Unlock the full capability of your team with two simple words

Ask yourself a simple question to unlock the full capability of your team. And they will thank you for trusting them.

Outputs to Outcomes: So What?

In the industrial revolution, output was everything. Process-based work and manufacturing unlocked huge growth for companies who could harness scale to increase output.

But in case you hadn't noticed, the world has changed a bit since the industrial revolution.

Organisations in today's knowledge economy can only grow by harnessing innovation and the intellectual capital of their people. The balance of power has shifted from Outputs to Outcomes. The most successful businesses today work towards a 'Why' rather than a 'What'.

Definitions: Outcomes & Outputs

Outcomes are the 'Why'. They are ultimately what the business is trying to achieve.

Outputs are the 'What'. They are activities or projects that (may) contribute to the achievement of an Outcome.

Let's look at an example. Imagine you are the CEO of Mega, a new ride sharing service for electric skateboards.

You know that satisfied customers take more trips, advocate for your app among their friends and therefore deliver better yield. So you want to kick off a project to increase customer satisfaction.

The Outcome you're trying to achieve is to improve customer satisfaction.

The Outputs you might consider to achieve this outcome could be to invest in more skateboards, expand into an e-bike service, or add a new feature on the app that teaches customers how to do tandem tricks as they skate.

The problem with focusing on Outputs instead of Outcomes

1. We are never 100% sure whether a given output will deliver the outcome in mind. Mega could add the new MyTricks feature which customers hate, and actually go backwards against the outcome!
2. Focusing on outputs greatly limits the innovation and creativity of your people. Emem Adjah, Former Global Head of Monetisation at Spotify explains: “What I like to illustrate to my team is: here's the destination. I don't care if you walk, swim, fly, roll to the destination … You’re going to pick the best, most efficient way to get there.”

How to get to Outcomes from your Outputs

If you’re currently stuck focusing on outputs, there’s an easy way to elevate your thinking and look at outcomes.

Ask yourself one question: So What?

Take the output you’re looking at and try to unpack the reasons Why you are delivering that output. Example time:

A marketing team is set a target to produce 10 blog posts per month (a nice juicy output).

So what? Is writing 11 posts better than writing 10? How long do the articles need to be? What’s a blog?

The underlying ‘So What’ behind this target is to help grow the presence and audience of the brand online. Let’s focus on that. Our outcome is: Grow our online audience to 1,000 followers this month.

Then it’s up to the marketing team (i.e. the experts) to figure out the best way to achieve that outcome. Is it a podcast? Infographic? Video content?

By asking yourself So What? and moving from output to outcome you’ll unlock the full capability of your teams (and they’ll thank you for trusting them).

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