Big Hairy Audacious Goal BHAG: Definition + Examples

But there is magic in the gulp factor, magic in the unknown. A great BHAG will cause your team to stretch beyond the obvious and beyond the status quo. Just like stretching a rubber band creates energy, stretching your team also creates energy. And committing to a goal that you don’t know how you will achieve creates an environment of innovation. In addition to energy and innovation, a great BHAG will also provide inspiration. It gives people a vision of what the future might look like if everyone pulls together and gives their individual best to the collective effort.

To empower people and businesses to achieve more through technology. Microsoft has consistently pushed the envelope of innovation, from the release of Windows 95 in 1995 to its current efforts in developing the latest version of its flagship Windows operating system. Objectives and key results are a goal-setting methodology to help teams set measurable goals. Typically, Objectives are year-long goals set at the department or organization level. Key Results, which track progress towards the objective, can be set at the department, team, or individual level, and can span anywhere from a month to a year. Before you get started drafting your own Big Hairy Audacious Goals, take a look at some example BHAGs.

• The end of the year is typically a time spent scrambling to do all the things you need to get done but still haven’t finished.
• A regular cause of a blocked story card is inter-team dependencies.
• The sheer boldness of your goal is a mechanism that will stimulate progress, forcing you to dramatically improve in order to achieve it.
• For example, Apollo 11 didn’t walk on the moon until 1969.
• In 1965 seventeen year-old Fred Deluca had a 10 year goal to have 32 submarine sandwich shops.
• The goal isn’t meant to be easily attained, as are most goals.

After the statement of a BHAG, no one has any questions in mind, and everyone knows what the aim is due to its clear nature. First and foremost is that a BHAG is a long-term goal that changes the very essence of a team’s existence. Because of this, a BHAG will outlive a typical OKR cycle, as BHAGs are usually crafted for commitments 10 to 30 years out. For example, Apollo 11 didn’t walk on the moon until 1969. Simply put, a BHAG is a goal that pushes boundaries and challenges the company to reach ambitious goals. It sits in the same OKR family as a stretch goal, a 10x or “moonshot” goal, or an aspirational goal in that they all seem to defy possibility.

BHAGs are just as important in your personal life as in your professional career. In 1965 seventeen year-old Fred Deluca had a 10 year goal to have 32 submarine sandwich shops. Not only did he beat the goal, but he recognized early on the importance of keeping a long term goal in front of himself and his team. Keep in thoughts that your SMART targets must be so specific you could’t really read someone else’s example of 1 and apply it on to your life.

How to Write a Company Mission Statement

This is comparable to a SMART formulated objective, which not only has to specifically state what the final goal is, but must also be measurable, acceptable, realistic and time-bound. Guerrilla marketing is the use of novel or unexpected marketing and promotional techniques by a brand or business. Collins and Porras commonly abbreviate it as BHAG, which is pronounced bee hag. Read the rest of the world’s best summary of “Good to Great” at Shortform . Learn the book’s critical concepts in 20 minutes or less .

But for me, the ultimate goal is having the freedom to do work I believe in and enjoy. My purpose in life is to move peoples’ lives, and that begins with moving my own. This kind of BHAG is precisely bhag examples what my followers want from me. This is how we inspire, change lives, and change narratives around aging and decrepitude. My BHAG is to digitalize 98% of our services within a period of five years.

As such, it should ideally have at least a 50% chance of success. To bring technology closer to humanity and enhance individual lives by providing consumers with easier access to technology that furthers their ability to create whatever they can imagine or dream up. In practice, BHAGs and vision statements are pretty similar.

What Is the Difference Between Corporate Vision and BHAG?

Am I excited about talking about this particular subject to my audience or do I do it just for the views? ” I believe that you can only be fulfilled in your business if you like every single aspect of it. So, I’m quite decided to sieve out any part I don’t like and focus on anything that gives me that dopamine rush.

Hedgehogs are simple creatures that understand what they do best and are laser-focused on doing that one thing. When you use this concept to understand what is necessary for a successful BHAG, you understand that the goal must be laser-focused. You can’t scatter your energy, but instead must be sure that everything you do is a means to move forward toward your goal. Simply put, a BHAG is a long-term goal that changes the very nature of your business’s existence. The goal needs to be one that is designed to be long-term yet create an urgency to get it done. The goal isn’t meant to be easily attained, as are most goals.

How to create an action plan that drives results

Even if you leave the company one day, you want to make sure that your BHAG still lives on. But the target can also be quantitative, like the WhatMatters.com team’s goal of helping another 1,000 teams achieve operating excellence through OKRs together. Let’s check out some particular examples of SMART targets, with a focus on those you might set at work, or for purchasers.

Averaging $1 revenue from every man, woman, and child in the U.S. per week is Fred Deluca’s 2010 focus for Subway. Establishing particular targets units us up for success quite than failure. Keep in thoughts that your SMART goals should be so particular that you can’t really learn someone else’s example of one and apply it on to your life. Once you are all aligned around the vision, you can start discussing and brainstorming your visionary BHAG.

This BHAG can be about being a dominant force in the industry you are in. If you still think you would need to explain it and improve your employee performance, you can check this guide to employee and personal performance improvement plans. But believe me, if you are implementing BHAGs, you won’t need it. BHAG or Big Hairy Audacious Goals defines a compelling, long-term goal that aims to inspire the employees of a brand.

What is one clear, compelling and measurable goal that will be reached when the vision becomes a reality? You may even be able to combine a few ideas into one measure of success. Which of these ideas seem to convey the feeling and spirit of the vision? In order for a company to be great, the people in the organization must be fully committed and engaged in their work. This requires engaging their hearts along with their heads. The idea is not to work to get people passionate about what they are doing, it is to make a strategic decision to do the work that naturally inspires passion in your people.

This can typically be announced during the daily stand-up. Agile project teams will maintain electronic and/or physical card walls to track the progress of work over an iteration. Learn how transformational leadership can help you shift to a team mindset and achieve big, daring goals in your business. Neither is a guaranteed win, but like The Little Engine That Could, you think you can, you think you can. And that stretch goal, aka your BHAG, is what motivates you to think and work differently to reach something bigger than what you thought you could achieve. The key point here is to set BHAGs that are adequate to excite your employees but at the same time everlasting – this rule is valid for all types of BHAG.

Competitive BHAGs

Learn the three key steps to establish, revise or launch your BHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goal. We can use your profile and the content you share to understand your interests and provide content that is just for you. That’s usually not the case, in fact, I can’t think of a single example of anyone who asked and was flat out told “no”.

These can also be useful if you’re working together with your staff to reset after undertaking your 12 months visionary aim. 20 Examples of Goals to Set for 2020 to Improve Your Life1. Take a 30 minute stroll during your lunch break thrice per week. Setting targets might help you achieve each short and long run achievements. You can set professional and personal objectives to improve your career.

I look forward to making a more significant impact and building my brand as a leader in the people/culture and health/wellness space. Before setting this BHAG, identify what makes your role model successful. You don’t want to be a carbon copy of the role model company. Instead, identify one aspect that they’ve succeeded at and emulate that.

Sometimes, doing a good job and serving your customers is more than enough. While larger in scope than OKRs, strategic plans are smaller in scope than BHAGs. Depending on your BHAG, create a strategic plan to get you part of the way towards your goal.