Focus on the Desired Outcome, Not on the Process
In the Marines, I was taught an excellent management technique known as The Commander’s Intent. Like business, battle is a highly fluid situation. The more detailed you make your plans, the less likely they are going to pan out as you envision them (It was here that I learned my Ready. Fire. Aim technique). Because of this, the Marines adopted the Commander’s Intent technique.
The Commander’s Intent is the ultimate desired outcome of a given action. It is NOT the plan. For example, the plan may state that you are to march up this hill, and then you will rendezvous with that company and engage the enemy at that point and take possession of this village to ensure that the bridge over the river is secure. The Commander’s Intent is that the bridge be secure.
It is how success is determined. If you march up the hill successfully, rendezvous successfully, engage the enemy successfully and take possession of the village successfully, yet the bridge is still not secure, you have failed. Likewise, if all that stuff goes wrong yet you still manage to secure the bridge, you have succeeded.
Focus on the desired outcome
In the civilian world, it is called being outcome oriented.
The marketplace at large is very outcome oriented. They want their desired outcome from a given product or situation. They want clean dishes, they want to be thin, they want to be successful, and they are willing to spend time and money on those desired outcomes.
The funny thing is, while the marketplace is made up of individuals, most individuals are not outcome oriented. If more people were, more people would be successful. If the relationship was not moving toward the desired outcome, we would end it. If the food we ate did not move us toward our desired outcome (being thin, say), we would not eat it.
Instead, we say we want to be thin, yet we do not exercise. We say we want to have more money, yet we create more consumer debt. We say we want more free time, yet we continue to allow others to set priorities for us.
When you clearly define the outcomes you want and strive to tie your activities to those outcomes, success is nearly inevitable.
Hugh,
I think that you are correct to say that we are often to fixed on following a predetermined route. I always think of Clint Eastwood where he said (in a movie where he was a marine Gunny Sargent)- adapt, improvise, overcome. We should have a plan and it is important that we try to follow it, but as you say we need to get to the goal which in most cases is what is more important.
At times the road less taken makes all the difference.
good words of wisdom, but i would add one clarification, which is don’t focus on the goal in the middle of the process. in other words, it should go something like this:
1) identify goal
2) develop plan towards said goal
3) follow through with plan, but at this point you should be focused on the plan and not the goal.
4) if results are not seen, revise plan and repeat step 3.
think about a balance beam. you know and focus on your goal before you get on the beam. while you’re on it, you stick to the plan, don’t worry about where you’re going and just take it one step at a time.
at least that’s the way i see it :).
i came across a great biography about Col. Boyd called: The fighter pilot who changed the art of war. in the book he developed method called an OODA loop.
– observe.
– orient.
– decide.
– act.
just wondering if you’ve heard of this. anyway, he’s the guy who first patented that move they copied in Top Gun where the fighter pilot comes to near stop and the other plane goes flying bye.
great book.
@Roger- Improvise, Adapt and Overcome. Those 4 words are worth the cost of admission to that movie. My other favorite quote from that one (not biz related, I just like it) is when we was reviewing his new troops and he said “The Marines are looking for a few good me, Unfortunately, you ain’t it.”
@Jon- I like it!
@Baseball (I feel like Dear Abbey!)- I am familiar with the book and agree with the loop, as far as it goes. The Loop must have feedback built in, though, or you could be in the unenviable position of making great time through the maze, only to find out they have moved your cheese.
I totally agree that a lot of the time we get too wrapped up in what we are doing and take our eyes off the prize. Definitely a mistake. Nothing ever goes exacty according to plan, and every decision we make along the way should get us closer to the ultimate goal. Nice post.
I agree. It’s always important to keep our eyes on the goal. However, the process must not be completely disregarded as well, just that we must be open to being flexible and not lose sight of our aspirations as we go along.
[...] I owe much of this philosophy, believe it or not, to Dale Carnegie. In his book How To Stop Worrying And Start Living, he said if you imagine the worst possible outcome to a situation often you will see it really just is not that bad. It might not be desirable, but it is usually something from which you can recover. I went one step further and decided to assume that the worst case would happen and plan for it. By doing this, I removed it’s power over me and the fear of being tied to the outcome. [...]