Don't just show us you're busy–show us you change lives
Everyone is busy. Not everyone is effective.
I see it all the time: mission-driven teams present painstakingly beautiful end-of-year reports that show how hard they worked but don’t give us evidence that they changed lives. They report metrics like these:
The number of voters called.
The number of students enrolled.
The number of tickets sold to the exhibition.
These metrics show us you did the work. Your funders might even require them. But they don’t show us how you changed lives. Which is more compelling: we called a lot of young voters, or we have evidence that we actually got them to vote? The latter tells us that your work did something to change the world.
Why busyness is not enough
Reporting activity just tells us you were doing…something. Not that you actually made an impact.
When I coached museum staff on how to think about impact, we focused on outcomes. By “outcome,” I mean the specific change you want to make in someone’s life—right after the program ends or ten years from now.
You don’t just want to call 1,000 registered voters. You want to show evidence that your phone call got them to vote.
You don’t just want to enroll 3,000 students. You want to show evidence that your program reduced chronic absenteeism by 20%.
You don’t just want to sell 1,000 tickets to the exhibition. You want to show evidence that the visitors who attend your exhibition feel more hopeful about the future when they leave than when they arrived.
These are examples of outcomes. Outcomes give your staff clear, measurable goals to reach.
Outcomes are your “no” ticket
Outcomes guide decisions and help you say “no” when your plate is too full. When your team faces a decision about your program–increase the scope, add a new partner, change the timeline–ask: Will this advance our outcome?
If yes, go. If not, stop.
Outcomes encourage autonomy and accountability
Defining your outcome is not an exercise to please funders. A clear outcome will help your staff have greater autonomy to drive decisions by giving them a compass. Outcomes will also help you stay accountable to your community by giving you something to show for promises you’ve made.
Try this: Pick one key outcome
Ask your team: How will we know we changed someone’s life when we see it?
Collect your team’s answers and narrow them down to one that best represents your core value.
That’s your key outcome. Use it to guide every major program decision.
If you’re a decision-maker and want help getting your team to a consensus on the right outcome, reply to this email and we’ll schedule a call.
-Dr. Danielle Lemi, PhD
Founder & Principal of Kapwa Sol Insights