A community agreeing their guiding principles: Stone Soup code of ethics
Written by Rowena Hennigan, Communications Officer
Day to day I check in with my professional behaviours, that is, my internal guide with my standards, my morals for business behaviours. That is my own validation, my own internal test on how to behave (or how to try to behave). As one person, it is a relatively simple exchange! So, how did a socially-driven international organisation like Stone Soup Consulting gain consensus on their moral principles and create clear guidelines on their community behaviour?
The Stone Soup Consulting code of ethics was published this month. The result of 16 months of consultation, involving the whole community of “stone-soupers”, it is a remarkable achievement (involving more than 50 consultants, based across 9 countries). An outsider can dip into this document and get a view into the soul of Stone Soup, an insight into their ethos, philosophy and integrity. This code serves as the basis for inquiries, ethical debates and/or dilemmas on the community’s professional practice. In summary, it guides and advises action and behaviours, underpinning their organisational culture.
Introducing Stone Soup Consulting
Stone Soup Consulting is all about maximising social value. A socially-driven international company whose mission is to help optimise strategy creation and implementation for organisations so that they achieve their greatest social impact. This mission is realised in a highly collective and collaborative set of processes, using a wide range of independent social consultants, who make up the Stone Soup community. All of the community work remotely (coming together in person on client sites to deliver project), therefore explicit and clear communication is paramount in all community interactions. What better way to strengthen and unite this community than to create clear set of ethics and guidelines for behaviour. Stone Soup Consulting is also a certified B Corp and in 2018, it was recognised by B Lab as one of the Best B Corps for the world in the customers category.
Successful social business planning with Stone Soup
A social business plan can help identify your project's strong and weak points. It can prioritise actions, show its competitive advantage and analyse the profile of your desired client/ customer.
A social business plan can help you reflect on new products and services and how much you can charge for them.
It will help you take decisions in an objective, strategic and coherent way.
Stone Soup can support you in the process of building your plan. Do you want to know how?
Project & Organisation Selection Processes
Do you need support for a project or organisation selection process? Are you a corporate foundation, maybe a NGO or institution with an interest in making a selection of projects? We can help you achieve your goal!
What can we do?
- Assist in establishing the selection criteria for projects and proposals
- Train the jury and team members in charge of carrying out the assessment
- Draft, design and produce all the selection processes' documents and supporting communication materials
- Conduct the analysis of applications and proposals based on previously established criteria
- Design and deliver participative selection processes
- Support the decision making process with technical visits and reports for the jury’s selection
A meaningful path
March 19th 2019
By Liliana Dias,
Human Resources consultant at Stone Soup Consulting
This month, we aim to celebrate with you the International Day of Happiness on March 20th. As a society, we have become more and more focused and even almost obsessed with the search for happiness in our lives, relationships, work and organiSations. Several psychologists define happiness as a state of comfort and ease, i.e., feeling good in the moment. Many research studies coming from Positive Psychology have shown that searching for a continuous state of comfort and ease actually leaves us unhappier and unfulfilled.
True fulfillment of people actually, research founds, comes from meaning.
L’entreprise sociale : utopie solitaire ou futur de l’entreprise?
Par Sophie Chauliac, consultante chez Stone Soup.
Les entreprises sociales en Europe font de plus en plus parler d’elles. Si le secteur est effectivement en pleine ébullition, il reste difficile de mesurer son développement car la définition d’une entreprise sociale varie selon les pays. Même à l’échelle nationale, le concept d’entreprise sociale se décline sous des formes multiples et suscite le débat. Cette diversité, qui témoigne de la fécondité et du dynamisme de l’entrepreneuriat social, est aussi la source d’un manque de lisibilité qui freine son développement. Coup de projecteur sur les acteurs de l’écosystème de l’entrepreneuriat social en Espagne, au Portugal et en France.
Avec ou sans but lucratif ?
La première question qui se pose est celle du modèle économique des entreprises sociales, en particulier en France, en Espagne et au Portugal, où l’économie sociale et solidaire est fortement implantée et où il peut être culturellement difficile de concilier le social et la viabilité économique.
Leire Vega est chargée de communication chez Unlimited Spain, un accélérateur de start-ups qui encourage l’innovation dans les domaines de la ville durable, de la santé et de l’agroalimentaire. Elle explique que « UnLtd évalue les entreprises à l’aune de leur impact social. Nous sommes convaincus que la viabilité financière en est un élément clé, c’est pourquoi notre programme n’est pas destiné aux ONGs ». Depuis le début de ses opérations en Espagne il y a trois ans, Unlimited Spain a soutenu plus de 50 entreprises sociales. La quasi-totalité d’entre elles sont des sociétés à responsabilité limitée.
Pour d’autres organisations, les définitions ne sont pas aussi tranchées et il existe une zone grise. C’est le cas de la fondation française Entreprendre&Plus, qui elle aussi soutient des entrepreneurs sociaux. Félicie Goyet, Directrice de projet, raconte que la sélection des projets fait parfois débat au sein même de l’équipe : « ce que nous regardons, c’est le potentiel des entreprises en termes d’impact social et leur capacité à se développer en ne dépendant pas uniquement de dons et de subventions ». Mais tout dépend de ce qu’on entend par « uniquement ». Elle ajoute « la maximisation de l’impact social passe avant les profits, mais n’empêche pas d’en générer ! ».