LJM Associates Ltd

  I was in a discussion a week or so ago when I asked the presenter about the strategy they were proposing and asked them to differentiate between the project outcomes and the project impact. An outcome is the realisation of an intended output from a project - production of a prototype, a report, a presentation. These can all be defined to be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound). An outcome may have a localised effect but may not deliver impact.  Impact is the change you want to see, the adoption of the technology, the recommendations being implemented as a lived experience. An outcome is not the end of the road. An outcome is a staging post on the journey towards impact. This does not mean that an outcome is short term and an impact is long term - the difference is more complex.  Output = the report; Outcome = 50,000 downloads of the report; Impact = 25% of those businesses who downloaded the report adopted the recommendations...

Whether we are considering our personal journey or the strategic journey for our business, it all starts with the mission.. Articulating our mission, the core purpose for our daily, weekly, monthly activities can help us to plan, create goals and objectives, allocate resources and target our decision-making. Our mission is shaped by our values and aspirations. They can be economically or socially focused. Our mission helps us to be seen by others as capable of delivering outcomes in the short and long term; credible, trustworthy and authentic; and consistent in our planning, activities and outputs. When developing our mission we can ask ourselves: Values What values guide us? What values are non-negotiable? What trade-offs are we willing to make? What do we value? Purpose/Impact What impact to we want to make? What does a good outcome look like? What change do we want to see in 5 years, 10, 20? What does it look like when we have achieved our mission? What kind of legacy do we want to ...