I’ll bet that title got your attention. Outcomes are irrelevant!? Heresy you say. Of course I’m not serious … or am I? Certainly, outcomes are important … aren’t they the primary thing that we plan for, strategize about, measure and rely upon? Have you have seen any strategic or tactical plan without outcomes defined, even if loosely? Have you ever seen sales managers encourage their sales team to do their best and not worry about the results or outcomes? Of course, it’s absurd to suggest that outcomes are irrelevant, but indeed that’s precisely what I’m doing. If you are open to a new way of looking at everything you do, then I encourage you to keep reading and to explore the underlying rationality of this “absurd” proposition.
Yes, outcomes and results are important AND they do matter. I am not suggesting otherwise. What I AM suggesting is that we need to finally understand and realize that ultimately we don’t control the outcomes and results. Since we don’t control them, then they are irrelevant and, instead of focusing all of our misguided energy on outcomes, we should focus our precious time and energy on the few things that we DO control: our thoughts, our mindsets and our actions.
We love to believe that we control outcomes, but the best we can do it seek to drive them, create them, or do our best with what we can control and hope that the desired outcomes will follow. We do not like to admit any lack of control, especially when it comes to important things like outcomes and results in our businesses. We want to believe that we control outcomes because it feeds our comfort zones. Those comfort zones desperately want to control our outcomes and futures. We say things like “failure is not an option” yet we know that failure is always a possibility whether big or small. We say that we can “make things happen,” but we don’t have the ultimate control of making things happen. We only have the ability to be at our individual and collective best in executing towards our desired outcomes. We assert that we are a leader that creates or drives results, but great leaders actually create or drive teams who execute well enough and fast enough to create the hoped for results. In the end, we control everything leading up to the outcomes except the actual outcomes.
Why does this matter? Why should we accept that the outcomes are out of our control? Because in doing so, in acknowledging that outcomes are beyond our control, we can now focus our critical control over the short list of things (thoughts, mindsets and actions) that we do control. Many clients who we work with spend most of their time setting goals (out of our control), declaring objectives (out of our control) and defining desired results (out of our control), but precious little time focused on the thinking, on the activities, or on the execution that are essential in order to create the most fertile ground from which our outcomes can spring forth. In doing so, we actually give up control over what matters most (the short list of things we can control) and we essentially rely upon hope as a strategy. Talk about unwittingly giving up control!
The most fundamental shortcoming that we have found with organizations are poor accountability and inconsistent execution (things that we do control), yet the core areas don’t get enough attention until we shine a bright light on them. This is because the organizations’ focus is on the outcomes and goals. When we focus on outcomes, what do we tell our sales people when the outcomes are coming up short of expectations: “do more, sell more.” But what exactly should they do be doing differently or better? No one knows because the focus and planning was around outcomes, not the execution activities that would take you to the brink of the desired outcomes. We don’t know what to do because outcomes are not an action. You can’t adjust outcomes nor can you adapt outcomes!
Regaining ultimate control over your business and your life involves three simple steps:
1. Acknowledgement that outcomes are out of your control;
2. Focused time and energies on the three things we do control (thoughts, mindsets and actions);
3. Creating a culture of accountability and relentless execution within your organization.
You may not control the outcomes, but you will take back control over the very few things that can lead you to the brink of your desired outcomes. Outcomes are irrelevant? Indeed they are!