OGL 482 Pro-Seminar II

Unit 3 Assignment:
Career Plan Template
1) What is your BHAG (***one amazingly HUGE, your world changing goal***)?

I want to create a LGBTQIA+ based community center that is a non-profit organization

aimed at teaching kids and adults’ basic life skills. This would include financial
education, cooking skills, basic home maintenance repairs, sewing skills, and other
activities that often get left behind during the typical K-12 public education system.

2) Why is this your BHAG?

I see a huge need for accessible information regarding everyday life occurrences in my
community and in America overall. It is getting increasingly difficult for young children
to find a “third place” or a place where one can spend time without having to spend
money. As a queer individual, I want my organization to be LGBTQIA+ inclusive and
accessible for all who might need it. Additionally, I’ve met many grown adults from
multiple walks of life who have expressed interest in learning how to better manage their
finances, home, and life skills that they simply were not taught in their education journey.
Creating a non-profit organization like this feels like an impossible task but
accomplishing the establishment of this organization feels like it would be well worth the
effort needed and certainly worth devoting my life towards its success.

3) How does your BHAG align with your vision statement from Unit 2?

Vision Statement: “I will be a queer leader who breaks through society’s glass ceiling in
my journey to embody a culture that values people’s health and wellbeing, happiness, and
success.”

I absolutely believe that my BHAG aligns well with my vision statement. In my vision
statement I reference the importance of my queer identity which is reflected in my BHAG as
I aim to make a queer-led non-profit organization. Additionally, the concept of the non-
profit being a community center is aimed to improve people’s wellbeing, happiness, and
leading to their future success. I also think that this concept could break down some barriers
to accomplishment for patrons of the community center, thus acting as my way to break
through society’s glass ceiling. Overall, I think working towards and fulfilling my BHAG
will ultimately allow me to accomplish my vision for the future.

4) How does your BHAG align with your mission statement from Unit 2?

1
Last Update: May 2021
 Mission Statement: “My mission is to continuously improve myself to be able to create
great team dynamics via an amiable attitude, servitude, and a positive mindset.”

The connection from my BHAG to my mission statement is less clear than with my
vision statement, yet still present. I do think that I will need to align my values and
actions according to my mission statement if I want to ever acquire my BHAG. This is
because I think that this project will require a well-coordinated team with great dynamics
and will require me to have a positive mindset as I put myself to the test. Working on my
self-improvement will only help as I try to gather the necessary resources and
components needed to kick start the production of my BHAG.

List your top five (5) obstacles in order from number 5 being least difficult and
number 1 being most difficult you need to overcome in order to obtain your BHAG
and explain the relevance of each one.

Obstacle 1: Financial Means

Non-profit organizations require a constant stream of donations and fundraising in
order to continue their daily operations. I expect some of the primary expenses will be
the building that will become the community center as it will require specific amenities.
Such amenities could be a large restaurant style kitchen, a garage area for working on
cars, meeting rooms, offices and more. Additionally, any full-time staff will require
salaries and I wouldn’t want to underpay them so the salaries would be quite costly
overall. There are also certain licenses that the city or state this community center is
located in that will require funds to apply for which costs money.

Obstacle 2: Public Interest

Getting the word out to the public and convincing them to use our services will be
difficult in the beginning. We will have to earn the public’s trust and try to hold their
interests. In an ever-changing society, staying relevant is harder now than ever. Flyers,
advertisements, and posters are some ways in which we can spread information to the
public in addition to social media services. Public libraries offer lots of fantastic
amenities to their patrons but still see a low amount of membership and I suspect that the
community center will have a similar issue in the beginning.

Obstacle 3: Volunteers
One common problem that non-profit organizations share is how they can gain
more volunteers. Often the issue is mismanagement of volunteers which can dissuade
volunteers from coming back and volunteering in the future. Additionally, volunteers can
become burnout if they are relied on too much. So, we’d need a stream of rotating
volunteers who are kept interested in the program and possibly given some incentives to
maintain their relationship with the nonprofit.
2
Last Update: May 2021
 Obstacle 4: Required Licenses and Training
There are multiple licenses and ordinances to keep in mind when running a non-
profit organization. I’ve personally never done this and foresee some difficulty in both
obtaining these documents but also understanding the requirements for them as well.
Additionally, staff would need to be trained both in the organization’s culture and
mission but also in food safety or specific training depending on the area in which they’d
like to assist.

Obstacle 5: Talent Acquisition

Lastly, it could be difficult to find and acquire the right people to teach skills or
courses for the community. There would also be special guests on occasions like
Mercury Stardust, the Trans handy ma’am, who specializes in home repair. This might
require financing for any special guest’s accommodation, like a hotel room and pay for
their time. This could be difficult to afford and organize for a non-profit.

Section 2: Career Vision

Consider your long-term vision for your career. Respond to the following questions, and make
connections to your personal mission statement, your BHAG(s), the themes you developed in
Module 4, and the textbook/supplemental readings (as applicable).

Answer the following:

1) Analyze the type of career you want to have, in terms of an organizational career or
a protean career, make sure it is clear you understand the concepts as outlined in
the textbook. Why?

Within a protean career, an individual is in charge of their career and their success
is self-defined rather than defined by salary or position like with a traditional
organizational career (Harrington & Hall, 2008). I believe that my career will start out in
the traditional organizational settings as I first start to acquire better finances and begin to
manage a team professionally. After a decade or so of organizational experience under
my belt and as my spouse gains his engineering degree, I plan to transition to a more
protean career. Since he’ll be making a decent amount of money, I’ll have the freedom to
focus more on my psychological success and work satisfaction. Eventually, this could
lead to the development of my BHAG.

2) Analyze your career with an explanation as one that moves you up the organization
or one you develop seeking alternative career paths. If you see yourself taking an
alternative career path, which one(s) sound the most likely? Why?

3
Last Update: May 2021
 As I mentioned in my last answer, I’m planning a blend of a traditional
organizational career into a protean career in the later years of my life. Initially, I’d like
to focus on moving up within an organization to acquire more management experience
and a decent salary. After my spouse makes a significant salary, I plan to transition to a
career more catered to my BHAG such as working for a non-profit that supports my
morals and ideals. That will allow me to gain experience with the ins and outs of non-
profit work.

3) Discuss and explain if you see yourself working an alternative or flexible work
schedule/arrangement? If so, which ones and why?

In the beginning, I imagine I will be working in a typical 7am-4pm schedule.

Ideally, I’d be able to use flexible hours as a company benefit but it would depend on the
culture. After obtaining a protean career, I believe there will be more demand for my
time and especially if I am working on my BHAG. But I think that overall, it will feel
less like work and more like a passion since I am highly dedicated to my BHAG.

Reference:
Harrington, B., & Hall, D. T. (2008). Career Management & Work/Life Integration:

Using Self-assessment to navigate contemporary careers. SAGE Publications.

Section 3: Long-Term Strategy

Develop a strategy for moving toward your ideal future work/life situation and the realization of
your BHAG(s). Consider the timeframe for your BHAG(s). Provide a vivid description of life
“the way it will be” once your BHAG is realized.

1) Critically think about and then list out (not a narrative format) the interim steps or
milestones you have laid out for yourself that will aid you in reaching your BHAG
(you should have at least 10 to earn a rating of excellent and be referenced by time)

Graduate with bachelor’s degree May 2024

Begin online certificate courses (Google, June 2024

Microsoft, etc.)

Begin working full-time August, 2024

Acquire a new job with at least $75,000 January 2026

Salary

4
Last Update: May 2021
Decide where it is best to build the January 2026
community center and move there

Transition to protean career and work in a May 2028

non-profit

Network within community to find key talent May 2028

Scout out potential locations for community August 2028

center

Find and develop staff for community center January 2029

Open the community center January 2030

2) In addition to career-related roles, consider your other life roles in relation to your
career goals. Revisit your responses to the Identities Exercise that you completed in
Module 1 of the course. Based on your long-term strategy what are the 3 most
precious things you are willing to sacrifice, besides time, to achieve your BHAG?
Why?

Sacrifice 1- Safety
Owning and operating an LGBTQIA+ non-profit is not a safe career. There are
many people who hold negative ideals regarding the LGBTQIA+ community and as such
there have been multiple instances where LGBTQIA+ shops or organizations have faced
damage or ridicule. In achieving my BHAG, I will have to make myself a public figure
within the community. This means that I will, in some ways, be placing a target on my
head and on that of the community center itself. I would not be surprised to come into
the community center one day and find destruction of property that was done by
homophobic people. I could also see a lot of backlashes occurring online, even though
I’m sure plenty of support will come from online as well.

Sacrifice 2- Job Security

By creating my own non-profit organization, there are a multitude of benefits.
However, one downside is that there is no guarantee that the non-profit organization will
manage to get enough donations year after year. This means I might be able to achieve
my BHAG and then lose it due to lack of funds or volunteers. If that happens, I will have
to replan my career goals and develop a new BHAG. At the very least, I’d be without
any income if the non-profit failed.

Sacrifice 3- Hobbies & Fun Time

5
Last Update: May 2021
 Creating a non-profit organization and community center will eat up nearly all of
my time. This means I will have significantly little to no time to enjoy my hobbies such
as playing video games or reading books. I certainly think that my BHAG is worth
missing out on these things, but they are still a sacrifice. Currently, I enjoy dumping 20
or more hours into a video game so much so that my favorite game has over 300 hours of
playtime. But if I’m creating a community center and teaching practical life skills, I’ll
have very little time at home.

Section 4: The one to two year plan

Using a SMART goals-based approach, as well as project planning and management skill best
practices, create a detailed project plan for at least two specific goals. At least one must be
related to your long-term BHAG. The other may be related to some other aspect of your career
development or career-life integration. Both of these goals need to be things that you are
passionate about accomplishing.
Your selected goals and SMART plan (see SMART goal information provided in the module)
should be structured based on a one to two-year timeline. It should include specific milestones,
action items, sub-tasks as well as task-related interdependencies as applicable. With respect to
each goal, critically think about what specifically are the things you will do in the next one to
two years to achieve these goals.

Develop a clear and detailed SMART plan, with facilitating goals and steps/actions required
to accomplish your selected goals. It should be evident, by looking at the format and structure
of your plan, that you have developed some significant skills respect to project management.
Include Gantt charts (T) or other visual project representations as you see fit, and be sure to
address your approach to tracking/measuring your progress (M).

1) What is your #1 Goal? (at least one of the following must be related to your BHAG)

Obtain a salary of at least $75,000 by January 2026.

a. Obtain a leadership role in an organization that pays at least $75,000 a year or

more by January 2026.

b. Measurable via examining my salary at the end of each year.

c. I will soon have a bachelor's degree and live near a big city in which it is quite
possible to acquire a job with those requirements.

d. Earning this amount allows my spouse to focus on his education without having
to work, which in turn allows me to run a non-profit later in life when he has a
much larger salary.

e. Begin looking for a suitable position in October of 2024 until January 2026.

6
Last Update: May 2021
 2) What is your #2 Goal? (at least one of these must be related to your BHAG)

Obtain a suitable location for the community center.

a. Find and obtain a location that has devoted spaces for what will be needed. This
includes a kitchen for people to develop their cooking skills, a garage for learning
basic car maintenance, offices for personal financing lessons, and a playroom for
younger kids.

b. Two ways to measure the completion of this goal. One way is to narrow the list
of potential locations from five or more down to one. The other way to measure
is to track the progress of obtaining enough funds to purchase this property.

c. It’s quite possible to discover a suitable location for the community centers needs,
especially with websites like Zillow which allows the user to filter out certain
amenities. Additionally, it’s also possible to gather funds for the community
center with fundraisers or even GoFundMe.

d. This is a key step in completing my BHAG.

e. Beginning in January of 2026 until ideally finding a place in December of 2030.

7
Last Update: May 2021
8
Last Update: May 2021