To achieve your business’s BHAG, train like a triathlete
Every year, you probably identify a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) for your team. It typically sounds something like this: “This will be the year we change our sales culture” or “We’re going to improve member engagement.”
Goals that are big and audacious tend to be difficult to achieve, often because they deal with making comprehensive changes or achieving something that’s off the charts compared to what you’ve done before. So how do you make sure you and your team successfully tame the BHAG?
Pretend you are training to accomplish a personal BHAG like a triathlon.
You would never get up one day and attempt a triathlon out of the blue. Instead, you would most likely begin the process of preparation and conditioning about four to six months before race day. This is particularly true if you’ve never done a triathlon before, but even seasoned athletes train up for such a major event.
Let’s look at how applying a training mindset in a professional setting can help you accomplish your organizational goals.
- Perform an Assessment
To achieve big goals, you need to have the proper tools and a good understanding of their current condition. If you were planning to tackle a triathlon, there are several things you would want to consider before beginning your training regimen. You’d probably start by reviewing your current physical condition, whether you have the appropriate gear, how skilled you are at each type of event, what your goal is (completion or specific times), and so forth.
Applying this to your business, the first step toward accomplishing a significant goal should be an assessment of the current conditions and the tools required. For instance, you’ll want to consider what your vision is, whether you’ve identified the right people for the task, what tools the team will need, the current state of affairs, how you will define success, etc.
- Create a Training Plan
Most triathletes (or aspiring triathletes) don’t start by swimming one mile or running seven. They start small and build. Often, this involves mapping out a written plan of activities and interim goals that they refer to frequently throughout their train-up period. By following a methodical plan with defined goals, they’re able to build their capability and gradually increase their performance until they reach the desired end state.
Setting interim goals along a defined timeline is a great way to achieve progress toward a major goal of any type. When you put those goals in writing along with a plan for how you will take steps toward reaching them, you can hold yourself and your team accountable. Creating realistic goals, measuring progress regularly, and celebrating small wins along the way can help your organization stay on track to reach an end state that might otherwise seem unobtainable.
- Push Yourself, Pace Yourself
In many ways, training up for a triathlon is more difficult than completing the race itself. Preparing adequately requires time, determination, mental and emotional stamina, the ability to balance competing priorities (such as work, home and family), and of course physical strength. Unless you’re a professional athlete, the triathlon is just one of many things you’re trying to accomplish. That means you have to both push yourself and also pace yourself.
Likewise, your credit union has a lot more to do each day than focus on one particular BHAG. To be successful, you’ve got to recognize how a particular goal fits in to the rest of the organization’s requirements and rhythms. You can build and maintain momentum by remembering to both push yourself (through meetings and leadership emphasis) and pace yourself (through awareness of competing requirements and management of time or money invested in the effort). Throughout this process, it’s crucial to keep the finish line in sight and recognize what you’re accomplishing along the way.
- Reach the Finish Line
Throughout the train-up period and on the day of the big race, a triathlete feels all sorts of emotions ranging from fear to elation to downright exhaustion. The best feeling is the sense of accomplishment when you cross the finish line.
The same is true for the business BHAG. There will be all sorts of emotions on the journey to achieving your goal. When you and your team cross the finish line together, you’ll have an unbeatable sense of shared accomplishment. So enjoy it when you get there, and use that feeling to help you start planning your next endeavor.
