How do you manage to outcomes?
Managers, ask yourselves: When I manage my team, when I hear status updates, when I give feedback — am I focusing on the outcome? Or am I getting too focused on the path to get to the outcome?
Managing to outcomes means focusing on the “what” instead of the “how.” It’s about focusing on the results versus how you get there.
One of the reasons that micromanagers are so frustrating is because they don’t manage to outcomes. They try to control the process as well as the outcome. This leads their team to feel that they’re not trusted and they’re not empowered to design their own plan.
Managing to outcomes is a powerful way to develop team members so they can grow their skills and work independently. It gives them more authority and autonomy with their own work.
How do you make the shift to managing to outcomes?
Start with these three steps:
- Understand the outcome
- Communicate the outcome
- Stay focused on the outcome
Understand the outcome
First, let’s understand what outcomes are:
Outcome = result you want to achieve
Tactics, process, activities, outputs = things you do to achieve that result
Outcomes are also slightly different from goals. Goals are more forward-thinking of what you hope to achieve, whereas outcomes reflect the actual result.
An example:
- Problem: Need to convince the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to make a decision on a branding strategy for a new product.
- Tactics & outputs: Market research studies, competitor analysis, slide deck proposal of strategy, presentation at monthly leadership meeting
- Outcome: CMO approves branding strategy.
In this case, the approval from the CMO is the outcome. That is what the manager should be managing to. The type of research, the length of preparation, the number of inputs, the amount of practice presentations — all of these can vary, and are at the discretion of the team member responsible for delivering the outcome.
As a manager, you should have an understanding of the tactics and outputs that go into delivering the outcome. But you can’t get so lost in the activities that you aren’t thinking about the outcome.
In the example above, the request might have come in from the CMO: “Can you prepare a presentation about the branding strategy?” Or from the VP of Marketing Strategy: “You’d better talk to the CMO because I’m not sure she is on board with the branding strategy.”
A presentation is not an outcome. A talk with the CMO is not an outcome. So ask yourself, “What do we need to achieve? What is the effect we want?” Make sure that you pause to ensure you truly know the end result you are looking for.
Communicate the outcome
When you give an assignment to someone on your team, frame it in terms of outcome.
Output framing: “Write a report that shows the data trends for the past 3 quarters with our small business customers. Use a graph. Include quotes from unhappy customers.”
Outcome framing: “Summarize the key challenges we’re facing with our small business customers.”
Both examples will likely result in a similar work product. But the second option gives your team member more autonomy and opportunity to determine the best approach. You’re still requesting a specific outcome, but they have more freedom to create something.
What if your team member is new and doesn’t quite know how to do it? What if they ask you to recommend an approach? In this case, of course you can brainstorm ideas with them or provide some guidance. Point them to examples of past work or useful resources. But make it clear that the “how” is their domain, and you are mainly concerned with the “what.”
How do you shift your thinking to better communicate outcomes?
- Prepare. Before talking to your team member, stop to think about what you really need from them. What are the key points? What are the must-haves?
- Set parameters. Stopping yourself from defining the “how” doesn’t mean there are no rules. There may be a hard deadline. Perhaps a specific format has been requested. You should always disclose key information. These are guardrails to keep them on the right track.
- Provide context. Understanding the reasons behind the outcome you’re looking for will help your team member to figure out the how. What value are we looking for? Is there a broader vision that this supports?
It’s also important to understand that the more prescriptive you are, the more you will limit their creativity. Think about the difference between these two statements:
“I need a car to drive to work.”
“I need a quick and efficient mode of transportation to work.”
Many people will read the second statement and immediately think of a car. But if the person making the statement lives in New York City, a car might not actually be the best answer. The outcome they need is a quick path to work. But if you start by limiting to only cars, your team member will assume that’s a required criteria they have to abide by.
Stay focused on the outcome
This is the hardest part. Understanding outcomes and communicating outcomes aren’t too difficult, once you try it a few times. But continuing to stick to focusing on the outcome as the work progresses is a lot more challenging.
There will be times you will absolutely be tempted to tell your team members, “You’re doing it wrong!” or “That’s not how I would do it!” But I caution you to only use those statements as an emergency brake, when absolutely necessary.
Because you can get to an outcome via more than one path. The way you would do it isn’t the only way to get there. At times — brace yourself — the way you would do it might not even be the best way to get there.
Force yourself to focus on progress towards the outcome. Your concern should be if the outcome will be achieved, not how it will be achieved. Keeping this focus requires a lot of discipline and trust.
A few ways that you can start to build this skill:
- Restructure status updates. Teach your team how to communicate status to you by outcome rather than by activity. Sometimes they are eager to tell you about all the tasks they’ve accomplished or they want you to validate their approach, so they’ll dive into the “how.” Ask them to start by talking about the outcome, whether they’re on track to reach it, and any obstacles, concerns, or escalations that you need to know about.
- Check yourself. When you are tempted to insert your opinion on the “how”, take a pause. Ask yourself if your team member’s approach meets the parameters that you gave them. Does their plan get you to the outcome? Do you know, for certain, that their plan will lead to an inferior outcome? Don’t forget, they are working on this initiative every single day. They know it a lot better than you do! So unless you’re certain they’re on the wrong track, default to their judgment.
- Learn to let go. Keep asking yourself: Are they not doing what I asked, or are they just not doing it the way I would do it? Put that question on a post-it note on your laptop as a constant reminder if you need to! When you’ve done this work yourself in the past, it is so difficult not to feel that your way is the best way. And maybe your way would be marginally better. But it had better be a LOT better to make it worth overstepping your team member.
I’ve definitely struggled with not questioning the “how.” One of my team members was designing a cross-functional process for our Customer Support and Product teams, and he told me that he was individually interviewing all of the stakeholders. He was typically very savvy and great at his job, but his approach made no sense to me. Why waste time with a bunch of individual meetings when you could just get everyone together in a single workshop? There were over a dozen stakeholders! He’d have to bring everyone together eventually anyway, so this sounded like twice the work. That’s not how I would do it!
But he knew something that I didn’t know. In his initial meetings, it was clear there were some very strong, overbearing personalities among the stakeholders. Some of the people were reluctant to speak up or unable to get a word in. His instinct told him he’d get more useful insights if he spoke to people one-on-one first. And what did I hire him for, if not for his great instincts about the best way to get to the right outcome?
What if your manager doesn’t focus on outcomes?
Some of you may be reading this and thinking, “Sure, I totally get exactly what you’re saying — but my manager doesn’t get it.” What do you do if you’re the team member, and it’s your manager who doesn’t manage to outcomes?
A few techniques to try when you have to manage up:
- Probe them for the outcome. Ask “What do you need me to deliver? What does success look like?” Keep anchoring back to that. Hopefully they will follow your lead and reset their comments. At a minimum this will give you insight into what they care about. Use their definition of a successful outcome when providing them future updates.
- Take ownership. Let them know that you fully understand the outcome that is required, and that you’re willing, ready, and able to accomplish it. Stake your credibility on getting the “how” right. Gently encourage them to let you be on the hook for delivering that outcome, however you see fit.
- Prove yourself. Trust is an important foundation for managing to outcomes, so it’s possible your manager isn’t yet confident that you can deliver. If that’s the case, start small. Try this approach with a smaller, less visible project. Or set a milestone check-in so they can see your progress. Build their confidence in you.
Both manager and team member benefit from managing to outcomes — it’s worth making the effort!
