CMLE is here to help you with all kinds of information and ideas! This series provides weekly small bits of training on leadership, management, and supervision skills. We have heard from our members that this is an issue they would like to have more training to meet. And I have been a researcher and trainer for many years, focusing on library management, leadership, and administration.
Follow this series using our tag (see end of the article!); and if you want to talk about your own leadership development, or to set up some training in your library, we are here for you!
This week we are looking at BHAGs!
What are your BHAGs? How are your tracking them? Do you have regular BHAG meetings?
If this is not a term you are using regularly – don’t worry! You don’t need to visit a doctor with a BHAG (though, I guess you can? if that’s part of yours??), and it’s much less scary than it sounds. (Few, if any, actual monsters are involved!)
BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal.
You know when you start making plans for the future, and make those plans that are maybe juuuuusssstttt slightly out of reach? Those are BHAGs! This is dreaming big, having exciting goals for yourself and your library! It’s the big time!
We just had our Fall planning meeting this week here at CMLE HQ, and we are filled with BHAGs!! We love setting scary-level goals, and then trying to hit them. Things do not always work out perfectly, but it’s good to try! We are starting an online training series, a daily book newsletter, and a second, book-themed/Reader’s Advisory podcast. I’m terrified! Will we be able to actually do these things? Will they turn out great (or at least useful/fun)? Will our members like them?? I don’t know! And that is the excitement of BHAGs!
BHAGs let you push beyond the ideas people expect from you. They give you permission to try new things, to go a new way, or to radically ramp up what you are already doing. Failure is an option – but it’s not fatal. BHAGs are, by their nature, tough to achieve. Sometimes it’s the journey, not the destination.
Making the effort to dream big, to do great things – this is what gives you the chance for huge successes!!
It’s okay to play it safe sometimes – but if you want to improve, and to become better than you are today, a BHAG may be just the thing!
Fall, and back-to-school time in general, is a good time to set some goals for your library. If you have not yet had a chance to think about your goals – for yourself, for your department, or for your whole organization – now is the time. And if you want to throw in a few audacious goals, CMLE supports you!
Here are a few readings, if you want to explore a little more:
- What’s Your BHAG? How to Create a Big Hairy Audacious Goal
- Big Hairy Audacious Goal (Wikipedia)
- BHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goal
- How to Achieve Big Hairy Audacious Goals
- What Is a BHAG, and Why Do You Need One?
Go dream big this week!
Do you have BHAGs to share? Tell us below!