goals as hypotheses

I’ve written here before about setting forth the stakes of the work at hand, naming what’s at risk, to help your team find the intrigue and fun in that work. 

One version of this that I rely upon is treating goals as hypotheses. We’re chasing this target because we have a hunch about the good results that will come from it. So we’re making a bet and seeing how it plays out. This isn’t bureaucratic compliance; it’s experimental learning.

Setting goals and talking about them this way makes the work of the team as a whole as a learning endeavor. It calls on your team’s curiosity. You’re doing things not “just” because you have to - you’re doing things to see what might happen next. 

In addition to the motivational boost this can provide, I think it’s plainly better if the modal person on your team is wondering about new and better ways to do things, testing ideas, and then evaluating those ideas with the data they have. There’s ownership, zest, and intellect in that, each of which have positive spillover effects for the rest of the team and the mission you’re all chasing.

-eric