At work, we have a new team as a result of a recent reorg and we have our team launch meeting next week.
One of the potential agenda items for the meeting is to establish a Big Hairy Audacious Goal for our team.
If you have an interest in business and/or leadership, you might recognize that term from Jim Collins’ book, Built to Last.
This is what Collins says about BHAGs……..
All companies have goals. But there is a difference between merely “having a goal” and becoming committed to a huge, daunting challenge-like climbing a big mountain. A true BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is clear and compelling and serves as a unifying focal point of effort and acts as a catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines. A BHAG engages people-it reaches out and grabs them in the gut. It is tangible, energizing, highly focused. People “get it” right away; it takes little or no explanation.
Some good info from Collins at a time of year when lots of goal setting is going on.
Does your team/organization/company have a goal that meets the BHAG criteria?
The world of business is changing.
Things are global now. The internet has rocked the worlds of marketing, advertising, public relations, and customer service. Information spreads quickly now. The workforce is undergoing a changing of the guard as baby boomers reach retirement age. People work differently now.
The world of business is changing and Fortune Magazine has identified 10 next generation management experts that will help lead the way.
Here are 5 from the list along with their big ideas. Be sure to check out the rest of the list @ Fortune Magazine here.
1 // BJ Fogg
Mobile technology will be the most powerful way to influence consumers in the next 15 years.
2 // Patrick Lencioni
Most executives don’t realize that the internal health of a company is key to its success.
3 // Joel Poldony
Business schools must teach real-life problem solving.
4 // Dan Ariely
People are predictably irrational.
5 // Niko Canner
Companies tend to avoid change, or change at the expense of their core strengths.
Seth Godin wrote the following snippet in a blog post today. Sounds like a good idea to me.
Connect teams to each other.
How much is on the line when a company puts ten people in three offices on a quest to launch a major new product in record time? The question, then, is why wouldn’t they be willing to spend a little more to hire a team concierge? Someone to manage Basecamp and conference calls and scheduling and document source control to be sure the right people have the right information at the right time… I don’t think most organizations can hire someone to do this full time, but I bet this is a great specialty for someone who is good at it.
I work on very large system development projects. Our project teams usually include team members from all over the country and across the globe. We work together in a virtual office. It would be cool to have a project team concierge to help keep us organized and tie us all together.
I will add this to my Christmas wish list.
I bet your organization has enthusiasts.
en⋅thu⋅si⋅ast [en-thoo-zee-ast, -ist]
-noun
1. a person who is filled with enthusiasm for some principle, pursuit, etc.; a person of ardent zeal
Enthusiasts……..
- are super-passionate about a particular area
- are usually very knowledgeable, very skilled, experts in the area that they are enthusiastic about
- are often enthusiastic about areas outside of their normal role or day-to-day activities
- will devote extra time and extra effort to their area of enthusiasm even if they are not required to do it or rewarded for doing it
- love to team up with and connect with other enthusiasts
How does your organization deal with the enthusiasts within it?
- Encourage them? or discourage them?
- Quiet them? or give them a voice?
- Fill their schedules with work that they are not enthusiastic about? or give them time (maybe even resources) to pursue their area of enthusiasm?
- Provide ways for them to connect with each other? or isolate them?
Enthusiasts are a valuable asset to your organization. Take advantage of their enthusiasm.
I recently started reading a book by Dr. Henry Cloud titled integrity: the courage to meet the demands of reality.
In the book, Dr. Cloud describes a concept he calls The Wake.
Just as a boat leaves a wake behind as it moves through the water, each of us leave a wake behind as we move through an organization.
Cloud says this about The Wake…….
And just as with a boat, there are always two sides to the wake that a leader or someone else leaves when moving through our lives or the life of an organization.
The two sides of the wake are:
1 // The task
2 // The relationships
The wake is the results we leave behind. And the wake doesn’t lie and it doesn’t care about excuses. It is what it is. No matter what we try to do to explain why, or to justify what the wake is, it still remains.
A few questions for us to think about.
The task. What did I accomplish?
The relationships. How did I deal with people?
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