Clarify the Objectives

Why is it so much easier to talk about solutions than objectives? I wish I knew the answer, though I suspect it has something to do with inventing and creating being more fun than analyzing and thinking in a disciplined fashion. All I know for sure is that I see evidence of it everywhere.

I recently attended an annual meeting of an organization where the group argued about the contents and format of an Internet survey. As a newcomer, I just listened until I could stand it no longer and then I asked what they were hoping to achieve with the survey and how they had been using the data from the paper survey up until that point. Suddenly it was really quiet. Finally someone said that they just thought it would be good information to have and they went back to their argument.

I’m sure you can think of lots of examples from both your personal and business experiences:

• People debating policy without giving thought to the problem the policy is meant to solve
• Meetings wondering according to individual agendas because the organizer has not established a purpose nor have the participants asked for one
• People readily arguing about what should go on a website or in a letter without first discussing why they need one and what they hope to achieve by creating one

How can anyone make good decisions without starting with a clear purpose? You can’t, of course, though sometimes you get lucky. Here is a line that will save you time and money over and over again: “What are we trying to accomplish?”

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