Know your outcome (a “know your map” influence tool how-to)

This post provides guidance on how to apply the "Know your outcome" influence tool from the "Know Your Map" chapter of the book Student to CEO: 97 Ways To Influence Your Way To The Top In Banking & Finance (read more here), including specific steps, examples and templates.  All content in this post has been created by me, using the title of this influence tool as a starting point only (the book provides anecdotes and context, not detailed how-to steps as outlined here).

What?

Clearly define where you want to get to and what success “looks like” to you. Be as specific as you can; describe why you want to get there, how it will feel when you get there and how you will measure your success.

Why?

If you do not know the outcome that you want to achieve, you cannot create a plan to achieve it and will not be able to assess whether you have made it there or not.

Therefore, your outcomes are important to be used when:

• Planning
• Tracking progress
• Measuring success once an outcome has been achieved

How?

There are various tools available for setting goals and objectives.

It is usually advisable to set some boundaries such as:

• the timescale for which you are establishing your outcomes (e.g. 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years);
• the “categories” of your life for which you are defining your outcomes (e.g. your career, your relationships, your belongings, your health, your finances etc); and
• the “success criteria” you will use to describe the outcome (e.g. numbers, ££, feelings, deliverables etc.)

Once you have your boundaries, simply spend some time thinking about what you want to achieve in each of these areas and write down your thoughts.

A simple table such as the one below can be used as a template for capturing your outcomes.

Timeframe:
Category	Outcome – where do I want to get to?	How will you know when you get there? (What does success look and feel like?)
Finances
Relationships
Career
Others

• Download Know Your Outcome template here (RTF format file)

A real example

Anything that you do, whether you know it or not, you will have been thought of in your head beforehand – even if your outcome was as simple as making a cup of tea, with milk and no sugar – you will have in your mind an idea of how you wanted that cup of tea to turn out before you even started to make it.

Think of anything you’ve ever achieved. Did any of it happen by accident, really?

If you didn’t define your outcome, who did? Did you parents have something in mind for you? Or your teachers? Did you have an outcome that you were aiming for without ever really realising it?

Even if you are not consciously aware of it, anything and everything that you have ever done, has been done with a purpose that you have subconsciously “signed up” to. By setting your own outcomes, you are taking control of your own destiny, instead of allowing those around you, your circumstances and environment, set them for you.

An exercise

1. Print out three copies of the “Outcomes” template.
2. On the first template, write the timescale “1 year”.
3. List the key “categories” of outcome that you want to use.
4. For each category, write a description of where you would like to be in that timeframe.
5. For each outcome, write a description of how you will know when you have achieved your outcome.
6. For each outcome, write one action that you could take immediately to make progress towards that outcome.
7. Repeat for 3 and 5 years on the following templates.