Today’s world is heavily weighted towards outputs, producing widgets, building roads, shipping software, scoring runs, winning races. This is not surprising given that outputs are what you can sell, what consumers value, what shareholders want, what individuals desire. One of the reasons for this is that outputs can be easily measured, you can count the widgets produced, the number of kilometres of road built, the gross profits made, the winning margin.
And that makes sense, because businesses can measure and report on outputs, they can measure improvements based on outputs, they can justify decisions to hire or fire staff based on outputs. People can measure themselves against others based on how fast they are or how many points they scored.
Measuring outcomes is a whole different story, outcomes are not as easily quantified, they are somewhat intrinsic, and the results are measured in degrees of change or the success of an initiative. Outcomes drive change, outcomes change people’s way of thinking and doing things, outcomes that improve efficiencies in a business drive outputs from that business.
As a manager of an operational team, focusing on outputs will always be required, after all, you still need to produce whatever it is that you produce, the production line needs to keep moving, things still need to get built. And you will need to measure and monitor how well you are producing output to make sure you remain viable.
However, focusing solely on outputs without putting effort into outcomes is operating in the now and not planning for the future, it is a short-sighted way of managing that will ultimately limit the growth and value of your team.
Identifying outcomes is a key method of getting people to convert their thinking and to view challenges from another perspective. An outcome focus helps people visualise what their work situation could be, to realise how they could work smarter, how they could be better people.
You may not yet have all the right tools, methods, and processes to identify and measure outcomes, but that’s no reason not to start.