Start with the End in Mind ... Which End?

“Start with the end in mind. The end should always be measurable behavior.”

Some clients feel reassured when they hear this. I wince.

I already know what many of the quieter members are thinking when a “speak up” initiative is announced: “Leadership wants us to talk more. Even if it’s nonsense.”

Frustrated leaders get wind of this resistance and tell me, “That’s not what we meant.”

What the leaders want is for people to voice concerns, questions, ideas sooner rather than later. They can state this clearly in the slide deck. They can say it cheerfully at the start of each training session.

And still, people smell the behavioral end underneath all the fancy words: You will be praised for speaking more. And the longer you remain quiet, the hotter the spotlight will feel.

In practice, “Start with the end in mind” is sometimes less a design principle than a warning: if you start with the wrong end in mind, your design will follow suit.

So what is it that leaders actually want? Do they just want people to speak more?

To be honest, I don’t think leaders want more noise.

What many have actually expressed is more nuanced — they want their members to decide for themselves whether speaking up or remaining silent actually seems right in different contexts, and not remain silent when they actually want to say something.

If that is the true end, speaking up is just one option among many possible choices. So is silence.

The more accurate end in mind is learning to discern for yourself when there is no script.

What’s keeping me from asking this question? 

Should I wait and see if I catch on, or interrupt the discussion and ask for clarification? 

Will one “stupid” question really ruin the whole meeting? 

They won’t all answer these questions the same way. One person may speak more. Another may speak less. 

Both may have grown. And perhaps both can now be trusted with more of the judgement.