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Rhythm 2.0 - Think About Your Long Term Strategy - BHAG

By Ryan Walcott

dateTue, Oct 15, 2013 @ 10:00 AM

Do you have a long term strategic goal that serves to both focus and motivate your company’s people to achieve growth and greatness?  Jim Collins teaches that one of the key differences between “good” and “great” companies is that the great ones have a 10-25 year Big Hairy Audacious Goal or “BHAG.”  Your BHAG should focus your team and stretch your company to achieve greatness.

Rhythm 2.0 has some great new features to help you determine the right strategy, execute your plan, and grow your business.  We like to talk about these in terms of three basic categories:  Think, Plan, and Do.

Think is all about establishing a rhythm of strategic thinking in your team to create focus for the future of your business.

The Long Term Strategy area of Rhythm gives you a place to work on where you are going and who you want with you on the bus as the company continues its growth journey.

When we speak of Long Term Strategy, we mean specifically your Core Values, Core Purpose, BHAG , and your Core Competencies.  We created a whole new Strategic Workbench area in Rhythm for you to hammer out these items with your team to grow your business.  This blog is going to focus on using Rhythm to work with your team to determine your BHAG.

So why does it matter to have a BHAG anyway?  I’ve spoken to some entrepreneurs that say “I’m growing so fast already, I can’t even think about 3 years from now, let alone 10.  What’s the point?”  My response to that statement is "where there is no vision, the people and/or company perish."  That seems a bit harsh, but it is true.  Understanding your BHAG will help you to say "Yes" to the right decisions and "No" to the rest. A good BHAG will provide focus and alignment to your organization. It will enable innovation and success in a way that is not possible otherwise.  Rhythm 2.0 gives you a place to work on your BHAG with your team through learning and collaboration.

I recommend you start by learning from our new Rhythm University.  Here you will find a robust and effective set of videos, articles, and tools to help you determine the right BHAG for your firm.  Next, use our new BHAG screen and collaboration capabilities in Rhythm to work on your BHAG together as a team.  The BHAG work area in Rhythm will help you see that your BHAG is determined by first understanding your Core Purpose, what you are potentially Best in the World at, and your Financial Driver (profit/X).

 

Rhythm 2.0   Think About Your Long Term Strategy   BHAG

 

You can use the BHAG screen to record your thinking as you work with your team on your BHAG in and out of planning sessions.  For example, you may decide to work on your BHAG at your next strategic or quarterly planning session with your executive team.  You make good progress, but we know that determining your BHAG can take many months of Think work, so you aren’t able to finish.  You can then continue the thinking on your BHAG as a team outside your session by commenting on your thoughts in Rhythm until you are able to make a final decision.  Your Rhythm Coach will also help you along the way by sharing resources and insights from their own experiences in helping other teams.

 

Rhythm 2.0   Think About Your Long Term Strategy   BHAG Comments

 

This ability to comment gives your team a powerful tool to continue a think rhythm on your strategy between planning sessions so that you can share learnings and insights to make better decisions faster.

Using Rhythm can help you determine a true BHAG that is clear and compelling, serves as a unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a catalyst for team spirit. 

Ok, so you’ve figured out your BHAG.  Now what?  Go get it done.  Use the most powerful dashboarding software in the world to create your winning moves, key thrusts, and execution plans to achieve your BHAG in record time while enjoying the journey along the way.  I’ll talk about how to do that in future blogs.

I already showed you how to use Rhythm 2.0 to collaborate with your team to determine your Brand Promise that will help you attract the right customers and grow your sales. Next time I will show you how to use Rhythm 2.0 to collaborate with your team to determine your Brand Promise Guarantee that will help you turbo-charge your Brand Promise results.

Helping you grow,

Ryan

 

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Ryan Walcott

 

Photo Credit: iStock by Getty Images