Good leaders manage their people’s contributions by focusing on outcomes. They achieve this by doing three things. First, they communicate a compelling story and show people the picture of success. They describe the ‘what, why, how, who and when’. Second, they make crystal-clear contracts about outcomes – ‘what’ will be delivered by ‘who’ and ‘when’. Third, they manage by focusing on outcomes – people’s actual contributions towards achieving the picture of success. Leaders recognise, of course, that they cannot actually ‘manage people’. Such an approach would be patronising, because people manage themselves. What they can do, however, is to provide people with an inspiring framework and the support to do the job. Leaders can then manage people’s contributions towards achieving the team’s goals. Let’s explore how to make this happen.

1) You can communicate the picture of success.

Imagine you are leading a team. One of your roles is to describe the road map towards achieving success. You can outline: a) The ‘What’: the results to achieve; b) The ‘Why’: the benefits – for the company, colleagues and customers; c) The ‘How’: the key strategies for achieving success; d) The ‘Who’: the roles that different people can play in achieving the goals; e) The ‘When’: the specific things that will show the team has reached its goals. People can then choose whether or not they want to contribute towards making the story happen.

“Coming from a retail background, I spent the first six months making sure the company had the right systems,” said one leader, who took over a knowledge-driven business. “But what I failed to do was to communicate an inspiring story. So I got my act together and provided a clear vision. Being a tough taskmaster, I believe the employees are paid to take responsibility and do a good job. But it helps if they have the opportunity to contribute to a meaningful goal.”

You will have your own way of presenting the story. So try tackling the exercise on this theme. Describe how you can communicate the plan for achieving the team’s goals. Try completing the following sentences.

The specific things I can do to communicate
the ‘what, why, how, who and when’ are:

*

*

*

2) You can make crystal-clear contracts about outcomes - ‘What’ will be delivered by ‘Who’ and ‘When’.

This is the crucial part. Spend a lot of time with each person agreeing on ‘what’ must be delivered. Make crystal-clear contracts about the desired outcomes – the real results to achieve. Why? Because from then on virtually every ‘performance conversation’ will start by concentrating on this ‘what’ – the agreed outcomes – rather than get into ‘supervising’ details. During those sessions you will cover: a) What has been delivered; b) What still needs to be delivered; c) How to follow the key principles to deliver these goals. So try to make even the most intangible goals tangible. One approach is to employ the 3 Ps: profitability, product quality – including service quality – and people. After such a contracting session, for example, here is how one team leader might describe their contribution to the organisation.

My contribution to the picture of success

Profitability

* To ensure my team achieves its financial targets – a profit of £500k.

* To develop 3 new customers and do work with them that delivers a profit of £100k.

* To reduce our overheads by £100k.

Product quality

* To deliver a rating of 90%+ customers being extremely satisfied with our work.

* To develop 2 new products and pilot these successfully with customers – then launch these products by the end of the year.

* To simplify 2 of our complex products to ensure these are more user-friendly for customers - then get a further £100k’s worth of orders for these before the end of the year.

People

* To deliver an internal morale rating of 90%+ of our team members saying they enjoy coming to work each day.

* To educate, equip and enable 2 of my team members to win promotion and move on to other roles in the company.

* To recruit 4 new positive team members who take responsibility, build on their strengths and get some early successes that contribute towards achieving the team’s goals.

After agreeing on the outcomes, make sure people are given the necessary support required to do the job. Otherwise you are asking them to climb a mountain without the right equipment. Set-up people for success – then encourage, educate and enable them to do superb work.

3) You can manage by outcomes – focusing on people’s actual contributions towards achieving the picture of success.

One approach is to meet with each person every month. They are to prepare ahead of time and complete the following framework. You can then work through it together during the session.

The ‘what’. The agreed goals I aim to achieve are:

* ____________________________________________________

The specific things I have delivered in the
past month towards achieving these goals are:

* ____________________________________________________

The specific plans I have for the next
month towards delivering these goals are:

* ____________________________________________________

The challenges I face, my strategies for tackling these
challenges and the support I would like to do the job are:

* ____________________________________________________

The other topics I would like to explore in order to
be able to deliver the agreed picture of success are:

* ____________________________________________________

Create an encouraging environment where people can share their successes and challenges. During the conversation, however, keep returning to the agreed ‘what’. You can say: “Let’s go back to the real results to achieve. How can we do our best to deliver those results? What are the steps we need to take to make this happen?” Why take this approach? People can get into a pattern of talking about details, making excuses or whatever. They may also confuse activity with results. Certainly sometimes it is vital to revisit the aims to ensure these are still desirable and – providing people use their creativity – possible. But then it is good to go back to the ‘what’. Whether it concerns profits, product quality or people, the mantra is: “Let’s go back to agreed outcomes. How can we do our best to deliver those results?”

Sounds tough? Perhaps – but it is also a good way of leading a team. People learn: a) To clarify realistic goals; b) To make clear contracts about the goals – including the required support; c) To take responsibility, be creative and do whatever is necessary to deliver the agreed goals. They are then more likely to channel their energy towards achieving the team’s picture of success.

You will, of course, have your own way of making this happen. Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Describe the specific things you can do to ‘manage by outcomes’ – rather than by supervising activities. Then describe the benefits of this approach. Taking this step can help to build an even more self-managing and successful team. Try completing the following sentences.

The specific things I can do to ‘manage by outcomes’ are:

*

*

*

The benefits of taking this approach will be:

*

*

*

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