Process over Product

In reading an article about ten ways to improve your happiness at work, it struck me that one of the biggest problems with our model of education is a focus on outcomes over process. We measure schools (and perversely dole out funding) based on the outcomes of a test. We give grants to states based on the outcomes of very specific and unproven education reforms (e.g. Obama’s Race to the Bottom initiative). We count students as successful for getting into college, getting a degree, getting a job. The truth is that life is always about journeys and if everything is about the outcome, you are setting yourself up for failure regardless of whether you reach that goal.

Think about the last time that you achieved something big (got a promotion, received a degree, bought a house, got married). Now answer this question: Did realizing one of your biggest goals make you content forever? The answer is likely to be no. That isn’t because marriage, a Ph.D., or homeownership aren’t important goals or aren’t all they are cracked up to be. The reason is that all of these are parts of a process to fill yourself with knowledge, skills, companionship and stability to better take on future challenges and also fulfill them.

So think of the disservice we are doing to children when we gear them to prepare like mad for a test that will determine their future or validate them with grades. Think of the disservice we do to those who may be brilliant but don’t learn best in a structured academic setting when we count college graduation as the golden standard of success. Think of all those golden standard bearers who can’t find the dream job college was supposed to guarantee. Why are they failing? Because in most circumstances, you can’t control the outcomes as this Forbes article reminds us…but you can control the process and how you approach it.

Our education system needs to modify its goals and curricula to better support the development of processes in children. It should focus on improvement, not a final grade (note to teachers: giving someone an “A” and saying “great work” is not helpful, you should still provide good students feedback so that they continue strengthening their craft. Your laziness will only contribute to theirs. Read more about the negative effects of outcome-oriented feedback.).

Think about the skills you need in the workplace and in life: they are not outcomes in and of themselves. One of the biggest things you need is focus, and by feeding a dependency on feedback based on outputs, you reduce the ability to hunker down and consistently improve or work bit by bit towards a goal. You also need communication skills, which you can always improve. You don’t take a Kaplan course and come out with a firm handshake, the pen of Shakespeare, and a winsome pitch. You also need to be able to work in a group, which never is “attainable” given that groups (and thus the needs of any given group dynamic) change and are not static. Increasingly, you need international skills like language, which is not something you attain, but that you consistently improve upon. Even “hard skills” like cooking (home economics) or woodworking (shop) are not about outputs if done correctly: you don’t want to come out of the class knowing how to make a cake or build a birdhouse, but rather to have a sense of how to cook and build well that can be applied to other projects.

The job market is moving increasingly fast and people are switching jobs a lot more now. It is critical that we work to develop people’s ability to improve their skills and processes so that they too can be as mobile as the job market. It is also imperative that they find worth in dedication and improvement of a skill rather than jumping from output to output in a futile search for enduring happiness that one achievement can never offer.

Act on it!

• Praise others’ efforts and processes in a specific way that helps them to consistently improve.


• When helping others with homework or relationship advice, help them to focus on enjoying and learning from the process rather than fixating on an outcome (lord knows, some of my best assignments and dates have been unexpected but largely the result of not being stuck on a perfect result.).


• Speak out when you see a teacher that teaches to a test or puts them above learning.


• Write your congressmen when they pass laws that put undue weight on outcomes.

Speak out!

• What are some processes that are critical in your professional life that you feel are or are not taught well? How could they be taught better?


• Teaching outcomes is a lot easier than teaching processes. What are some strategies for helping people to better processes? How can curricula better guide teachers and administrators?