At the beginning of the year, just after the holidays, we hear a lot about good resolutions. How to choose them, how to keep them — we even talk about it on the news! And are you taking advantage of January to update your life and business goals? Or are you the kind of guy who thinks you have to give your 120% all year round?
If this is your philosophy, it is to your credit! But you should also know that the start of a new year is a really good time for in-depth reflection. Particularly when it comes to defining your company’s objectives and implementing strategic growth. So if you are interested in the exercise, read this article: you will find several elements to support your action!
Why use the beginning of the year to define your company’s goals?
As you know, a business owner’s daily life is very busy! We are busy managing our operations, so we don’t always have time to think about things. When we do that, it is often to solve a problem. And when you’re trying to think about the future, the context isn’t always favorable. Defining the growth and goals of your business when you’re mentally tired is not ideal!
That’s why the start of the year is a good time to reflect. Most of the time, you come back from vacation and your activities are still slow after the holidays. This means you have more energy and time to devote to the future of your business. In addition, your self-awareness will act as a trigger to help you determine your strategy for the coming year. In short, this is a great time to define your company’s goals!
The BHAG: a challenge to define business objectives that really move you forward!
It’s all well and good to think about the future of your business, but it still needs to be structured. An excellent tool to guide you is the BHAG. Don’t be surprised by the meaning of this acronym, which is a smile: Big Hairy Audacious Goal! In short, a challenging and daring challenge that comes after you, that takes you to the brink!
The BHAG is a unique business development expert and bestsellers author, Jim Collins, who has put you in a unique position to help drive long-term progress rather than focusing on the next year or the year after. It’s a mechanism that encourages you to set business objectives that will come to fruition in 5 or even 10 years!
You’re saying it’s too long? That the economic environment doesn’t allow for so much advance planning? That a whole host of events could happen between now and then to thwart your plans? Think again! And, most importantly, keep in mind this golden rule: objectives that aim only to increase the efficiency of operations tend to limit creative thinking. Specific, difficult objectives, on the other hand, force us to think outside the box.
That’s why many corporate goals do not change much. To stimulate your growth, you need to think beyond traditional statements such as “improve our productivity.” A powerful mechanism like the BHAG must be chosen. Don’t limit yourself to defining a simple objective, but choose a real, tangible, energizing and highly targeted challenge. A baseline to focus your efforts. The best BHAG will be the one that gives you an idea of your long-term development AND a sense of urgency. Little explanation is needed to understand this. You need to be able to phrase it in just a few words!
And once the BHAG has been defined, what do we do?
Of course, defining a BHAG as a business objective is not enough. To achieve your goal in 5 or 10 years, you will have to take steps in the right direction and take certain actions now! So once you’ve got your BHAG in mind, what should you do? Once again, a solid structure will be your best ally!
To understand this, let’s start with BHAG: have five well-established offices within 10 years. If the company has only 2 employees, this is a bold challenge! But to do so, we must segment the actions to be taken over different periods. So first, imagine the medium-term future. What actions will have to be taken in the next 3 or 5 years? Then think about the year that starts. What can you do over the next 12 months to get closer to your target? And once this year is over, divide again and plan your actions for each of the next quarters. It’s finally time to set your corporate goals for the year! But this time, these objectives will truly propel you towards growth!
You’re probably starting to see the value in that, right? By focusing on one big action like BHAG, you can avoid spreading yourself too thinly over 10,000 different corporate objectives. This creates a funnel effect that helps you define the next steps. And if you happen to get lost along the way, all you have to do is refocus on your ultimate goal. In short, having a BHAG helps you to look further ahead… and that’s very motivating too!
Need help defining your business objectives?
There’s no denying it: the BHAG theory is brilliant… on paper. However, it must be recognized that for many entrepreneurs, it is not always easy to realize. Between operations to be maintained, human resources management, emergencies to be addressed and new business development, there is not always enough time to properly invest in the future. And sometimes you just don’t have enough time to clearly see the corporate objectives to define!
So if you’re interested in the exercise, but you can’t do it alone for different reasons, think about using outside resources. For example, at WizeBA Inc., we offer personalized support to managers and the team. Our business analysts help you align your winning objectives with efficient business processes, and make this transition as smooth as possible.
At the beginning of the year, we wish you every success in meeting your ambitions.!