Just what everyone wants to read… an ode to objectives.
Why this topic? Because someone has to love the inner workings of learning and experience design. And I do.
Recently, a number of conversations with clients, co-leads, collaborators, and co-learners have circled around objectives. Outcomes. Aims. Intentions. The language changes. The function, less so (arguably, and fairly, depending on who you ask).
There is often a reflex to disengage when this topic surfaces. That response makes sense. Still, it may be worth staying with it for a moment.

Beyond "Curriculum Furniture"

Objectives are often treated as curriculum furniture. Necessary. Structural. Slightly uninspiring.
Another way to think about them is as anchors. Or roots. Or something quietly adhesive — a structure that holds shape beneath the surface while the visible form keeps moving.
Many people enter facilitation, leadership, or learning design from outside formal education spaces. Attention naturally moves toward content: what will be shared, taught, discussed, or covered. That focus is deeply human. Content feels concrete. Tangible. Knowable. Often safe.
Over time, another layer tends to reveal itself.
Objectives hold the why that content serves.

The Felt Experience of Clear Intention

When that deeper layer is present (even when it is never explicitly named) something often shifts inside a room.
The experience holds coherence. Movement. Direction. There is a subtle sense of arc: something is unfolding, and it is unfolding together.
Participants do not always need to know the objective cognitively in order to feel it. The body often recognizes when learning is guided. When attention is held with care. When there is a sense of orientation.
Objectives can easily become administrative artifacts. Checkboxes. To‑do items. Documentation requirements.
They can also function as quiet structure.
Structure that shapes how attention moves.
Structure that organizes meaning.
Structure that builds trust

An Edge to Explore in Practice

he next time something relatively simple is being led — a meeting, a one‑hour session, or a meaningful conversation — consider setting two internal anchors:
  • One cognitive objective: What thinking, sense-making, or clarity might shift? What new distinction, framework, or understanding might participants be able to articulate, apply, or work with?
  • One affective objective: What might participants feel, experience, or relate to differently?
There is no need to announce these objectives. There is no need to overwork them.
Simply hold them.
Then observe:
  • What gets emphasized?
  • What gets released?
  • What gets protected?
  • What actually lands?
The practice looks simple.
And it often is, and isn’t, at the same time.

The Quieter Discipline

Working with objectives in this way becomes less about instructional precision and more about intentional presence. It invites leadership and facilitation to operate at the level of intention, not just activity.
It is a quieter discipline, one that continues to evolve through practice, reflection, and shared learning.

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Why This Work Matters to Me

I've been asking the same two questions since I began exploring learning in college and soon after as an educator: 

What does it mean to bring the whole of the learner to the table?
And what does it mean to bring all learners to the table?

These questions have shaped every chapter of my work. From beginning as an ESL teacher, to supporting neurodivergent college learners, to coaching faculty and facilitators in Universal Design for Learning, and more recently co-designing leadership and professional development programs. Each experience has deepened the questions rather than replaced them. 

In short, I love learning. Learning at its best is alive, dynamic, and good hard work (the brain and body are making changes, this requires energy!). Looking back, I see that these questions were always deeply personal. Traditional learning environments didn't quite fit the way I learned. And while I didn't have the language for that when I was younger, those experiences quietly shaped how I think about learning today. 

I'm most interested in creating learning and human development experiences that invite more people, and more of each person, into the aliveness of learning. 

For me, that means continually learning how to invite the whole person into the learning process, including emotions, relationships, and embodied ways of knowing. It also means designing with human variability in mind, creating multiple ways for learners to engage, participate, and demonstrate what they're learning.

These days, I partner with coaches, facilitators, educators, and organizations to design learning that is experiential, inclusive, and grounded. My hope is that people leave not only with new ideas, but with experiences that stay with them, shape how they lead, and create lasting change for good. 
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