When Activity Gets Mistaken for Impact

A former colleague once told me, “A rocking horse moves, but it makes no progress.”

I think about that phrase whenever I hear accomplishments like, “We held 16 hours of meetings,” “We completed a survey,” or “We will launch five new classes next quarter.” All of those things can be useful. But they also invite an important follow-up question: "So what?"

What happened during those 16 hours that would not have happened otherwise? What did we learn from the survey, and what did we actually change because of it? Why five new classes? What problem are they solving, and is five really better than three?

Activity is countable. Courses delivered, people trained, meeting hours, survey response rates - they all fit on tidy dashboards and can easily be turned into SMART goals. Impact is usually messier.

Over the years, I’ve become much more interested in the question that comes to mind immediately after the number: “And as a result…?”

Sometimes the answer to that question confirms the activity was absolutely worth doing. Sometimes it leads us to change the approach. And sometimes it helps us push back on the surprisingly persistent belief that a higher number must automatically be a better number.

SMART is good. Impact is smarter.