The Six Aims of Any Service?

By Jørgen Ejler Pedersen, 4/29/2024

He did this very well, and I quickly picked up on the common thread – from goal to method and on to means.  

We aim to create value for and with society through research, education and collaborations of the highest international quality by retaining, developing and recruiting talented people and excellent environments.  

Value, quality, people, as he put it.  

But, but, but, how do I translate these abstract goals into concrete goals in my everyday life, I thought, and that’s when an idea struck me.  

Might Donald Berwick’s humorous translation of ‘The Six Aims of Medicine’ be of use to me?  

Drawing on his own experience as ‘a patient with a bad knee’, Berwick, himself a doctor, professor and former director of the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, translated the 6 goals for healthcare into:  

1. Don’t kill me (security)  
2. Only do something that works (effect) 
3. Don’t keep me waiting (flow) 
4. Focus on my needs, not yours (user focus) 
5. Don’t waste the taxpayers’ money (efficiency) 
6. Do it for me and everyone else (healthcare equality) 

And my idea is, really, what would those goals be if I was a student on your study programme?  

Could it be something like:  

1. Don’t kill my desire to study (security) 
2. Only teach me something that works (effect) 
3. Don’t keep me waiting (flow) 
4. Focus on my needs, not yours (user focus) 
5. Don’t waste the taxpayers’ money (efficiency) 
6. Do it for me and everyone else (equality in the education system).  

And could these goals actually be ‘the 6 goals’ for every service you and I provide to each other, because we are in fact all customers in each other’s ‘shop’:  

1. Don’t kill my desire to visit your shop (security) 
2. Only sell me something that works (effect) 
3. Don’t keep me waiting (flow) 
4. Focus on my needs, not yours (customer focus)  
5. Don’t waste the taxpayers’ money (efficiency) 
6. Do it for me and everyone else who visits your store (equality).  

Maybe – or maybe not – my translation has got you thinking.  

It has certainly got me thinking, with a particular focus on what I ought to deliver to you next time you visit ‘my shop’.   

Reference: 
Berwick, Donald M, Improving patient care. My right knee, Ann Intern Med. 2005 Jan 18;142(2):121-5. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-142-2-200501180-00011.