Can You Manage Change Without an Intended Outcome?

As I work with both executive and managers, I have been interested to see that one question comes up consistently: Can we manage change if we don’t have an intended outcome? Or what if we are not sure of what the result will be – can we still manage the change? The short answer to this question is NO. Without a clearly stated and shared intended outcome you cannot enable change.

The Intended Outcome Tells People Where You Are Going

As Stephen Covey said, you must begin with the end in mind. This is essential when it comes to enabling change in your organization.

Now, I have written about the importance of an intended outcome before, but it is so critical to the success of any change that it bears talking about again. Without a clearly stated and shared intended outcome you are taking your organization on a journey of uncertainty and discomfort with no apparent end.

Imagine for a moment that I ask you to take a trip with me. I don’t tell you where we are going, but the trip will involve a very uncomfortable bus ride. The seats are lumpy. The road is unpaved and full of twists, turns and steep drop off points. The trip will involve lots of starts and stops, you will get little rest and most of the time you will not recognize the landscape. When you ask where we will be at the end, I tell you I am not certain, but we need to go.

The Intended Outcome is What Gets People on the Bus

I shouldn’t be surprised when you say an unequivocal no thanks to my invitation. Yet many leaders are surprised. Even worse, they label the people who refuse to take the trip as resistant.

Your intended outcome puts the destination in clear focus for all the people affected. Having an intended outcome may not make the trip any more pleasant. But without a clearly stated intended outcome, people are not likely to even get on the bus let alone take the trip.