whether you’re maximising the opportunity.

Increasing social value doesn’t necessarily require massive investment or wholesale operational changes. Often it’s about making more intentional choices within existing activities, identifying overlooked opportunities, or better aligning what you’re already doing with stakeholder priorities.

 

 

How You Can Increase Social Value

 

Start with understanding

Before you can increase social value, you need to understand what you’re currently creating and where the biggest opportunities lie.

Conduct a baseline assessment

Map your current social value activities and outcomes. Where are you already creating employment opportunities, supporting local businesses, reducing environmental impact, or contributing to community wellbeing? What’s the scale and significance of these contributions?

Identify stakeholder priorities

Speak to the communities where you operate, your clients, employees, and other stakeholders. What matters most to them? Where do they see need? Their priorities should inform where you focus your efforts to increase impact.

Look for gaps and opportunities

Where’s the mismatch between what you’re doing and what stakeholders need? Where are you missing opportunities to create value? Where could small changes in how you work unlock significant benefits?

This diagnostic phase provides the foundation for strategic action rather than scattergun initiatives that may or may not move the needle on what matters.

 

Focus your efforts

Trying to do everything dilutes impact. The organisations that create most social value are those that identify a focused set of priorities and go deep rather than spreading themselves thin across too many areas.

Choose your battles

Based on your baseline assessment and stakeholder engagement, identify three to five priority areas where you can create most value. This might be determined by where your activities naturally create opportunity, where community need is greatest, where you have distinctive expertise, or where alignment with your broader strategy is strongest.

Set ambitious targets

Once you’ve identified priorities, set stretching but achievable targets. Vague aspirations won’t drive change. Specific, measurable targets create accountability and focus effort.

Allocate resources

Increasing social value requires investment, whether that’s dedicated staff time, budget for measurement and reporting, funding for community programmes, or resources to support supply chain development. If you’re serious about increasing impact, back that commitment with resources.

 

Integrate social value into core operations

The biggest opportunities to increase social value often lie in doing what you already do, but doing it differently.

Procurement and supply chain

Your spending decisions create ripples through the economy. Can you give more weight to local suppliers? Can you actively support SMEs to access opportunities? Can you set expectations around fair working conditions, environmental standards, or social enterprise engagement throughout your supply chain? Supply chain spend represents a significant lever for increasing social value.

Employment practices

How you recruit, train, and support employees creates social value. Can you create more opportunities for people facing barriers to employment? Can you increase investment in apprenticeships and trainee schemes? Can you offer fair pay and good working conditions that set standards for your sector?

Design and delivery decisions

From the materials you specify to the processes you use, countless operational decisions affect social and environmental outcomes. Can you reduce carbon emissions through different approaches to logistics or manufacturing? Can you design for longevity and recyclability? Can you engage local labour in project delivery?

Community engagement

The quality of relationships with communities where you operate affects outcomes. Moving beyond consultation to genuine co-design and partnership can increase the relevance and impact of your activities while building trust and local support.

 

Innovate and collaborate

Some opportunities to increase social value require new approaches or working with others.

Develop new models

Could you pilot new ways of working that create additional value? This might be partnerships with social enterprises, investment in community benefit structures, or development of products and services specifically designed to address social or environmental challenges.

Collaborate

Many social and environmental challenges are too large for individual organisations to tackle alone. Collaboration with others in your sector, with public sector partners, or with community organisations can unlock impact that wouldn’t be possible working independently.

Learn from others

Look at what leading organisations in your sector or adjacent fields are doing. What innovations could you adapt to your context? What partnerships or approaches have created demonstrable impact that you could replicate or build on?

 

Build capability

Increasing social value requires capability across your organisation.

Training and awareness

Ensure teams understand what social value means, why it matters, and how they can contribute. This might involve formal training, toolkits and guidance, or creating communities of practice where people can share learning.

Systems and processes

Build social value into existing systems rather than treating it as separate. Integrate social value considerations into project planning, procurement processes, performance management, and reporting frameworks.

Leadership commitment

Increasing social value needs visible leadership support. When senior leaders champion social value, allocate resources, and hold the organisation accountable for performance, it signals that this is a priority and creates permission for others to act.

Measure and iterate

As you work to increase social value, measurement becomes even more important. It tells you whether your efforts are working and where to adjust.

Track progress against your targets. Understand what’s driving outcomes and what barriers you’re facing. Be prepared to adapt your approach based on evidence. And celebrate successes—recognising progress builds momentum and reinforces commitment.

 

The compound effect

The most significant increases in social value often come not from single initiatives but from multiple small improvements across many areas of your operations that compound over time.

A slight shift in procurement practices here, better employment support there, improved environmental performance, stronger community engagement—individually these might seem modest, but collectively they can transform your overall social value profile.

The key is to start, to be intentional about improvement, and to maintain momentum. Increasing social value is a journey, not a destination. There will always be more you could do. The question is whether you’re moving in the right direction and increasing your positive contribution over time.

 

Ready to measure your impact?

Whether you’re looking to strengthen your social value reporting, improve your tender submissions, or simply understand the difference you’re already making, we’re here to help. Get in touch today.