January is practically finished and hardly any organisation isn’t just about to determine (if it hasn’t done so already) its new objectives for the year just begun. Usually, after the ambitious goal is defined, here comes a whole lot of measures, control systems and at times a bit too heavyish procedures and practices aiming at facilitating or securing its implementation. It seems quite a sensible approach which isn’t losing popularity among both managing practitioners and theoreticians. What can perhaps generate only a little problem is a fact that such an attitude entails a lot of bureaucracy which rarely leads to extraordinary results.
Be the rudder or the wind?
The followers of heavy-handed management and control will set targets to others and then assess their progress. On the other side there are theoreticians pointing at the examples from history that people are achieving exceptional things only if allowed to improvise and experiment, that is – guided by initiative and creativity – to turn aside from the path marked out by their superiors. The choice between these two, let’s admit, quite extreme conceptions is not coming easy to every organization.
Big Hairy Audacious Goal – the strength of common ideas.
In Espeo, we believe, on one hand, that if you want to reach a particular destination you need to know where and what it is, and, on the other hand, we all agree that the goal needs to be yours. Without these two provisions it is hard to speak about genuine motivation that will make accomplishing it every single day possible.
This is how our BHAG (or Big Hairy Audacious Goal) that we jointly want to realize until 2020 came into existence. How was it born exactly? Not during sophisticated and protracted meetings of the management board, and not as a result of marketing specialists’ brainstorming, I assure you. We developed it altogether during our last year’s integration trip, between evenings at the bonfire and kayak capsizings. Long we worked on bringing to a clear definition of what we cared about, what values we identified with, and what could stand for a guarantee of success in our other undertakings in the years to come.
Daring? Maybe. Bold? Probably.
Our BHAG has turned out surprisingly plain: until the end of the year 2020 we want to become the best employer in the IT industry in Poland. Though the statement is everything but complicated, we realize with all responsibility, that its implementation is going to be a complex process. Some might say – a breakneck undertaking.
The first steps are already behind us and because we really mean it, we decided to announce it accordingly and to regularly enjoy our succeeding milestones in public. We invite all those who are truly delighted by our goal and those who feel they want to keep their fingers crossed for us to stay tuned! We’ve just taken on the challenge!
Welcome to an Espeo BHAG series!