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Well Formed Outcomes
Well formed outcomes are derived from the working through of a set questions that generate a well formed outcome. This is what this fact sheet lays out. When you have thought them through, then your outcome will be realistic, achievable and motivating. These conditions apply best to individual outcomes for individual projects.
Positive: What do you want?
Outcomes are expressed in the positive. This is not to be confused with positive thinking or positive in the sense of being good for you (a value judgement). Positive in this sense means directed towards something you want rather than away from something you wish to avoid.
1. Ask, ‘What do I want?’ not ‘What do I not want, or want to avoid?’
For example losing weight or giving up smoking are negative outcomes, which may partly explain why they are hard to achieve. Reducing waste, reducing fixed costs and losing fewer key staff are also negative outcomes.
How do you turn a negative into a positive outcome? By asking: ‘What do I want instead and ‘What will this do for me?’
2. Evidence: How will you know you are succeeding/will have succeeded?
It is important to know you are on track for your outcome. You need the right feedback in the right quantity and it needs to be accurate. When you set an outcome you must think how you will measure the progress and with what degree of precision. There are two kinds of evidence:
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Feedback as you progress towards the outcome.
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Evidence for having achieved the outcome.
Questions to ask:
How will I know that I am on course towards my outcome? What am I going to measure?
3. Specifics: Where, when and with whom?
Where do you want the outcome? Where specifically? There may be places and situations where you do not want it. You may want to increase productivity but only in certain departments. You may want to buy another house but only if interest rates remain as they are. Three questions to ask are:
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Where specifically do I want this?
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When specifically do I want this?
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In what context do I want this?
4. Resources: What resources do you have?
List your resources. They will fall into five categories, some more relevant than others, depending on your outcome:
Objects. Examples would be office equipment, buildings and technology. There may be books you can read, television and video programmes you can see, tapes you can listen to you can you can listen to.
People. For example, family, friends acquaintances, your business colleagues, other business contacts.
Role Models. Do you know anyone who has already succeeded in getting the outcome? Whom can you talk to? Has someone written about their experience?
Personal Qualities. What qualities do you have or need to develop to achieve the outcome? Think of all your personal skills and capabilities.
Money. Do you have enough money/budget? Can you raise enough?
5. Control: Can you start and maintain this outcome?
How much is under your direct control? What do you have to do and what do others have to do to do to get to this outcome? Who will help you? How can you motivate them to actually want to help you rather than feeling they have to help you? Ask:
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What can I do directly to get this outcome?
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How I can persuade others to help me? What I can offer them that will make them want to help?
6. Ecology: What are the wider consequences?
What time and effort will this outcome need? Everything has an opportunity cost.
Who else is affected and how will they feel? Take different perspectives. In your business life consider your boss, your customers, your suppliers and the people you manage. In your personal life consider your spouse, friends and your children. When you think of the ecology of the outcome, you may want to change it or think of a different way to get it.
What will you have to give up when you achieve this outcome. It is said that you can have everything you want if you are prepared to pay for it. What is the true cost?
What is good about the present situation? What do you want to keep? Losing valuable aspects of the present situation is the greatest resistance to change both for individuals and organisations.
What else could happen when you get this outcome? There are always secondary consequences and sometimes these become more of a problem than the initial situation.
7. Identity: Is this outcome in keeping with who you are?
You can apply this at both the individual and organisational level. First the individual level.
Suppose you want to manage a project or business unit. This involvement might mean a great deal of time away from home and rescheduling other priorities it also might take you away from your main career path. Although you would like to be involved on balance it does not suit you.
Ask yourself the question what does this project accomplish for me? If the answer is to gain valuable experience, then there might be other projects or training and consulting that would deliver the same value.
The same is true of organisations. Each company has a certain culture and set of core values. Company outcomes needs to be aligned with this corporate self.
8. How do your outcomes fit together?
How do you eat an elephant? One bit at a time.
If the outcome is too large, list all the obstacles that prevent you from getting it and set smaller outcomes to get over these barriers. Ask? What prevents me from achieving this outcome?
When the outcome is too small to be motivating and you feel bogged down with details ask yourself, ‘What does this small outcome get for me? Connect the details to the larger, more motivating outcome of which it is part.
9. Action Plan. What to do next?
Once you have put your plan through these questions, then you are ready to act, or perhaps delegate. When delegating in a business project, give your people the wider picture, so that they can connect with the larger picture. Help them think through outcomes for themselves. This will help align their tasks with yours.
Remember the story of the two builders? Both were asked what they were doing. The first said ‘’I am laying bricks’ The second said ‘I am building a wonderful building’
Which builder was more motivated and worked better.
