The Vision/Traction Organizer™, also known as the V/TO™, is one of the tools we help Leadership Teams create. It is a 2-page strategic plan, and it is all you need to manage your company.

The Marketing Strategy is one of the eight sections of the V/TO™. Included in the Marketing Strategy is the identification of your 3 Uniques™. These are often known as differentiators or value propositions. Your 3 Uniques™ are what make you stand out in the mind of your ideal customer. You may share one unique with one of your competitors—but you are the only one that exhibits all three.

Once your Leadership Team defines and is in 100% agreement with what your uniques are, they then need to become a common thread through all your marketing and sales communication. The purpose of this approach is to create a consistent message in the marketplace.

At some point during a Quarterly Pulsing™ Session, I will ask the Leadership Team how they are using their 3 Uniques™ in their marketing tactics. In my experience, most of the Leadership Teams with whom I work have not thought about using their 3 Uniques™ to market their product or service.

So, here are three ideas you can adopt so your ideal customer has a clear understanding of why they should engage with your company:

1. Create a standard “About Us” description. Keep it simple; 2 – 3 sentences. Show your ideal customer what they will miss by not engaging with your company.
2. Craft a 30 second elevator pitch; teach it to every employee. This is a great way to tell a prospective client how you help them.
3. Create a “What Makes Us Different” webpage or video. This is an opportunity to demonstrate how you help a client solve a problem.

Clearly communicating your 3 Uniques™ creates awareness and excitement. And it helps a prospective client point to your company and say, “I want that!”

Some leadership teams have trouble drilling down and coming to an agreement on their business’s 3 Uniques™. It often takes an outside perspective to listen to everyone’s thoughts and suggestions, ask questions, and facilitate conversation that gives clarity to those 3 Uniques™.  That’s one of the many jobs of an EOS Implementer™. If you’d like to share where you are in the EOS^® process and get my input on your 3 Uniques™, please complete the consult form below. We’ll set up a phone call that will answer your EOS^® questions and help you narrow down what makes your business different from your competitors.

Leadership doesn’t start with a fancy title. Leadership starts when you realize:

• what you are doing is important
• you can’t do it alone
• you’re going to get it done somehow, regardless

If you are part of a Leadership Team, are you ready and willing to become your best? Before you answer, let me explain the four things “your best” requires.

1. Becoming both Healthy and Smart
   I find the Leadership Teams with whom I work are smart. They produce a quality product or provide an exemplary service, which requires them to be experts in their industry.
   
   Where they need assistance is in becoming healthy. That means they are open and honest with each other, not at a superficial level, but at a deep level that allows them to be comfortable admitting what they don’t know – or where they need help – all the while knowing their colleagues will help, not criticize. Perhaps the team needs to learn how to not allow politics to impact their relationships, their work together, and the company’s vision. And teams usually need to master becoming a united front that discusses issues and reaches a solution, which every team member supports. This is possible when every team member has been heard.
   
   
2. Becoming a leadership team
   Strong Leadership Teams manage their company with a handful of rules and they demonstrate the behavior they want to see throughout the company. Your Core Values represent your “handful of rules”.
   
   Being your best also requires Leadership Teams to understand that everything wonderful about their company is their doing, and everything that is an issue within their company is also their doing. EOS^® provides the tools to strengthen the former, and resolve forever the latter.
   
   
3. Run your business on one operating system
   We have a creed within EOS^®: You cannot build a great organization on multiple operating systems – you must choose one. The issue with having multiple operating systems is that everyone speaks a different language and everyone does it their own way. This does not work. Think about your marketing department using a word processing software that does not integrate or communicate with the word processing software the operations department uses. Confusion, to say the least!
   
   
4. Strengthen the Six Key Components™ of your business:

• Vision
• People
• Data 
• Issues
• Process
• Traction

Are you willing to become your best? You do not owe me an answer. You’ll know in your mind and in your heart. Leadership, at its best, is intensely personal. And the people who follow you, they can tell.

Becoming your best is a journey, and you may find you need a guide along the way. If you’d like to talk more about your road ahead, I invite you to complete the consult form below to request a free phone consultation with me. I’m confident that when you focus on building a smart and healthy leadership team under one operating system, you will be well on your way to becoming your best.  

My previous company engaged the expertise of an EOS Implementer™, and one of our favorite tools was the Level 10 Meeting™. We embraced the tool because it helped us develop a cadence; gave us a pulse on our company; created a routine that improved efficiency; and it prevented bottlenecks and train wrecks.

In short, we eliminated situations where the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.

I find the Leadership Teams with whom I work quickly embrace the Level 10 Meeting™, as well.

At the end of every Level 10 Meeting™ the leaders review the decisions they reached, and determine if there are any Cascading Messages to convey to their colleagues. If there are, the team then decides the answers to the following questions and acts accordingly:

1. Who is affected by this decision? 
   
   Perhaps the entire company needs the information. Then again, maybe the decision is pertinent to a company division or an individual.
   
   
2. What is the agreed upon content we will all share about this decision?
   
   Make sure everyone hears the same message from each Leadership Team member.
   
   
3. Who will communicate it? 
   
   The answer to this question depends on the answer to question #1. That said it is imperative every member of the Leadership Team is prepared to address questions.
   
   
4. How will we communicate it? 
   
   Face-to-face communications are always preferable. If that isn’t possible, be sure people have an opportunity to ask clarifying questions.
   
   
5. When will we communicate it? 
   
   I encourage teams to share the information as soon as possible. Doing so will limit rumors, misinformation, and confusion.

Cascading Messages ensure everyone is 100% aligned on communications. And answering the 5 questions is equally as important as every other agenda item.

And don’t forget to rate the meeting. It is the responsibility of each Leadership Team member to make the Level 10 Meeting a “10”; if the Leadership Team doesn’t do it, who will?

Is your Leadership Team embracing Level 10 Meetings™? If you’d like to discuss your progress or need to be pointed in the right direction, I can help. The consult form below gives you the chance to pick my brain about EOS^®, Level 10 meetings™, Cascading Messages, or any other EOS^®concept you’d like to discuss. I offer this consult with no fee or obligation because I believe in the process and I know it can help you.

So let’s talk all things EOS^®, and help you get the maximum benefit from your Level 10 Meetings™.

John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO, is credited with saying, “If you are lucky enough to be someone’s employer, then you have a moral obligation to make sure people do look forward to coming to work in the morning.”

I really, really like that quote, especially the concept of a “moral obligation.” As leaders and managers, we have an opportunity every day to ensure our team members look forward to coming to work.

Here are some thoughts for your consideration. As leaders, we have ensured that everyone on our team:

• understands our company’s vision
• understands their role in moving our company toward that vision
• demonstrates our Core Values
• understands their role, wants it, and is capable of achieving it
• receives clear direction regarding expectations
• has the right tools and support they need to achieve their accountabilities
• is driven by mastery, purpose, and autonomy
• is responsible for achieving one to three measurables every week
• is involved in a weekly meeting where they identify and solve pertinent issues
• is consistently rewarded and recognized
• receives impromptu guidance, as needed
• has identified their priorities for the next 90 days

It is our responsibility as leaders to develop our people. If someone or something doesn’t work, it is ultimately our fault—we didn’t make it simple enough or communicate well enough, say it often enough or we picked the wrong person for the job.

All of that takes time, skill and practice. If you are unsure of where to start, I can help. The consult form below is your chance to pick my brain—I’m an open book about leadership, EOS^®and building a team. No charge, no obligation, no nonsense.

So let us create great moments as leaders. This takes care, generosity, and courage to achieve. You can do this.

I am a huge fan of gapingvoid, a company focused on culture design. One of their daily blogs talked about a company’s purpose, and defined a leader’s job as, “. . . to find the slice of glory in ‘what’ we do, no matter how mundane, and find the people who are excited by that.”

If there was ever a statement that would resonate with every EOS Implementer™ in the world (there are 350 of us as of this writing), this is it.

We refer to a company’s purpose as its Core Focus™—it is “why” a company is in business; it is not “what” a company does.

One thing is certain in business: companies and people lose focus and they get off track. Sometimes we even get a little smug and think since we are succeeding in one area, we can succeed anywhere.

A company’s Core Focus™ already exists. It is simply waiting for you to discover it and clarify it. And once you accomplish that, you and your Leadership Team must make every decision against your Core Focus™.

As I help Leadership Teams discover their purpose, they sometimes learn they are doing things that don’t fit. I have watched clients eliminate what doesn’t fit during this discovery and excelled as a result of it.

Here’s a checklist of the characteristics of a well- defined Core Focus™:

1. It’s stated in three to seven words
2. It’s written in simple language
3. It’s big and bold
4. It has an “aha” effect
5. It comes from the heart
6. It involves everyone
7. It’s not about money
8. It’s bigger than a goal

When you wake up in the morning and think about what you’re going to fight like hell for, it’s probably not going to sound like a typical corporate mission statement.

We’re human—we need to feel inspired every day. It’s pretty simple. If you want a team dedicated to making incredible things happen, give them a reason.

You may know your purpose on a high level, but articulating it and identifying your Core Focus™ can sometimes be difficult. When you’re in the thick of things and too close to it, it can be hard to define. If you need some help talking through it, I invite you to use the consult form below to request a call with me. I’ve had a lot of experience working in the weeds of a business, helping the leadership team discover their purpose. I’d be happy to help you, too. Let’s work together to articulate your purpose, define your Core Focus™, and get your company pointed in the right direction.