If there’s one thing to know about our team here at Elate, it’s that we love celebrating wins. So let’s kick off this week with an Elation Celebration…
The last edition of The Pulse was the most read of all time.
Maybe it’s the time of year or the relevancy of the topic. Regardless, last week’s Pulse on 3 Takeaways from Elate’s Leadership Offsite clearly resonated.
Thank you to everyone who read it—it truly means a lot.
With that said, I’m excited to build on last edition’s momentum to highlight the importance of carrying the Strategic Planning process through to the rest of your organization. Specifically:
- How do we ensure our strategy comes to life?
- How do we rally our teams around a shared vision for what we’re building together?
Today, let’s focus on one common pitfall to avoid and one area to lean into as we head into the new year. Plus, some highly relevant Strategy Snacks. 🍿
Transactional Tasks Create a Transactional Culture
Let’s start with a challenge many organizations are struggling with as we approach 2025: the proliferation of supposed strategy through task-tracking.
When we first started Elate, we anchored on the principle of radical simplicity because, for far too many companies, Strategic Planning had become overwhelming and chaotic—reduced to acronymic frameworks that created more confusion than clarity.
It was all flash, no substance. ⚡
We encouraged organizations to get back to basics: setting frameworks that are intuitive, clear, and focused on alignment.
But over the past few months, we’ve seen the pendulum swing too far in the other direction.
Burned by overcomplicated frameworks with fancy acronyms, many organizations reacted by over-simplifying. You might think that aligns with radical simplicity—and it should—but the execution has gone awry.
Instead of clarity, organizations are creating to-do lists disguised as strategies.
Here’s what that looks like:
- Endless initiatives logged in spreadsheets.
- Countless tasks tracked in project management tools.
The result? A culture built on outputs, not outcomes.
Employees are encouraged to pile on initiatives, creating transactional checklists as a way to demonstrate value.
The Consequences
Rather than providing direction, these checklists overwhelm teams with priority fatigue. 😩
Instead of being intentional about what to say "yes" to—and prioritizing work that aligns with strategy—organizations end up with strategies that are just long lists of tasks.
It’s overwhelming.
Worse, it’s fostering an unhealthy, unscalable culture.
If your 2025 strategy revolves around checklists rather than purposeful work, it’s time to step back and realign.
How Outcomes Help Drive Purposeful Work 🚘
Why do so many companies fall into the checklist trap?
- Control: As humans, we crave it. Making a list gives us a false sense of control.
- Accomplishment: Employees crave it. Crossing tasks off a list feels good. ❎
But this mindset can derail a strategy.
As Strategy and Operations Leaders, we must empower our teams to see how their work contributes to broader goals—not just busywork.
At Elate, we lean into outcomes to bridge the gap.
Here’s how:
- Set measurable goals for priorities, even if they’re based on educated guesses due to a lack of historical data.
- Use our Strategic Planning Framework (below) to define operating metrics—the key indicators your CEO, board, or shareholders care about.
Operating metrics at the top should connect to Objectives throughout the organization. Even if the connection isn’t obvious, asking “why” about any Objective often reveals its impact on leadership-level goals.
Related: Project Management vs. Strategic Planning (📽️)
A Practical Approach
Encourage employees to set outcomes for their Objectives. This helps them:
- Prioritize effectively.
- Understand how their work contributes to the bigger picture.
While tactical, output-driven work will always exist, be intentional about its balance.
Start with a goal: 50% of Objectives measured by outcomes. Over time, aim for 100% of Objectives having at least one outcome tied to business impact.
A Way to Separate the Great from the Good
Rarely will employees work on something entirely irrelevant. But we can empower them to:
- Optimize their work.
- Find purpose in what they do—not just stay busy.
Sometimes, saying “no” to a good idea unlocks the ability to say “yes” to a great one.
As we move into the new year, reflect on the culture we’re building. Ask yourself:
- Are we helping teams say “no” to low-priority work?
- Are we creating alignment on shared goals?
- Are we measuring worth by the length of the checklist—or the impact of the work?
The answers to these questions will help us all separate the great from the good.
🔦 Elation Nation Partner Spotlight: PERQ
For those interested in learning more about what we're building here at Elate, check out the video below that highlights Jacob Bracken , CFO at PERQ
Something I talk about a lot is the need to make leadership meetings more action-oriented vs. status updates, so hearing Jacob is truly music to my ears.
Thanks for sharing your story, Jacob!
🍿 Strategy Snacks: Outputs & Outcomes
Over the past week we've shared two Strategy Snacks that are very relevant to today's edition:
Outcomes vs. Outputs: How to Measure Your Strategic Execution (ft. Jacey Liechty)
How to Convert Outputs to Outcomes (ft. Abby Parker)- this is one of my favorites
Have you enjoyed these? If so follow us on LinkedIn to get these in your feed, or check out our Strategy Snacks Playlist on Youtube.
Thanks all for today, have a great rest of your week.
-Brooks
