There’s a big difference between hoping for a win and creating a win.

I want the team to feel positive, like we’re getting somewhere and doing something. To do that, our goals need to be specific, measurable, and defined. We have to know what we’re going to accomplish and when we’re going to do it. We don’t want to get to the end of a two-week period and ask, “Did we do it?”

We also want the timeframe to be short. I don’t want a ten-year goal or even a five-year goal. That’s too long. The team needs to win quickly. I want two- or three-week goals.

For example, a campus pastor didn’t have enough small groups and needed to create more. We settled on goal of 22 new groups in 22 days. I loved this goal. It was specific, measurable, defined, and short term. Because of that, they actually generated 22 groups in 12 days. How? There was a short-term win. As a result, this team experienced positive momentum and positive organizational esteem.

That’s why I coined a new term. Maybe you’ve heard the term BHAG: a Big, Hairy Audacious Goal—like tripling the size of the church or doubling revenue. That’s huge. But I coined a different term: SBAG. This may sound funny, but it's a great kind of goal.

What’s an SBAG? A Stretching But Achievable Goal.

Yes, we want some BHAGs, but we want a lot of SBAGs. The “achievable” aspect of an SBAG is key. We want to knock it out in a week, three weeks, or six weeks max. If we stretch ourselves, we'll be able to achieve it.

If we don’t hit a BHAG, we feel like we lost. In reality, we may have actually grown significantly along the way, but we missed it because we didn't reach the BHAG. So don’t just have BHAGs, but create SBAGs, too.