5 Questions Towards More Meaninful Outcomes
There are plenty of business goals that can be achieved without meaningful impact to the business. In other words, you can do everything right towards executing those goals without any real lasting impact.
That distinction can be a difference between standard business goals and meaningful outcomes. While many of us work in results oriented environments, many leaders don't pause to ask whether they are focused on meaningful, high-impact outcomes.
A large part of truly effective leadership is focusing on the right things. The few priorities that are most important to the mission & vision of your organization.
Today, I'm sharing five questions you and your leadership team can ask to help maintain a focus on high-value outcomes over arbitrary results. The questions are meant to be used together, as asking only one is more likely to still lead you astray. Of course, tensions will surface between the answers to different questions. How you navigate those will depend on the context of your situation but these questions help to get that conversation oriented towards meaningful value.
Who on the outside…
Who on the outside does this impact?
This first question is meant to orient you towards the right audience. Often times this is going to be a client, consumer or customer. It could also be communities, constituents, investors, shareholders and others.
Keep in mind that even internal investments often help build capabilities for greater external value. Looking at the big picture here will help take you beyond more linear ways of thinking.
If the project or goal that you are contemplating has zero impact on external stakeholders, it's likely an internal measure. That's not to say that you shouldn't still pursue it but it is worth asking whether there is an outcome focused metric available instead.
What value…
In what way does this add value for those external audiences?
Once you've identified who is impacted, you want to get specific with how and why the effort is valuable to them. This is not as simple as an additional available feature or product. You want to go deeper. What problem does this solve for them? How does this improve their day-to-day experience?
This helps further shift the focus from tasks, products and services to customer behavior, value creation and long-term impact.
Consider all major external impacts to ensure you're thinking about this as thoroughly as possible. For instance, a move that increases shareholder value at the expense of the customer trust is a short-term gain with damaging long-term results.
What will it mean…
How will things be different in one year, three years, five years, as a result of this goal?
This question is helpful for gauging long-term or lasting value. Is this a reactionary goal that won't matter in a year or is pursuing this objective the next best step for achieving our long-term vision?
It also prompts you to consider what the external conditions will be in that future. The world is constantly evolving so it's not enough that we simply try to solve today's problems. We need to think about how the work we are planning aligns with our predictions and visions for the future.
What if we don't…
What would happen if we didn't do this?
If your team elects not to pursue this, what is the likely outcome? Will it make it impossible to achieve your mission and vision or would it actually free you up to focus on your top priorities? Is it mission critical or a nice to have?
A large part of strategy is choosing what not to work on. This isn't as simple as good ideas vs. bad ideas. Bad ideas are easy to say no to. The challenge here is choosing to say no to good ideas in order to pursue truly great work.
What one thing…
What one thing has the most meaningful impact on your business?
The thing that if done well, would make everything else easier or unnecessary. Asking this question doesn't mean you say no to absolutely everything else but it does invite you to consider how the effort in front of you aligns with your one thing or whether time spent on this would be better allocated to that same core priority.
This Week's Action Items:
Take some time to document your team's strategic goals and major initiatives.
Pull your leadership team together for a strategic discussion.
For each of the items, run through each of these questions.
Based on the answers to those questions, determine which of your goals and efforts are driving meaningful outcomes and which are not.
Consider re-prioritizing your goals and efforts accordingly.
