People, both individually and in teams spend a significant amount of time and effort working to accomplish something.  Hopefully the achievement is both admirable and creditable.

The process of accomplishment usually starts with conception – what is the goal.  This is the ideation phase.  Planning is next, that is how are we going to proceed?

Once the plan is in place execution occurs and voila, the results are heralded as an accomplishment.  In the case of a group accomplishment this often entails back patting and declarations of achievement (i.e., we did it).

Measuring the Results

During ideation and planning work, the reasons for pursuing a particular achievement are paraded as motivators.  In essence the point is “I/we are going to accomplish this thing because it is worth doing”

Sadly, although the tasks arising from the idea are often completed the desired results are not achieved.  In these cases just the fact something was accomplished is paraded as success.

Checking the Achievement

Wondering how actual results mapped to the imagined benefits of a number of accomplishments I once totaled all the monetary benefits from a years worth of initiatives at a large corporation.

The value of increased revenue estimated for all the completed projects was less than the company’s total revenue for the company. Clearly, for some of these initiatives what seemed like a good idea at the time did not turn out to be all it was sold as.

For me, over this just highlights the value of confirming the accomplishment rather than just assuming it.  This is not to punish but rather to guide future directions.

Whatever you are seeking to accomplish, personal or business, check how you did before leaping to the next attempt.  Completion is not necessarily accomplishment.