Getting to Outcomes: Step 02. Goals and Desired Outcomes

What Is This Step?

In Step 1, you selected the top priorities to address and identified your target population. In Step 2, you will specify both broad goals and specific changes, called desired outcomes, that you want to achieve for your target population. A goal is a broad statement that represents the overall impact you would like to achieve through your program. A desired outcome is a way to make goals more specific. For example, it can target certain attitudes, skills, or actual behaviors in your target population.

Another key part of GTO Step 2 is creating a logic model for your program.

A Logic Model

• is a visual map of the route from needs and resources to goals and desired outcomes to program activities to actual outcomes
• is a flow chart of building blocks that allows you to clarify assumptions about how each step builds on the preceding until the desired outcome is reached
• lets you easily see whether there are any gaps in the logic of your program

Why Is This Step Important?

It is important to set a goal and desired outcomes to ensure that

• everyone involved “is on the same page” with what you are trying to accomplish
• you have benchmarks so you know when your program is working as planned
• you are collecting the right evaluation data to assess progress toward your goals and desired outcomes

It is important to have a logic model for your program to

• show the relationships between needs, goals and desired outcomes, program activities, and results (outcomes)
• help you tell a compelling story (“create a value case”) of how your program is addressing a problem your community cares about
• visually represent a road map for GTO steps

How Do I Carry Out This Step?

Start with the results of your needs and resources assessment from GTO Step 1. From there, write at least one goal that addresses the problems identified. For each goal, specify a related desired outcome, using the SMART Desired Outcomes Tool to help create desired outcome statements that specify what you want to change, who you want to change, how much change you expect, and when the change will occur. Then use the Logic Model Tool to link the problem or community risk and the resources or capabilities to the goals. Ask whether your goals and desired outcomes address the problems identified. Write down different program activities, or even specific programs, that would help achieve the desired outcomes. You will finalize the decision about the specific program in later GTO steps. If you have a program in mind, make sure that you understand the community risks and problems it targets and outcomes it has achieved.

Tools Used in This Step

Logic Model Tool

A visual map of the route from needs and resources goals and desired outcomes program activities actual outcomes.

Logic Model Tool

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• Instructions
• Example

Instructions

1. Make as many copies of this tool as necessary for you and your co-workers to complete this task. You may want to develop rough drafts as you work and then transfer the final details to a clean copy. Plan to work on this tool as you progress through the steps, not all at once.
2. Have copies of your completed Step 1 tools available for everyone working on the Logic Model Tool.
3. Have information about any programs you are considering using, such as descriptions of their goals, curricula, or procedures and existing reports on evaluations.
4. Moving down each column from left to right, first identify the needs and resources in your community that are relevant to your program.
5. Next, write in the goals and SMART desired outcomes you hope to achieve from the program(s) you are considering.
6. In the next box, write in the EBPH approach and/or programs you have identified to address your goals and desired outcomes based on community needs and resources. If you have not yet chosen your program, you will have the opportunity to think through that choice further in GTO Step 3. When you make your pick, you can return to this tool and link specific parts of the chosen program to specific goals and desired outcomes.
7. In the next box, define program activities that will make the program happen. Doing GTO Steps 4–6 and finally selecting a program will help identify the items for this list.
8. In GTO Steps 7 and 8, you will determine how you will assess the quality of the program delivery and how you will assess the success of the program on achieving your goals and desired outcomes. You can complete these sections of the Logic Model Tool at that time.

Example

• Completed by: Project team/manager
• Date: January
• Program:  

* This is a GTO logic model that has been in use for over a decade. While it is not a traditional logic model, it serves to highlight the key decisions made across the GTO steps as one moves through the flow of creating and implementing a program.

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Step Checklist

When you finish working on this step, you should have:

• Established program goals that explicitly link to the findings from Step 1
• Identified specific desired outcomes for each goal that are linked to your goals using the SMART framework
• Completed the Step 2 Desired Outcomes Tool
• Begun to construct a logic model

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Before Moving On

Now you are ready to take the information from Steps 1 and 2 and use it to help you develop more of information about the program or potential programs you are considering. The next four GTO steps (3 through 5) lead you through selecting the best evidence-based approaches to achieve your goals and desired outcomes (Step 3). In these steps, you will assess possible program choices and select the program that you conclude is most suitable for your local area and target populations (Step 4) and that you have the organizational capacity (Step 5) to actually implement.