Who defines success?

Is your Idea of Success causing you to Fail?

When you take on a project or assignment, identify whose expectations need to be met and create a mutual understanding of what success looks like. 

Insight: People frequently begin a project without defining the expectations that need to be met for a project to be successful. Usually, they focus on doing good work according to what they think their manager, peer, or customer want without clarifying what is actually expected. 

For example, I recently observed the following conversation: 

CEO: I'm disappointed in this project plan. 

John: What? I've worked hard to incorporate the customer's feedback. 

CEO: John, we need to innovate and reach new customers that don't currently use us. Why didn't you talk to the customers that chose other suppliers? 

John had been trying to increase the satisfaction of the current customers, while the CEO was focused on new customers. Because John didn't clarify what was expected, his work and efforts were not appreciated. 

If you don't explicitly define the expectations you need to meet, you're setting yourself up to fail regardless of how hard you work. You'll likely spend a lot of time, energy, and resources on activities that are simply not important to the people that you need to satisfy. 

Key Action: Define success collaboratively. When you take on a project or assignment, identify whose expectations need to be met and create a mutual understanding of success. 

Sometimes the hardest part of a project is to clarify whose expectations need to be met. 

• Who are the key stakeholders? 

• What are they really trying to accomplish and by when? 

• Who will hold you accountable? 

Often, we assume that we understand the goals of the project. While we might get it right, sometimes we'll be wrong. 

Getting agreement around the expectations beforehand is a key to "managing up." Often, managers and executives are not clear on what they actually want, and by asking the right questions, you can help them clarify their goals and plans. 

Once expectations are clarified, you'll be better able to prioritize your work. Just as importantly, as conditions change and obstacles arise, you will be better able to negotiate around changes such as scope and dates, and innovate together to meet the underlying goals. 

This may seem obvious, but from my experience, few people take the time to fully clarify expectations. If you are clear on who you need to satisfy and understand their criteria for success, it will be easier to do the work that matters and be successful.