David Burnby of Burnby and Associates—an Outcomes-Based Accountability™ (OBA) consulting firm based in Hull, England—has recently offered his take on the usefulness of OBA as an effective leadership tool in the United Kingdom. Although written more than a year ago, David’s words remain current, as effective leadership continues to be of concern around the world.

In the article, David defines good leadership and shows how the OBA thinking process can help leaders get from talk to action quickly and create measurable impact in their communities. To read the full article click here. For your convenience, we have summarized the article into list form below:

 

  1. Articulating outcomes (conditions of well-being) for communities is a fundamental element of good leadership.
  • OBA helps leaders define community outcomes.
  • OBA defines outcomes in plain language that anyone can understand.
  • Defining outcomes can help establish common ground and focus efforts around a common aim.

 

  1. Good leaders facilitate the movement of people towards common goals.
  • By articulating outcomes in plain language, OBA makes it easier for leaders to gain support for a cause.
  • OBA can help leaders bring all relevant people together to work collaboratively.

 

  1. Myth: by setting outcomes that can’t be achieved, we set ourselves up for failure
  • OBA’s outcomes are not targets; they are aspirations that can help leaders focus their community’s efforts and actions around common goals.
  • Without aspirations, actions may be misguided and cannot be measured.

 

  1. Good Leaders understand the difference between data and information.
  • In OBA, data helps establish the distance that needs to be traveled to achieve outcomes.
  • Data can help measure the effectiveness of our actions.
  • In OBA, the process of gathering information to help us understand data is called “The Story Behind the Baseline.”

 

Note: Outcomes-Based Accountability (OBA) is a term used in the UK to refer to the same Results-Based Accountability (RBA) framework developed by Mark Friedman.

To learn more about the RBA framework, visit clearimpact.com or raguide.org.

To learn more about OBA in the UK and the work of David Burnby and Associates, please click here.