Focus on the end, not the means: avoiding the trap of activity-focused goals

GOOOOOOOOOLLLLL! No, not that type of gol. But a gol and your program goals are similar in that everything is structured around achieving that goal, or gol. To evaluate your initiative, you must first know what you want to accomplish. Sounds simple, right? If you manage a program promoting some kind of social benefit, you’ve probably had to write up some goals at some point. However, many fall into the trap of setting activity-focused goals: “Hold three webinars. Host a meeting with 100 participants. Onboard 500 new clients.” If you outline activities before the goal, it’s easy to end up with goals focused on activities rather than on your organization’s mission. Building a strong initiative requires defining a goal and then building out activities to reach that goal.

So what’s the issue with activity-focused goals?

While they can be useful in measuring the progress of your initiative, they limit your ability to assess whether your initiative was a success — whether it had the effect that you hoped for. Focusing goals purely on activities — sometimes referred to process measures or outputs — limits the energy you can spend on long-range planning and strategic thinking, which are required to address issues, like poverty, health, the environment. Without a true, outcome-focused goal, you may end up spending your precious resources on well-intentioned, though ineffective, solutions.

If you’ve been setting activity-focused goals until now, have no fear! This is a common practice and still an important part of the evaluation process. To shift to setting outcome-focused goals, try asking yourself a couple key questions:

1. Can you clearly state your outcome-focused goal before outlining your program activities?

I’ve observed program directors outline all their activities — which may include webinars, meetings, educational sessions, and yes, more meetings — and then throw the goal in haphazardly at the end. Setting your outcome-focused goal before diving into your activities helps ensure that your efforts align with what you want to achieve, instead of just the means to an end.

2. Does your goal align with what your customer truly needs?

Businesses that do well solve a particular “pain point” for their customer. As a small business, I don’t want to spend hours putting together tedious accounting reports (my pain), so I am happy to purchase software that automatically creates reports for me. As someone who dislikes shopping for clothes, I will gladly pay for a subscription clothing service that delivers clothes in my style and size right to my door. Note that watching a webinar on how to create accounting reports or search for bargains on stylish clothes would not help me in the same way, if at all. Have you ever thought, “What I could really use is more webinars in my life?” I understand that these are #firstworldproblems, but the same “pain solving” mentality can apply to organizations serving community and environmental needs.

Regardless of industry or sector, it’s essential to understand your clients, constituents, community — whoever is the equivalent of your “customer.” Before you write your goals, take a look at your customers’ true wants and needs. What do they struggle with and what can you do to alleviate stress, anxiety, or hardship associated with this struggle?


I’d like to thank Martiza and Giovanna at LiMon, LLC for their tips on communicating with clients by understanding their “pain points.”

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Alison Mendoza-Walters

Written by

Consultant on using data for social change | avid traveler, bicyclist, and nomnomnivore | lifelong learner | new mom | www.publichealthimpact.com

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