I2I’s 5 Love Languages of Social Impact

Here at Intention 2 Impact, social impact measurement is more than an art and science, it is truly a labor of love! In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we had a little too much fun concocting our “5 love languages” that show up in our work.

If you aren’t familiar with the term “love languages,” it is a concept developed by the author Gary Chapman in his 1992 book, The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate. The book offers five general categories of how we prefer to give and receive love/care, and there is even a quiz you can take to identify your primary and secondary love languages! According to Chapman, the 5 languages are: words of affirmation, quality times, acts of service, physical touch, and gifts.

So without further ado, we present I2I’s 5 Love Languages!

Words of Affirmation

At I2I, we ensure that our clients’ learning and strategy needs are seen, heard, understood, and acted upon. First, we get to know our clients by partaking in a “listening tour” to hear from folks across the organization to get to know their culture and capacity for MERL (monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning). Then, we develop a custom-fit MERL framework that affirms their learning agenda and evaluation priorities in a way that is driven by use, guided by core values, and aligned with their intended impact.

Quality Time

Quality time means giving our clients our undivided attention (which is easy to do because they are all a joy to co-create with). At I2I we prioritize the process of building trust and rapport with our clients throughout every stage of the project. When it comes to relationships, we prioritize quality over quantity — so we are thoughtful about how we facilitate conversations and make the most of our engagements. Rather than thinking “that meeting could’ve been an email,” we strive for, “that meeting felt like a celebration!”

Acts of Service

Utilization-focused evaluation is a cornerstone of I2I’s approach to evaluation. This lens allows us to ensure that our work is useful and aligned with the informational needs of our clients. More often than not, we have found that our MERL Frameworks are excellent tools to weave learning and strategy across various facets of an organization — from program teams, to fundraising, development, communications, leadership, and human resources. In this way, MERL serves the needs of an entire organization — rather than a one-time project to check a box.

(Virtual) Touch

A key component of I2I’s MERL work is getting up close and personal with data! Whether it is quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods data, we love getting our hands dirty in data as a way to strengthen our connection to the work at hand. This often means connecting the dots between a multitude of data sources at various levels of a system, including programs, portfolios, networks, public opinion, and more.

Giving Gifts

There are few things better than gifts that keep giving. At I2I, we have a penchant for crafting customized and compelling deliverables to give our clients the gift of continuous learning. Our deliverables take on many formats and styles, depending on the needs and preferences of our clients. This past year our deliverables have taken the shape of blogs, videos, presentations, slide decks, case studies, reports, websites, and more!

For us, it’s impossible to pick just one of these 5 love languages as our favorite; we truly view all of them as critical to showing up for our clients with authenticity and credibility.

What about you? How do the five “love languages” show up in your work? After all, love is a two-way street! :)