Typically, I spend time in my blogs providing helpful advice and information to make you a better leader or manager. Today will be no different but it is in the form of a product we offer at The Growth Factory. Many people do not know what the EOS process means for your business. We are professional EOS implementers so I’d like to spend my time today filling in some of the questions you might have about EOS. The book “Traction” by Gino Wickman is the best resource to help you understand the key components of the EOS system.
As a small business owner, myself, it often feels as if there are a hundred different things I need to focus on. It’s easy to see how “Traction” applies not only to business owner’s but also to sales leaders. You could argue (correctly) that running a sales organization is not much different from running a company.
Every great company needs an Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). And every EOS consists of 6 core areas of focus:
Vision
People
Data
Issues
Process
Traction
These areas are not new to most of us, but tying them together into a cohesive operating plan is what we most struggle with. Here, I will briefly take a deeper dive into the 6 areas.
Vision
EOS lays out what’s called a Vision Traction Organizer (V/TO) to help simplify the process. A sample V/TO is provided in the book. We provide complete user guides to the EOS process that contain all the tools in the system.
It will be important to create your team’s vision. You’ll need to get it out of the thought process and down on paper to make it easier to track and to work with.
There are 8 core questions that must be asked and answered and it provides an action plan for creating and communicating the vision.
People
EOS will introduce you to the People analyzer tool. It will match your core values to those you are hiring or those you might be promoting or moving within the organization.
We have all heard about the importance of having the right people on the bus. This builds on that concept with helping to identify those people more accurately.
The “right person” is determined by whether they share the company’s core values.
The “right seat” has to do with the “Accountability Chart”.
The accountability chart (an improved version of the org chart) forces you to view your organization in a different way and to address people issues that have possibly been holding you back for years.
Data
We need data in order to measure the success of our efforts. Nowhere is this truer than in sales. But the best leaders, rely on just a handful of numbers to manage their business. Whether it’s five numbers or fifteen, they should all be monitored using a scorecard. A scorecard keeps the measurement process from becoming overwhelming and it also ensures the process is meaningful.
As you learn and move deeper into the system you will learn there are 3 rules of thumb for effective scorecards. I will save those for another time or call us and we will get rolling on your numbers and metrics.
As you’ll see in the sample scorecard provided in the book, each number is assigned to one person who is ultimately responsible for the results.
Issues
Often the thing that drains energy from people and organizations is unresolved issues. Traction outlines a process that helps leadership teams quickly dig to the root of an issue, discuss solutions, and then decide.
It is the decision that’s most important. Indecisiveness it seems can have a more negative impact on an organization than making wrong decisions. To help you tackle issues quickly and effectively EOS uses IDS or identify, discuss and solve to break issues down and solve them effectively.
Issues will exist at all levels of your business. The main key is prioritizing them and then knocking them out one by one.
Process
In the sales profession, the process is a hot topic. The more clearly you can define and standardize on a sales process, the theory goes, the more you can replicate success. So, this chapter specifically, should resonate with sales leaders.
A typical organization runs by 6-10 core processes. How they work together is the system. This chapter helps you systemize your core processes if they are not already in that state. Once there, you can refine them, simplify them, and make them consistent throughout your organization.
Traction
Most leaders know that bringing discipline and accountability to an organization will make people a little uncomfortable. You don’t have any other option if you want to build a great company. The good news is that short-term discomfort will give way to long-term satisfaction and traction.
Traction comes to life through 2 things that are core to this process. Prioritizing the critical things that need to be accomplished (goals/objectives called rocks) and meeting regularly to hold yourself and team accountable for getting these things done. This regular meeting “pulse” is itself a key to the success of the plan.
Traction contains all the tools and components that make up the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). If you can master the individual elements of EOS you’ll have the traction you need to realize the vision and growth for your company.