At the end of every month you collect one of two things: a result, or a reason. Owners often notice only the reason, because that is the part that gets said out loud. Many reasons are true. Being true does not make a reason useful for changing next month’s number.
Every outcome has causes. Some sit outside you: a client's budget freeze, a supplier going under, interest rates, the weather in February. Some sit with you: what you priced, who you hired, what you followed up, what you tolerated. The results mindset notes the reason and then moves to the causes you control.
Two ways to respond to the same number
The closed loop — reasons
The closed loop explains and justifies, then moves on with no feedback, so nothing improves.
The open chain — results
The open chain asks what you controlled, changes one thing, and measures again. It does not require the reason to be false.
Why reasons are so attractive
Reasons are accurate, and accuracy feels like rigour. They protect your identity, because if the market did it, you are not the problem. They also get sympathy from other owners.
They also cost nothing. Concluding that January is always quiet requires no action; concluding that you stopped following up quotes after day three requires you to admit a mistake and change something.
A worked example
Illustrative arithmetic. An agency budgets £75,000 for the month and lands £62,000. The reasons, all true: two clients delayed sign-off, a senior designer was off for nine days, the big proposal went quiet, and January is quiet.
Now the results question: what was inside our control, even partly? The owner checks the pipeline. Fourteen proposals went out over the quarter and five were won, a conversion rate of around 36 per cent. Of the nine lost, six had no recorded follow-up after the initial send. The average proposal value across the quarter was £9,400.
Six proposals had no follow-up; at one-in-three conversion on a proper follow-up sequence, that is two more wins, roughly £18,800. The £13,000 gap sits in what happened on day three after a proposal was emailed, which is within the agency’s control. The reasons were not the lever, and the whole of the previous management meeting had been spent on them.
The two tests that separate them
If this reason disappeared tomorrow, would the number change?
If a supplier’s late delivery cost you £40,000, supplier reliability is a real lever and belongs on the action list. If removing the reason changes nothing material, it does not belong there.
What part of this did I control, even ten per cent of it?
Plenty of situations are mostly external. Examine the small share you control, even when the uncontrollable share is larger.
Record the reason in the report, and finish the review with an action.
How to apply it this week
- Take your last missed number and split the page. Reasons on the left, what I controlled on the right. Do not stop until the right-hand column has at least three entries with numbers attached.
- Change the standing question in your management meeting. Replace "why did that happen" with "what will we do differently, by when, and how will we know".
- Attach a number to each controllable factor and pick the biggest. Set one rule, with one owner and one review date.
- Write down your stock reason. It might be staff, the market, HMRC, the bank or the season. Write yours on a card and put it where you do your monthly review. It helps you notice when you reach for it.
- Ban the word "just" in reviews. We just had a quiet month. It was just a one-off. It closes the discussion before anyone asks what was controllable.
- Diarise the check. Put a check six weeks out in the calendar, with the number you expect to see written next to it.
Common mistakes
The first mistake is turning it into blame. "Results not reasons" gets said in a firm voice, and what the team hears is "do not bring me problems". The team then stops bringing you problems, and you have worse information about the business.
The opposite mistake is refusing to acknowledge a real external cause because acknowledging it feels like going soft. Denying it makes you look like you are not paying attention, and people stop trusting your read on the business.
Do both together. Name the external fact plainly, then move straight to the controllable part without leaving a gap in the middle where a debate can grow.
Questions to ask yourself
- Out of 10, how much of your last monthly review was spent explaining the number rather than deciding something because of it?
- What is your stock reason, and how many quarters have you been using it now?
- If the thing you blamed last quarter never changes, what is your actual plan?
- Where are you ten per cent responsible for something you have been quietly treating as none of your doing?
Where this fits
How you think and decide under pressure is Personal Coaching work. Productivity is the companion when the controllable work never got a slot, and Principles and Universal Laws explains why the consequence so often arrives a season after the cause.
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Common questions
Isn't the results mindset refusing to accept reality?
No. It starts by accepting the external facts plainly, because pretending a client did not go into administration makes you look like you are not paying attention and costs you credibility with the team. It then moves on to what you control. A reason can be completely accurate and completely unactionable at the same time, and an explanation you cannot act on leaves next month's number exactly where it was. Name the external cause in one breath and move straight to the controllable part in the next, without leaving a gap in the middle where a debate about blame can grow.
How do I use this in a management meeting without it turning into blame?
Change the standing question rather than the tone. Replace why did that happen with what will we do differently, by when, and how will we know. Blame comes from asking people to account for the past; improvement comes from asking them to commit to a specific change with a date on it. Be careful of saying results not reasons in a firm voice, because what a team often hears is do not bring me problems, and then they stop bringing you problems.
What is a stock reason and why does it matter so much?
It is the explanation you reach for automatically whenever a number disappoints: the market, the season, staff, HMRC, the bank. Its danger is that it is often partly true, which makes it feel like analysis rather than habit. The test is how many quarters you have now been using it. If the thing you blamed last quarter is never going to change, then it is a condition you operate inside rather than a cause you are addressing, and you need a plan that assumes it stays. Write yours on a card and keep it where you do your monthly review.