How often does work feel like a continuous loop of answering the phone, reading emails, attending meetings, and going home exhausted? So many of us have spent countless hours working on activities associated with “total quality” or “continuous improvement” to make things better without ever delivering tangible results? Do you want to be spending your efforts on activity-centered processes, or do you want to make changes that deliver results?
Change begins with results. Ask yourself, what is the story you want to tell; about yourself or your team? Then, start with a simple conclusion. For example, “I want to complete my projects that my customer will love, ahead of schedule, and with less stress.” By focusing on the results, the necessary changes will become more apparent. But first, we need a clearer picture of the results we want.
The SMART format (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-phased) is an excellent tool to sharpen our focus on the results and the story we want to tell:
Specific – Pick a particular project. Identify the deliverables and the measurable growth or improvement that you desire.
Measurable – How will you know if you are successful? We can manage what we can measure.
Achievable – I prefer aggressive but achievable. Individual and team psychology has found that challenges are often a rallying point that encourages engagement. In contrast, an impossible goal results in apathy and discouragement. It can be helpful to identify historical benchmarks to rate the aggressiveness of your goal.
Relevant – Align your SMART goal with your business and customer objectives.
Time-phased – Aim for fast cycles of change. Succeed or fail quickly and adjust your approach based on your current learning. Keep the SMART goal and adapt your plans to achieve your goal.
Let’s see how we can add details to the story we want to share: “I want to complete my projects (which project) that my customer will love (why will your customer love it? What will you measure?), ahead of schedule (What is the duration of the effort? Break up the project if necessary to keep it within a small-time step.), and with less stress (What is causing the stress?).”
The following is a possible design project SMART goal that will drive change: “I want to complete my design project Alpha by March 31, 2022, such that the product will meet the customer functional requirements and achieve producibility cost less than $45 per unit. To reduce stress, I will get an interpretation and agreement on the design requirements from the customer and my senior management at the first meeting before starting any design work. In addition, I will schedule interim design reviews (March 11 and March 25) to share progress, issues, and lessons learned.”
Now that your results are defined and concrete, first evaluate the aggressiveness of your goal. Can you get the cost down to $35 per unit? Secondly, what actions do you need to take to achieve this vision? It is your new actions that will achieve the goal. Thus, the change begins with the results.
See Robert H. Schaffer and Harvey A. Thomson, “Successful Change Programs Begin with Results,” HBR January-February 1992. (https://hbr.org/1992/01/successful-change-programs-begin-with-results)