Skip to content

Manage an ESE

Check out these resources that can help you manage the day-to-day work of running a successful ESE.

Welcome to the dynamic world of managing an Employment Social Enterprise (ESE), where each day presents intricate challenges and exciting opportunities. This phase of the journey requires a skillful approach to navigate through the complexities of day-to-day operations, scaling resources, and preserving the heart of your social mission.

Effective management is the linchpin that holds it all together. It means aligning your workforce, refining your processes, and optimizing your systems to meet the ever-evolving demands of running an ESE, all while ensuring that your organization’s unique social impact goals remain at the forefront of your operations.

As you steer your ESE towards success, adapting your strategies for leadership, communication, and stakeholder engagement is vital. These are the tools that will assist your ESE’s social impact while facilitating sustainable growth. It’s about leading with purpose, communicating your mission effectively, and engaging with stakeholders who share your commitment to making a difference.

Managing an ESE is a balancing act—a dance between the world of business and the realm of social impact. It’s a journey that demands resilience, innovation, and an unwavering dedication to your mission. But it’s also a journey that’s incredibly rewarding, as you witness the positive change your ESE brings to individuals and communities.

So, welcome to the world of managing an Employment Social Enterprise, where every challenge is an opportunity, and where your leadership will shape the future of your organization and the lives it touches. Together, we can continue to build a world where social good and sustainable growth go hand in hand. Get ready to lead, inspire, and make a lasting impact.

Resources For Your Journey

Showing 11 to 20 of 47 posts
7 minutes | Employee Success Program | Grow a Social Enterprise

What does it mean to be “job ready”?

The participant worker’s “job readiness” can be thought of as the combination of three areas for professional and personal development: soft skills, hard skills, and personal readiness.
3 minutes | Employee Success Program | Grow a Social Enterprise

Job Readiness Assessment Tool

The tool establishes a threshold for essential skills and personal readiness for social enterprise employees ready to move into competitive employment. The standards are compelling because they are designed to measure workers’ on-the-job performance, rather than a measurement of inputs or test-based performance.
4 minutes | Employee Success Program | Grow a Social Enterprise

Retention Bonuses and Earnings Supplements

Retention bonuses and earnings supplements support the employee supports strategy of incentivizing success by rewarding employees for the long term retention of employment outside of the social enterprise.
3 minutes | Employee Success Program | Grow a Social Enterprise

Employee Retention Deep Dive

Service providers and program managers want to see their participants thrive on their employment pathway and record positive impact metrics on the effectiveness of their program. Social Enterprises can approach this phase in two primary ways: tracking and continued services.
10 minutes | Employee Success Program | Grow a Social Enterprise

Effective Employee Retention Strategies

This deep dive summarizes some key research and strategies on employee retention originally shared by Richard Hendra from MDRC.
13 minutes | Growth Planning | Grow a Social Enterprise

Growing a Social Enterprise: The Vision Stage

This resource provides key operational, social, and financial criteria a social enterprise should consider when deciding how to grow. Social enterprise executive teams who are evaluating the potential of a growth strategy should review this resource and develop their own set of venture criteria.
8 minutes | Growth Planning | Grow a Social Enterprise

Core Drivers of Success: Growth Capital

Growth Capital is enterprise-level funding or investment that builds the capacity for business expansion and strategic planning. Growth Capital provides social enterprises with the space for deep reflection before tackling the next step in their plan to scale.