How to Achieve Team Goals by Focusing on Outcomes vs. Output

Are you on track to accomplish the goals you set out for this year?

For most, we wholeheartedly intend to reach our goals and hit our targets.

The reality?

Well, we get busy, fly by the seat of our pants, and hope everything works itself out.

This hopeful attitude and lack of structure leave us to focus on completing large quantities of work, regardless of whether it’s relevant to the larger picture.

The natural assumption is that the more work you do, the more you will achieve.

Leaders fall into this trap and focus on the quantity of work being done rather than the results that need to be produced.

If you’re finding yourself hitting a wall when it comes to goal setting and focusing on results, follow these 4 steps that will help you and your team hit your goals 👇:

Step #1: Understand the Difference: Outcomes vs. Output

Working for the sake of doing work doesn’t always provide a benefit.

Your best chance for repeatable success is for you to be able to think strategically about pieces of work and how they play into the overall picture.

This means quality and focused work gets you further than random work with no direction.

Step #2 Find an Objective

When it comes time to plan quarterly or yearly goals, whether department or personal, your first step is to start off with an objective above all else.

You can’t hit a target you can’t see - so get crystal clear on what you and the team are trying to achieve.

Step #3 Measure Key Results

Once you have that objective in place, you’ll need to determine how you will be measuring progress.

You can measure progress by tracking a concept known as key results.

Key results will be any metric or value that can be tracked and used to measure how close you are to your objective.

Step #4 Determine Your Actions

Take an opportunity to brainstorm with your team about what you’ll need to do in order to hit your key results and get closer to your objective.

This can be a list of specific action items that can be aligned to each member of your team.

Follow these 4 steps today and watch how your managers and colleagues will start to notice the new strategy and impact your future work will hold.

Keep on learning - Josh

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