Outcomes vs Outputs
We were so excited to go ice skating over winter vacation. We were up in British Columbia at a ski village called Big White and the weather was frigid. We took a day off from skiing to strap on some skates and give it a go on the ice. We rented our skates and headed out toward the rink. But when we got there, there was about 3 inches of snow over the ice and a big earth mover slowly cleaning off the rink (and a sad non-operative zamboni limply sitting on the sideline). I headed back inside to talk to the attendant. “We just rented skates,” I said, “But it doesn’t look like the rink is functional. Is it open?” The attendant responded, “I think it is but let me check. We don’t oversee the rink operations. We just rent the skates.” Okay, so the people renting skates have no coordination with the venue for which the skates are meant to be utilized? I couldn’t help but laugh. It was a classic process problem and a clear breakdown of outputs vs. outcomes.
Outputs vs. Outcomes
A number of months ago, I got switched on to this blog post by Jay Hawkins on Outputs vs. Outcomes that a friend forwarded to me talking about the difference between outcomes and outputs. I probed a bit deeper into this distinction and found a really effective HBR article, titled, It’s Not Just Semantics: Managing Outcomes Vs. Outputs. In short, outputs represent things that are delivered. Outcomes describes the changes resulting from the outputs. Most people are output owners. They do the thing that they believe they are supposed to do. In fact, I would argue that in many cases, they believe that satisfying the output is the same as the outcome. WRONG! Just because you rented me skates, you didn’t satisfy the outcome. The outcome is that a patron (me) has an enjoyable experience ice skating at Big White. Yes, I need skates to do that. I also need a clean rink, maybe some safety elements, lights if it gets dark, etc. Do you see the difference?
Don’t get me wrong, you absolutely need output owners. You need people responsible for translating inputs (me, my information, my credit card, etc..) and turning them into outputs (a pair of skates). But (and this is really important), if the output owner is not connected functionally to the person that owns the outcome, the system breaks down. I might have the best skate rental experience this earth has ever known. But if I can’t get on the rink and use them and enjoy the moment, none of it matters!
Connecting Outputs and Outcomes
All is not lost here. There is a way to combine outputs and outcomes. You might think the obvious answer is that the people delivering outputs should report to the person who owns the outcome! NO. That would be like the entire organization of Microsoft reporting to the account managers who manage the success of the client relationship. It’s not a reporting problem. Rather, it is a system and process problem. In short, consider adopting the following:
Awareness: The output owners need a way to fully understand their role in the desired outcome. Maybe there is an ice-skating all hands that meets weekly.
Transparency: Output and outcome owners need transparency to assess how their part of the machine is running relative to the entire experience that is being delivered to the customer. It’s possible that this can be accomplished through a workflow management or automated reporting system.
Communication: The outcome owner needs a communication vehicle to inform the output owners about shifts in the process so that clients don’t get misguided.
Feedback: A feedback loop also must be put in place so that when breakdowns occur between outputs and outcomes that there is a mechanism to learn from it and solve it systemically. Consider a quality committee for ice skating operations that meets monthly to build new process.
Ownership: Most important, it cannot be ambiguous who owns the outcome. There is one outcome owner. They are the owner of achieving the objective and ultimate responsible.
When we brought our skates back to the rental return, I shared my observation in a friendly and supportive way. Listen, I know that breakdowns occur but this one was just so humorous that I couldn’t let it pass. I got this quizzical look from a couple of folks who proceeded to explain to me that the zamboni ran out of gas and a pump was broken and it had snowed a bunch and yada yada yada. It was like they felt they needed to defend why they rented me skates. Again, I couldn’t help but smile.
As much as we think we see things clearly, when we confuse outputs for outcomes, we shut off a light inside of our brains that stops looking at the experience to be delivered and only focuses on the task to be done. Don’t do that please! Always start with, “What is the outcome we are trying to deliver?”