Step 8: Identify Outcomes
Outcomes are needed to explain WHY the initiative is important, what will be different, and the impact it will have.
As such ouutcomes are the desired results or impact that will be delivered by the initiative, program, organization, business or entire neighbourhood, community, or region being planned. Outcomes are about individual, organizational, business, and community impact and what is going to be different as the result of the work.
For individuals, outcomes can include change in knowledge, status or condition, behaviours, attitudes, or values, or skills.
At a broader level, outcomes can deliver health, social, environmental, and economic benefits.
Any activity can have more than one outcome, and some outcomes may even be unanticipated. However, effective identification of desired outcomes is essential for successful planning.
Outcomes answer these distinct questions:
● What will stakeholders have that they don’t have now? and
● What will be lost if this is not done?
It is critical to always begin with the end in mind.
We empower communities by supporting capacity for a whole-community, sector-connected approach to social, economic, and environmental well-being.
Individual and organizational future-readiness is supported increasing capacity for (1) community and stakeholder-led development, (2) systems-practices, (3) strategic foresight, and (4) digital optimization. We've learned these four components are necessary for the project and systems collaboration and informed decision-making we have experienced as being essential for transformative change and innovation.
Innovative projects require being bold, perseverance, tenacity and a sprinkle of panic.
-- Michelle Baldwin
Many situations in life are similar to going on a hike: the view changes once you start walking. You don't need all the answers right now. New paths will reveal themselves if you have the courage to get started.
--James Clear
Leadership today is about courage. Courage to realize our challenges are complex and no one individual, organization, or sector can resolve them on their own. That means we have to let go of the idea that we alone have the answers. Instead, we need to strengthen our individual and organizational competencies in order to become sector connectors who call meetings before we have the answers, aren't intimidated by messy, and can ensure a culture where all voices are heard. Only then, can our collective gifts, experience, and wisdom be focused on building a better future for all.
--Brenda Herchmer
In times of change it is the learners who inherit the future. Those who have finished learning find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.
-- Eric Hoffer
