Checklist for Well Formed Outcomes
This checklist works best after you have drafted your outcome. Start by writing down your outcome. There is evidence that outcomes that are written down are far more likely to be achieved.
1. Is your outcome positive?
| Are you moving towards rather than away from? |
| E.g. I want to enjoy peak health rather than I want to give up smoking. |
| Have you avoided any reference to negative things? |
| E.g. I want to move with grace rather than I want to be less clumsy. |
A positive outcome is more motivating because you don’t have to think about what you don’t want or about things that you would rather not be tempted by. A negative outcome may have force but not direction. Once you have avoided something, there is no target to aim for.
2. What do you already have to help you with your outcome?
(e.g. life experience, skills, personal qualities, financial resources).
3. Can you initiate what is needed for this outcome? Can you maintain it once you have achieved it?
| Is it in your power alone? If not, where do you have control and where does control or influence rest with others? |
A sprinter cannot be responsible for how well someone else runs in a race. An outcome like "I will train myself to be in peak condition for the 100m race in three months time" might be the sprinter’s choice. "I will win this race" involves other players who are not under the sprinter’s control.
4. Is the outcome specific?
| Is any of he the language ambiguous? |
| When does it start and finish? |
| In what contexts or situations or with what people do you want this outcome? |
5. How will you know when you have achieved your outcome?
| What will you actually see, hear and feel that convinces you? (For some people, what they hear may include internal dialogue.) |
| How would someone else know you have achieved it? |
This can be especially important if you are self-critical. Self-critical
people "tend to raise the bar" and not enjoy the satisfaction that
should be theirs. But being very clear about the evidence also means you know
when to stop and acts as a prompt to set new outcomes.
6. Do you want the outcome enough to work consistently for it?
| If you don’t, what needs to happen for you to have the level of motivation for success? |
7. What are the benefits of the present state?
| How can you incorporate good things about the present into your outcome? |
| If you work for your outcome what may change? |
| What else might you have to give up (pleasure, energy, time, money)? |
| How might changes impact on your body and mind? |
| Who else might be impacted by changes linked to your outcome (e.g. family, colleagues, friends)? Is this impact acceptable to them and you? |
This stage is sometimes called the "ecology check". Most of us have several important values. If we don’t establish at the outset the balance between the different things that are important to us then we will not be at peace within ourselves. Self-sabotage often stems from such inner conflict.
8. What larger outcome is this part of?
| How does this fit into who you are and your major beliefs? |
10. Is this what you specifically want or a way of getting something else that is important to you? If the latter, are there other ways of getting it?
| How does this fit into who you are and your major beliefs? |
11. Do you need to set smaller, intermediate outcomes?
E.g. What is halfway between now and your bigger outcome? What is a quarter way? And so on. Most importantly, what is the next step? You don’t move until you start walking.
12. What is your level of confidence in your ability to succeed at this outcome?
| If it is not 100%, what are you going to do to have either something you truly believe is going to happen or to build up your level of self-belief? |
13. When will you systematically review this outcome?
| If it is a long-term outcome, how often will you revisit it? |
14. Is all the useful detail written down clearly?
PEAS Model
You may not always have the full checklist with you when you want to arrive at a well-formed outcome. This model will help you to remember key elements.
Positive – Evidence – Appropriate – Self-Maintained
|
P ositive |
Specify what you want in the positive. |
|
E vidence |
Specify how you will know you have got it. |
|
A ppropriate |
Does it fit with major values? What might be lost as a result? How can you go for win-win? Where and when do you want it? |
|
S elf-Maintained |
Can you start and maintain it? What other resources do you need? Who else has influence and how much? What’s the plan? What’s the first step? |
The OAF Model
This is a simple model and yet the one people are most likely to forget when the going gets difficult. So often when we don’t first succeed we get stuck in our thinking and do more of the same, only this time without any joy or confidence. Even a well formed outcome needs flexibility.
Identifying Higher Values
It is easy to get stuck with one particular solution to a need or a problem. One of the few rules for being creative is don’t stop at the first good idea. But it is easy to just take the first exit that appears after we have been feeling stuck. The following questions demonstrate how to clarify if there are higher values involved.
OK, so you would like to be a car mechanic. So when you are a car mechanic, what does that do for you?
It means I can mend my own car and buy cars cheap, do them up and sell them on.
And when you can mend your own car what does that get for you?
That means I make good money and I am good with my hands.
And when you make good money and are good with your hands, what does that mean for you?
It means that I am as good as my dad.
And if you are as good as your dad, what does that get for you?
It means I am OK.
And when you are OK, what does that mean for you?
I feel satisfied.
And when you feel satisfied, what does that get for you?
I am happy. I am satisfied.
And are there other ways that you might feel that satisfied and happy, besides being a car mechanic?
The principle is to keeping asking questions until the answers begin to repeat the same criterion or criteria. Questions like this encourage people to think of the value that is driving the behaviour. Often people have not realised there was a higher value need so have not considered how else the need might be met. The chains can be short or long. It all depends on the individual. Rapport is needed to ensure the person senses this is about adding choices, not limiting them.
Acknowledgements
Well Formed Outcomes are one of the main concerns of Neuro-linguistic Programming. Wendwell would like to be able to credit individuals who developed specific ideas within this document but, like many developments in NLP, it is not clear who originated what. We would at least like to pay tribute to the people who began the development of NLP – John Grinder, Richard Bandler, Judith DeLozier, Leslie Cameron-Bandler, Robert Dilts and David Gordon.
| Ó Wendwell
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Wendwell provide OD and HR consulting, including NLP training and modelling. Tel. 020 8385 2900 wendwell@btinternet.com www.wendwell.co.uk |