Hird remained undefeated in the senior role as the Bombers scored a 39-point semi-final victory over St Kilda on Friday night, winning through to next week's pre-season decider against either West Coast or Collingwood.
"I think it's really significant for our members and our supporters that we want to become members," Hird said.
"But for the team it's all about the improvement.
"We've improved in a lot of areas, we've got a lot of improvement to go, and we'd like to see that next week we can improve again on this week."
As St Kilda coach Ross Lyon talked the Bombers up as a potential top-four side, Hird downplayed the significance of the victory, which continued Essendon's strong recent form against last year's runners-up.
"You don't want to read too much into tonight's game for either side," he said.
"St Kilda obviously had some significant players out and in previous times they've struggled with the pace and forward run of Essendon, but we're a very different side to what we were last year, so I think we have to wait until we play them in round three.
"That will be more of a test of how we match up, with a new Essendon and St Kilda playing the strong football they do."
However, Hird was happy with the pressure his players applied across the ground, which led to a decisive 138-101 victory in the all-important contested possession statistic.
"St Kilda are a fantastic contested ball side and for our guys to compete in that area was a real bonus and another improvement on last week against Melbourne," he said.
Hird paid particular praise to livewire Leroy Jetta, whose tackling inside 50 set the tone early in the game, before twice bringing the crowd to its feet with a pair of spectacular snap goals in the second term.
"Leroy was great," Hird said.
"It's great to see him kicking goals and doing those skilful things that the fans like to see, but the best thing about Leroy's pre-season has been his pressure."
While Henry Slattery sustained a broken thumb in the last quarter and will spend four to five weeks on the sidelines, Hird expects to regain big man David Hille for next week's clash.
"David Hille will probably come back. We'd like to get a game into him," he said.
"He got through training very well, so if we can get him up and running around with Tommy (Bellchambers) and Paddy (Ryder) we've got some significant ruck options that we think will be an advantage for us."
Captain Jobe Watson suffered cramp in the buttocks, but Hird said he would definitely play next week.
