Lessons I Learned From Focussing Too Much on Outcome vs. Output.
0
0
I learned a lesson the other week around the difference between outcomes and outputs - and why it's so much better to focus on one than the other. It’s a lesson I teach my clients and teams over and over again, but I’m not immune to forgetting it myself sometimes!
I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m writing a book - it’s a book about creating awesome age inclusive team cultures in workplaces. It’s going to be great.
However, the book isn’t my raison d’etre. It’s a mere step on a much bigger journey towards what I care about most.
What I really want to influence and help is our young people. I see young people time and time again leaving education, entering our complex workplaces and not being able to thrive as quickly as they could. Mostly, I’m finding that they simply haven’t got the skills they need to join a team and work together with others to achieve their shared goals.
In the UK, the latest OMS Figures show that NEET (not in education, employment or training) rates are still high with 872,000 16 to 24 year-olds out of work - this is almost a quarter of a million more than the 3 years prior to this survey. Its also worth mentioning that, on average, countries outside the UK have seen this number reduce by 25% but in the UK this is sitting at 19% (Youth Futures Foundation).
The New, Youths Employment Outlook report published in 2024 also found that of the 2,500 young people surveyed, 3 in every 5 said they feel that it has become more difficult to find a job than then years ago.
So what's been happening? Or is there a root cause?
Our education system doesn’t do a great job at teaching children to recognise complex situations, where there isn’t one true answer - where they need to experiment and collaborate with others to find something that really works.
In my experience, the education system does a great job at getting our young people to focus on their own goals, get good grades on their own, for themselves. This is all great, but our workplaces need something different these days.
So I’m writing a book, which aims to prepare workplaces for receiving a new kind of young colleague:
A workplace that accepts young people, nurtures them and teaches them about collaboration in a complex environment. One where people of all ages and experiences can thrive, leading to happier colleagues, teams that are able to adapt to anything that happens around them and better outcomes for their organisations.
So what was the lesson I learned? It was this.
Outcomes are more important than outputs.
I found myself feeling overwhelmed and ready to give up on the book because it was all just too hard. A lot of tears and a good walk in the countryside later, and I realised what I’d done.
I was so focused on the book, I’d forgotten that it isn’t the only way to reach my wider goal. There isn’t a right way, I’ve just got to try things and see what works. Because I, too, am operating in a complex environment where I need to experiment and work with others to achieve my goals.
The number of times I need to remind my clients of this is too many to count, and it makes me laugh that I needed to remember this for myself, too.
But it’s hard. It’s hard to put your head up above the trees and remember why you are doing what you are doing - and consider alternative routes.
But I’m once again open to what the future will bring.
I will write a book, of that I am sure.
But I’m looking for help. I’m looking to speak to others who care about this too, I’d love to understand your perspective and even explore whether we can collaborate.
Click the image below to sign up to my email list, or to chat directly to me, click here
Thank you so much for reading,
Valerie.
