When setting strategic goals for an organisation you need to have a long term goal 10 – 20 years out. A 10 – 20 year goal is referred to as a ‘BHAG’ or Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Once the long term goal is set, you can then work back and set goals 3 – 5 years out. From there, you work back and set 1 year goals. Doing this you can then see your goals and priorities line up. You can then also see if you have a good chance of achieving your 10 or 20 year goal. When I say a good chance, I mean around a 70% chance at this point.
What must be kept in the back of your mind is that: “Most people over-estimate what they can do in a year, and under-estimate what they can do in a decade.” I have witnessed a number of companies setting 10 year goals and achieving them in year 7 or 8, so make sure your 10 or 20 year BHAG is big enough to seriously stretch the organisation in achieving it.
A great tool to use to assist in the process of strategic direction and goals is the ‘Gazelles International One Page Strategic Plan‘. This plan allows flexibility which is needed today for businesses with the volume and speed of change.
