Impact, not Participation, Matters Most

 

Every team member gets a medal at the end of the season for participating in most youth sports leagues. The medal merely recognizes participation.

In real life, adults do not get participation medals. What matters for most organizations, businesses and even families, is impact.

Impact goes beyond just participation. Impact means results or a strong effect on someone or something that creates a solution or result. In both the adult and business worlds, simply showing up to participate might get you an hourly paycheck but creating a positive impact will get you promoted.

We teach children to participate in life, including school activities, clubs, and sports. Most times, just “showing up” is all that is expected to be able to say they are participating.

As adults, we also often end up measuring participation. We recount how many meetings or activities we attended. 

If participation is the standard, then we have set the bar for success very low.

Part of the reason for focusing on participation is because participation is easy. Normally, participation only requires a person to put forth a little effort to get credit.

The problem is, we should measure impact or the difference that our participation made. The challenge is that many people have become comfortable with participation.

The other problem with participation is we expect more than is deserved.

Remember, participation does not guarantee results. 

You have to set goals and focus on impact to see tangible results. It also requires you to set priorities so you can focus on the high-priority items that have the greatest potential of impact.

This is especially the case in neighboring or neighborhood work. Yes, we want you to participate and to show up. For 80 percent of Americans, just participating would be an improvement! But for the other 20 percent (and eventually for everyone) you need to be making an impact. 

A positive impact on your neighbors and neighborhood.

Impact does require hard work and dedication. Creating impact often takes time. In fact,  creating impact means we have to set goals and keep focused on them.

I’ve seen the difference between participation and impact in the gym. Just showing up at the gym is better than sitting on the couch. However, I shouldn’t expect a benefit without putting in some effort. Just opening the door to the gym doesn’t help me lose weight.

Simply measuring repetitions and time is just like participation and it does not show impact.

It all starts with a paradigm change. Impact is when you focus on changing things – like bad habits – to achieve your goals.

Individuals do need participation to have an impact. But the participation needs to lead to impact leading to change.

Impact means something is faster, better, stronger, more efficient, more competitive, improved, and no longer the same. In neighborhoods, impact means more connections, more social capital, more gatherings, more kindness, more service, and a neighborhood that is clean, safe and friendly.

Impact is about making a difference with our efforts. When we stop accepting participation as the norm and demand impact – positive things begin to occur,.