For this service product, Sweet Livity™ provides a unique combination of holistic, customized wellness and capacity building services to support leaders across all types of organizations and businesses to have a greater impact on the vulnerable communities in which they operate.
a) reimagining and restructuring their business models to be more sustainable for workers and to generate greater profits and impact; and,
b) cooperating across their businesses for greater collective power and impact to influence policy and generate more equitable economic development in vulnerable communities.
Sweet Livity™ applies an “Above and Below the Green Line” framework for business model assessment, planning, development and transformation (shown below, adapted from the work of Margaret Wheatley and others).
The three elements above the green line (structure, pattern/plan, process) address system infrastructure and the elements “below the green line” (e.g., identity, information, relationship/ connection) address cultural infrastructure. We support businesses to pay attention to both aspects of their infrastructure:
Above the green line (Systems Infrastructure)
Structure includes human resources (staff, personnel), materials (supplies, money and other), and machine, (equipment, facilities, and physical environment).
Pattern/Plan includes goals, objectives, standards, and laws.
Process includes procedures, methods, and practices (ways of working).
Attention to systems infrastructure supports clients to ensure they deliver on their strategic objectives.
Below the green Line (Cultural Infrastructure)
Information includes the communication of information, who has access to information and how information is disseminated.
Relationships/Connections addresses how people and various work units are linked, and the types of collaboration.
Identity addresses how key participants feel about their role in the organization/ system, including behavior, attitudes and types of support needed.
Attention to cultural infrastructure supports clients to develop a working environment that ensures everyone has the information, support and validation they need to do their best work.
Why a focus on Business Care?
Neither self-care nor community care adequately addresses growing economic disparities for many workers and leaders who live in households and communities with more limited resources and services.
Our work supporting nonprofits to become more entrepreneurial, encouraging cooperative business efforts among B Corps and other companies for collective impact, and cultivating greater equitable economic investment into our businesses and within the vulnerable communities where we operate inspired Sweet Livity™ to begin offering this service product.
This work is based on the value of interdependence and supporting businesses of all types to successfully fulfill their missions to serve vulnerable and underserved communities. Sweet Livity™ supports clients to stabilize their operations, increase revenue, and better leverage the talents of their members and constituents to provide services of value to the constituents and communities they serve.
Services may range from business model assessment, strategic planning and re-design, to training and coaching on civic engagement, partnership development and mobilization of resources (time, money, talent, connections) to support a client’s efforts.
An example of our work in this area is serving as an anchor business within Accelerator South Dade, supporting the success of business leaders operating for profit and nonprofit ventures serving communities in South Miami Dade County. Or supporting a local business to assess its operations in support of its efforts to become a certified B Corp.
Results
Business care services support clients to learn and apply culturally-based approaches and tools for business effectiveness and well-being towards the following results:
- Strengthen the systems and cultural infrastructure capacity of an organization or system to define and achieve its goals.
- Improve effectiveness and sustainability to serve the community.
- Diversify the resources (people, money, relationships) mobilized successfully to support the work.
- Increase the number and sustainability of diverse collaborations tackling social problems.
- More small businesses obtain eligibility to be certified as a benefit corporation.
- Expand visibility of the B Corp movement, documenting and sharing the benefits of doing business with a triple bottom line approach to generate profit while also helping people and the planet.