We’re working our asses off. Delivering what was asked for. But the results aren’t getting recognized as valuable.
Instead, we hear: “I know what you guys do is important, but what do you do? Why does it cost so much? Why does it take so long?”
Value equals benefits minus costs.
They know the cost down to the penny. There’s a column for it. Where is the column for benefit?
If they can’t see the benefit, but they can see the cost, the calculation in their heads becomes zero minus cost. It leaves us holding a ledger that’s reading in the red.
The benefit has to be realized for the value to be recognized.
Our opportunity is to connect them to the benefit. That starts with delivering an outcome that makes something better for somebody.
Before we start the work, who’s got to recognize it as valuable? What benefit will they realize from the outcome?
Those questions give us a focus: do work that delivers a beneficial outcome somebody else can realize. Then they have a benefit to weigh against the cost.