What is EOS?
Keep reading this page if:
- You’re an entrepreneur,
- OR you’re a senior staff member in a small company (up to 50 people, roughly),
- You want to scale and grow your business,
- You notice every day that you don’t seem to be able to.
A lot of us entrepreneurs start out because we have a good idea. Or we figure that we could do better work (and make more) if we weren’t working for someone else.
A bunch of us get past that point. We hire some people. We earn enough to keep them on board. Our customers are (seemingly) happy.
And then, one day, you realize:
- You rarely (if ever) take a vacation, because, well, you can’t. (Insert reasons X, Y or Z: your customers wouldn’t get the quality they otherwise would. Decisions wouldn’t get made. Work doesn’t get done. Issues would spiral out of control. Take your pick),
- Your team isn’t getting it. Yes, they are happy (and sometimes less happy) to work at your company. But that’s all they’re doing: just working. They’re not owning their jobs. And it’s driving you insane that you can’t seem to
makeinspire them to. - If you did hire someone to take care of the day-to-day, they aren’t getting it either. (And you may have gone through several of these people before reaching this point). They are turning your business into something that’s not what you imagined. Notable, your customers aren’t happy about it, either.
It’s Not Just You
Here’s the good news: what you’re experiencing isn’t exclusive to you. Entrepreneurs around the world hit the same ceiling: that point in a company’s life where you want to scale… but you just can’t seem to get over that bump.
You keep running into the same issues. You can’t seem to get the structure right that allows you hire those people you really need in order to get the work done you really want to sell in order to generate more revenue you really need in order to grow…
So. The even better news is: there’s a solution. Of course there is.
A solution that will infuse your company with action, discipline and accountability. And will allow you to take a well-deserved vacation.
6 Reasons You’re Not Growing
But first, let’s focus on why these things are happening to you. There’s a couple of reasons for it:
1: You’ve never clearly documented and communicated your vision
In fact, you might not even have an articulated vision. It just made sense to start the business. You just want to make enough money to retire comfortably, and you’d like to do it without working for someone else.
Well, my friend, if that’s you, you can kiss growth goodbye. Every successful company has a raison d’etre that the team can get behind.
If this business isn’t about more than your retirement, you will not be able to scale it successfully.
2: You have no system for hiring and firing the right people
You kind of go by gut (which isn’t bad, but it’s not enough). And even if you do have some kind of system, you also don’t really know which people you really need, or what they should be doing.
After all, they could be doing literally everything. But what’s the thing you need to hire for right now?
3: You haven’t documented and communicated your processes
Every time you get a client, or hire a new person, you have to reinvent the wheel. While YOU might know what you’re doing, you’re finding yourself having to explain the same things over and over again.
Exhausting and a huge time-waster. Not to mention it causes constant inconsistencies in the way you deliver your product or service.
4: You’re not measuring your progress
Sure, you keep track of revenue and costs. You might even be on top of cash flow and you know how many leads you’ve got coming in every month. Yet all those numbers are after the fact.
You can’t predict success (or failure) and so you’re always putting out fires or mopping up from some disaster. Also, because you’re not measuring progress, your team is discouraged and there’s constant discussion about “quality” or who’s putting in enough effort.
Why? Because there is no objective measurement in place.
5: You don’t deal with issues in a permanent and decisive manner
Every company has those issues that don’t seem to go away and you’ve got plenty. If you’re not personally there to fix something, it doesn’t get done. If you’re not personally there to spot something, no one sees it, either.
So real problems fester and rot and cause serious damage on a regular basis, OR you can just feel that that point isn’t far off anymore.
6: You don’t have a culture of accountability in place
You may say you’re transparent, but all the while your team excels at “doing stuff” while no one really knows what everyone is really up to. And so things fall through the cracks all the time. Promises are sacrificed daily on the altar of “shifting priorities” and nothing seems to really get done OR move you towards your goals.
Does any of that sound familiar? Good. Well, not good. But if it sounds familiar, then you can rest in the fact that there is a solution to what you’re experiencing.
What is EOS?
The solution is called EOS, or “Entrepreneurial Operating System”. No, it’s not a Bitcoin alternative, nor is it a piece of software.
EOS is a framework for getting all the things I mentioned above in place. Providing your business with all the structure you need to seriously, finally grow your business.
EOS was developed and explained by Gino Wickman and outlined in the book “Traction”, which you should get and read right now if you haven’t yet.
EOS has 6 components, specifically designed to tackle the 6 problems I touched on earlier:
Vision
EOS has you document the vision, goals and target market for your business. In a way that’s clear to everyone in the company. You’ll define your core values, your purpose, your way of working and what makes you unique.
You’ll paint a picture of where you want to be in 10 years, 3 years and ultimately 1 year out. This gets you and your leadership team on the same page of where you’re headed and why you’re going there. This is going to lead to the release of new energy and enthusiasm (because humans work best when they have a clear goal!).
This is then all summarized in the Vision/Traction Organizer, that you can (and should) hang on the wall in your office for everyone to see.
People
This component comes with two super-practical tools to help you hire and fire along the vision you’ve just set.
First, there’s the People Analyzer, which is a tool that’s designed to translate your gut feeling into concrete reasons to hire or fire someone.
Second, you’ll draw up the Accountability Chart, which outlines exactly which roles and responsibilities are needed in your business to reach your goals. In addition, it makes it crystal clear to everyone in the business who’s holding who accountable, and for what.
Process
Within EOS, you’ll establish a clear way of working – for every process in your business. Once documented, you’ll save heaps of time not having to explain everything every time. Plus, onboarding new employees becomes way easier. Finally, you’ll be consistent in your delivery across the board.
Data
What gets measured, gets improved. What if you had the numbers you needed to get ahead of problems before they surface?
EOS contains an element called the Company Scorecard. It will give you the much-needed, objective insights you’ve longed for, on a weekly basis. In addition, everyone in your company will start to own a number and get scored accordingly.
The outcome? You can talk about objective numbers, cut through personal bias and start to make real progress.
Issues
EOS comes with a foolproof system of solving issues in your company – permanently. You and your team will transform yourselves into a problem-solving machine. You won’t talk endlessly about problems, you will solve them.
As you clean up all pressing issues in your company consistently, you’ll find yourself gaining traction and making real progress towards your goals.
Traction
The final component of EOS resolves around accountability. EOS comes with a couple of non-negotiable meetings.
“More meetings?” you say. Yes, but designed to severely reduce the necessity of further meetings. EOS meetings contain a set agenda and a set of clear expectations. You’ll learn how to stop wasting time endlessly discussing issues and spend time solving them.
Through the Meeting Pulse (weekly, quarterly and yearly), you and your team will hold each other accountable for the goals and tasks you’ve set together. Ensuring things get done and you get the growth you’re looking for.
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All of these things together not only provide the basis for growth. They make working in your company so much more FUN. Less frustration, clear responsibilities, issues that get solved…
… I’ve seen company culture VASTLY improve through EOS implementation.
What Is EOS – How Does Work?
“That sounds pretty great!” you might say. How do I get all that goodness into my company?
The first thing you could do is actually get the book and read “Traction”.
Once you do that, you might feel confident enough to start implementing the system yourself. The book does come with some explicit instructions on sessions to have with your leadership team.
However, as with all things, you might not have the time – or you find it hard to make the time without someone beside you to push through.
I’ve spoken to dozens of entrepreneurs who “loved the book” and “really want to do something with it” but never have. And they’re still stuck where they were, with no real progress towards their goals.
Besides that, EOS does require an open an honest mindset in order to successfully implement. You might not feel up to telling your leadership team that what they’re doing isn’t working, or that you’re not happy. In such cases, having an outside consultant present can help you get your team on board.
Working with an EOS implementer is going to save you tons of time and is the fastest way to gaining traction.
If you’d like to chat with someone who implements EOS for a living (and as such knows what to ask you in order to get the best results, not to mention who knows all the pitfalls and organizational challenges that come with change) then you can book a free consult to talk about your case through my Calendly:
Don’t remain stuck where you are. Get EOS in place. Grow your business and have fun while doing it. Plan a call with me now and let’s get going!