What’s the difference between assigning a task and outlining an objective?
Here’s a task: “Go to the grocery store on the corner and get linguine, bell peppers, zucchini, olive oil, basil, and parmesan cheese.“
Here’s an objective: “We’d like to eat a delicious Italian meal tonight, with a maximum budget of $100, between the hours of 5:30 and 7:30.“
What’s the difference? Think about giving someone the task versus the objective. The goal is the same – at least, as you understand it. You want to eat a tasty Italian meal tonight. But will it happen?
If you give your dining partner the objective instead of the task, they have context. That enables them to actively drive toward the goal. Without that context, plenty can go wrong. If they get to the store and they’re out of linguine, your partner doesn’t know what to do. They have to call you and relay the problem, then you have to get actively involved. You have to listen to them detail all the other things that are available, or you have to give unclear instructions like “then just get anything instead.”
What if the grocery store is closed for renovations? Where should they go? Without context, maybe they end up buying bulk items from a superstore, which doesn’t fit your specific need at all. Or perhaps they buy frozen varieties that won’t be ready by this evening. The point is that every minor speed bump either requires them to call you back in for more input and effort, wasting valuable time and energy, or causes them to make likely (and predictable!) mistakes.
Even if they do everything exactly as you asked, they may miss other opportunities. On the way to the grocery store, there’s a new Italian restaurant that just opened. Eager for customers, they’re running a special tonight from 5 to 8, get a full Italian dinner for only $60! The partner who had the task walks right on by, while the partner who had the objective makes a reservation for 5:30.
If you’re not going to give an objective, you might as well simply do it yourself. Assigning tasks without context might work for very basic tasks or things the other person already knows how to do well, but it’s a very poor way to create new initiatives or projects.
So why then do so many managers and leaders tell people what to do, instead of sharing what they’re trying to accomplish?
Generally, three reasons drive this behavior: Lack of Clarity, Lack of Trust, and Need for Control.
Lack of Clarity happens because leaders are often bogged down in day-to-day tasks and don’t give themselves the time to think strategically. They also might not get much clarity from their own leaders, who simply assign them task after task. Many people, leaders included, rush from one to-do list item to another without understanding the context at all, or what they’re trying to achieve. Do this instead: Ask yourself, “What will the result be if this series of tasks is completed successfully?” Be SMART about this question – in other words, make sure your answer is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. If you can’t identify those features of the “result,” then chances are you’re chasing a bad goal and don’t even realize it. Once you do have the answers to all of those things, then you have clarity about your objective! Now you can just give the objective to the person who will be taking the bulk of the actions, and they’ll have what they need to use the full power of their mind on the task, coming back to you only as truly needed, which will be rare. Of course, that brings us to…
Lack of Trust, which is what happens when a leader can’t let go of the idea that the people under their charge couldn’t possibly accomplish these things without constant micromanagement. If you don’t trust your team or your partner to deliver on creative solutions and fulfill objectives, then it can be hard to give them. Of course, this is a vicious cycle. If you never trust a partner to “make a nice dinner,” then they never learn what you mean by that. So of course, they never can. As a leader, you need to give your people space to try this, and even to fail. If you don’t, then you simply can’t scale, can’t ever escape the constant need to pull every lever yourself. You might as well go grocery shopping and cook dinner yourself, because you’ll end up doing 80% of it anyway.
So let go of the Need for Control. You thought you were going to get a home-cooked Italian meal, and instead you ate at a delicious restaurant. You got everything you wanted – the food, the time, the budget. But you aren’t happy. Why? Because it’s not what you envisioned. You need to let go of the need to control the outcome, and instead set parameters. If you wanted a home-cooked meal, you could say that! You can set the objective however you want, and it’s important to be honest about what you really want. Many leaders assign tasks because they either don’t know what they truly want, or can’t articulate it well, or don’t want to admit it.
If you give yourself the space and time to think strategically, it will be easier to determine what you really want and what really matters. (Hint: It’s far fewer of the details than you think now!) Then, you can define those objectives in a SMART way. When they objective is met, check it against what you set as the goal. If the goal is met and you’re happy, success! If the goal met all the criteria that you set and you still aren’t happy, then it’s time to acknowledge that what needs to change is how you communicate!
Ask yourself why you aren’t happy. Be as specific as you can, remembering that your objection should also have to do with your objectives. Is your objection Specific, Measurable (and thus improvable), Achievable (you weren’t asking the impossible?), Relevant to the true objective, and has a Time-bound solution? If so, then the only thing that needs to change is that you needed to communicate that part of the objective better. But if not – and this is more likely – then you simply need to move away from the negative emotion that comes from a good outcome that you didn’t steer.
Replace it with the positive emotion that comes from watching a garden grow. That’s what you want, after all. A team of people who can pursue objectives and thus propel initiatives forward. It’s the difference between trying to get an army of wind-up toys to march across the floor versus toys with their own batteries. There’s only so much winding you can do.
If you want to truly elevate your leadership, this is the essential component. You need to be able to define and communicate an objective to someone. This is an amazing skill for life in general – not just office management. It’s the secret to getting what you want and building rapport with the people who deliver it. It’s a force multiplier for all your goals. And it’s the biggest stress reliever and productivity hack you’ll probably ever encounter.
It’s just objectively good.
The Opportunity Machine 