In most organisations and projects, we reward outcomes.
The delivery date met.
The release completed.
The numbers achieved.

Outcomes are easy to see.
Easy to measure.
Easy to celebrate.

But outcomes are only the visible tip of the work.

What actually determines the health of a project and the growth of people: effort.

Effort is the work that happens long before the result appears:
✅the engineer who raises a risk early and prevents a larger failure
✅the consultant who spends extra time understanding the business, not just the requirement
✅the team member who learns a new skill to solve a problem that wasn’t even in their role
✅the person who stays engaged, accountable, and honest when success is uncertain

These efforts don’t always lead to perfect outcomes.
But they always build capability.
And capability is what carries organisations forward.

When leaders reward only outcomes, patterns start to form:
⚠️ people avoid difficult work where success isn’t guaranteed
⚠️ risks get hidden instead of discussed
⚠️ learning slows down because mistakes are punished
⚠️ short-term wins are chosen over long-term strength

This is how cultures become fragile: successful on paper, weak underneath.

Rewarding effort sends a very different signal:
✅thoughtful trying matters
✅speaking up is valued, not penalised
✅learning is recognised even when results lag
✅integrity counts as much as immediate impact

This does not mean ignoring results.
And it does not mean lowering standards.

Outcomes still matter.
But leadership maturity lies in understanding this distinction:
outcomes are lagging indicators, effort is the leading one.

Projects operate in complex environments – with dependencies, changing priorities, external constraints, and uncertainty.
Effort is the one thing individuals truly control.

When leaders consistently reward effort:
✅ people take responsibility instead of playing safe
✅ teams become resilient instead of defensive
✅ success becomes repeatable instead of accidental

Over time, this is what separates:
teams that deliver once
from teams that deliver again and again.

So if you want sustainable performance, don’t ask only: “Did we succeed?”

Also ask: “How did people show up when it was hard?”

Because what you reward is what people repeat. And rewarding effort builds organisations that can fail honestly, learn quickly, and win responsibly.

This is a deliberate leadership choice for me.
I don’t chase outcomes. I build the conditions for them.

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