Goals, Ways, and Results

There is a common complaint I hear a lot from people: “I have tried to do something, but failed and gave up.“ These people usually have a vague definition of what they wanted to achieve, how to do it, and what to do with consequences. I call these three phases Goals, Ways, and Results. Let us check what difficulties a person can face during each of these phases and overcome them.

Goals

A goal defined what you need to do or have to do. Many people consider it the easiest thing in the world because needs and desires are straightforward to define and express. However, it is not that easy; here is why.

First, to build and define a goal, a person has to have a vision of it. Having a vision is not the same as just telling “I want X. “ You need to understand if the goal makes sense, achievable, can help other people, or be beneficial in any other way.

The following essential aspect of the goal is the definition. A person has to express the goal in a verbal and written form. It should be relatively simple, easy to understand and share, inspirational, and guide other people to the goal.

Finally, a person has to plan what is necessary to do to achieve a goal. The plan should include a list of things required to do with a short and clear description for each one. This list can be later transformed into milestones or a release plan.

Ways

Ways define how to achieve previously set goals. Consequently, they are usually less stable and require more flexibility to use them properly.

The main thing everybody should remember about the ways is that there are many ways. Some may work, others not, some may be easy, others not, some may be more friendly to people, others may push them away. So, it is essential to evaluate each possibility, its pros and cons, and choose the most suitable way.

Another recommendation is always to have an alternative way (plan B). The real world may change quickly, and the preferred way may not suit it any longer. A good manager should always have a better option (or at least some option) to continue achieving a goal.

Remember that changing a way must not alter the goal or the vision. Way defines the path to the goal. There may be many paths, but the goal has to remain the same.

Results

There is a common misconception that goals and results are the same or almost the same things. No, they are very different. The goal is what you were planning to achieve; the result is what you have actually achieved.

Achieving the result usually has multiple consequences. It is good when goals and results are similar, i.e., you achieved what you planned. However, many goals lead to negative results, and they have to be dealt with. The recommendation here is to prepare yourself for both positive and negative outcomes as this is the most common scenario and be ready for both of them.

It is essential to mention that this cycle goal-way-result is an iterative process. Each result usually leads to another goal, and some ways may also set new goals to use them. So we can see that following this trial is not that easy, and anybody who is trying to do that should prepare themselves not only for results but also for consequences and be able to deal with them.