My name is Karolina Harazim and this is the story of the first 100 days of Social Impact Manager role at Admind.
Social Impact is a field of numerous ambitions, vital challenges, and metrics to obtain (or avoid). Social Impact at Admind is about results, expecting improvement, delivering and establishing longterm change. So, as time is a vital element of effectivity, let’s take a look at the subject through the lens of the universal language of timeline.
Day 1: Adventure
My first days were focused on learning of and about the organisation. Onboarding, the whirlwind of names and roles, departments and Teams. Taking over processes on the go, collecting data, doing research for the ongoing projects. A lot, to say the least. But all settled into place surprisingly fast – and I myself felt fitting in smoothly. Belonging, community and togetherness are important elements of Admind’s work ethos. I was happy that my initial intuitive feel of what was to come was indeed correct. I felt “at home” here. With all the people – and pets! – around, at the Office, alive and lively. Since Day 1 this was – and is – my favourite way to be: present, observing, and engaged.
Day 7: Cooperation
Those first days soon turned into weeks. Time of going through gigabytes of data, doing research and establishing networks, learning Admind ways and setting priorities – as well as keeping myself in check so as not to try and do all the exciting stuff, NOW! As I come from a freelance and art & culture management background, learning the internal communication system and methodology was a task I took very seriously.
And I did stumble a few times initially. When I did deliver a presentation, aligned with Admind branding and style of communication, to introduce myself in person globally, to the whole Team in all our Offices, it was truly exciting. It gave me an opportunity to speak about what has already been done at Admind, where does the Social Impact Manager role come from, and what will come along with my arriving at the structure. I presented the idea, and the use for it: support in research, advisory on options, different perspective, knowledge & experience. Lively feedback from the Team was both a pleasure, and a promise of collaborative action – all the more brilliant as I see Social Impact as done together.
Day 30: Kindness
In the weeks that followed, Social Impact developed into a voice of clear source. Broadcasted through a newly set up dedicated channel on our internal communication tool, Slack, allowing for a variety of informative, inspirational, sometimes surprising messages I send to our Team every week (the number of messages sent out via #socialimpact being around 50 at this point) – and ownership: me.
Discussions instilled on Slack inspire further moves, and prove the need for this type of exchange and connection. You may now easily find texts published by me or with my involvement on our Admind blog as there is a Social Impact filter there now. Publications record and present what has been done (such as the case of Admind’s Team help for Ukraine – both towards our Team members from Odesa Office, as well as repetitive general aid and financial donations & delivering goods), and what the vision is and what can be done (such as the interview with Mateusz and myself by Szymon Dyrlaga, on company’s focus on Social Impact).
50 days: Satisfaction
One of the tasks I took on are the Theme Months. Community building activities were important and deeply rooted in everyday life at Admind long before I appeared. The goal is to present values, challenges, and issues along with practical solutions. Alternatives and benefits come from implementing even the smallest habits and changes.
- Bike May – encouraging to drop cars in favour of two wheels, awarding those who climbed Mount Everest with their cycling mileage);
- June, globally recognised as Pride Month, presenting useful knowledge, i.e. LGBTQIA marketing and inclusive communication webinars;
- No Plastic July, presenting the scale of single use plastics’ presence in everyday life, the risks of that – and the practical alternatives; then
- AugustFlow – focused on water, its benefits, importance and global scarcity came at a time of fierce drought and Oder River pollution catastrophe in Poland, making it all the more “here and now”;
- September, Paper vs. Digital Theme Month, is where we discuss passion for what’s physical, our sentiments and biases towards both media as designers, and our presumptions regarding the footprint of technology.
Theme Months are gaining momentum, entering a phase of a dedicated Key Visual completion soon, identifying particular elements of the monthly changing focus, but still presented in a community created series aimed at raising awareness and exchanging opinions.
Day 70: Trust
One of the tools I equipped Social Impact is a dedicated Survey. I crafted a set of questions, which – when answered – allow for knowing more on the Team’s outlook and insight (as Social Impact is done together). 40 voices came back – not satisfying in the least, and I do hope to make the score better next time round. But the answers I did get were indeed GOLD. Insightful and engaged, those made me feel yet again that we’re all connected in our sensitivity to the world around us, and our striving to do better as Admind is a shared goal. I already used the answers to the Survey when designing the Theme Months programme and 2022 Collaboration Week workshop I held during this yearly edu / social feast we held in Krakow just recently.
90 days: Partnership
Throughout this time the major pillar of my Social Impact Manager role is the B Corp certification process. Commenced in 2021, in May 2022 had me join in in full stride. This thorough and detailed audit screens a variety of elements of the company’s everyday operations in five major sections: Workers, Community, Governance, Environment, and Clients. Joining the Team meant diving into the core of Admind’s being, the data and the stories, due to our B Corp’s intense certification process. I participate in it representing Admind alongside CEO & Partner Mateusz Zabierowski.
Our quest for certification and obtaining the best results we can is a great challenge, as well as a privilege. E-mails exchanged, meetings held, research done and delivered, analysed and planned upon – it’s all a constant process, roadmap for growth and a magnifying glass of what we can (and will) do better. And when we get the certificate it will only be – in a way – the very beginning.
100 days, and onwards: Admind
And here I am. The first over 100 days on. This amount of time might seem like both forever, and a very short moment. How was it for me? Entering an organisation developing dynamically, going forward at full speed, taking over a field nestled deep in the company’s DNA, and dear to the hearts of all of those involved, which I fell very passionate about and engages a number of my skills – it all made time fly.
We have just finished our annual Collaboration Week and Camp when our Teams get together to work and be together. Thus I am freshly out of yet another level of integrating Admind’s spirit and understanding of “time”, “change”, “cooperation”, “creativity”, “action”, “agency”, “community”, “impact”, or “improvement” and “growth”. And proposing my own. Aiming for more and better. Learning constantly. Delivering on the tasks I have been handed with. Operating through networking and establishing new connections. Creating space for discussion and going after important questions. Introducing socially impactful ideas and concepts to the Team, observing voices and possible directions of development – I look forward to what is to come.