I remember learning about goal setting in both college and graduate school, which routinely led to an assignment to write goals for the year. And as I learned about creating, scaling, and managing businesses, the assignments became even bigger—create a five-year strategic plan for your company. Those were always painful assignments for me. Not because I didn’t believe in the power of goals, but because my professors expected to see 50 page plans with at least 20 goals.

So like all good business owners, I worked with department heads, and sometimes consultants, to create detailed strategic plans with pages of goals, charts, graphs, and statistics. Those plans were a thing of beauty with one small problem—by the end of the year we had only accomplished three or four of the goals. And the charts, graphs, and statistics made little, if any, difference in the outcomes.

When my leadership team and I implemented EOS^®at my last company, our implementer introduced us to a simpler approach to strategic planning. We learned to write a handful of goals to achieve our annual plan. We focused on the three to seven priorities that would position us to look back on the year and know it was a great year. Not 20 goals—just three to seven. And of course, they had to be S.M.A.R.T., which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Take a look at the example below of two versions of the same goal:

Version 1:      Improve our sales pipeline.

Version 2:      Add $2M in qualified target market opportunities with an estimated close date before December 31st.

See the difference? Of course you do. 

As an EOS Implementer™ I introduce additional considerations for great goal setting.

1. Does each member of the leadership team know “what done looks like”?
2. What could interfere with the company’s ability to complete these goals?
3. How will the leadership team avoid that?

The value of this simplified approach is that we are prepared to actually achieve our annual goals—three to seven absolute priorities for the year. Now that’s a thing of beauty!

Simplifying goals can be difficult for business owners because they are so close to their own business. Sometimes an outside perspective can make a world of difference. Let’s talk one-on-one about streamlining your approach and setting realistic and impactful business goals. Simply use the consult form below to pick my goal-setting brain and request a free, 15-minute phone call. We can discuss goals, EOS^®, or any other business topic that’s got you spinning your wheels. As we head into the second half of the year, now is the perfect time to launch a new effort to simplify, get S.M.A.R.T., and start making progress.

The job of a CEO is a tough job. Pure and simple. If you are the CEO of a start-up, sleepless nights are commonplace; workdays meld into weekends, and acquiring a round of financing does not bring relief—it brings more people looking for you to turn their investment into 20 times more than they gave you.

As the company grows, it reaches a state of chaos and the CEO starts building teams and clarifying the vision, yet is still spread too thin. The long workdays continue; weekends and weekdays generally remain indistinguishable.

Continued company growth leads to stronger management teams that help create solutions, brainstorm ideas, and identify opportunities. Now there is a team of people who are becoming committed to the vision. And the CEO can start taking some of the hats off and delegating them to other team members.

The CEOs of the entrepreneurial companies with whom I work often struggle with that last statement . . . “And the CEO can start taking some of the hats off and delegating them to other team members.” You got to where you are today by doing everything yourself. What was once your greatest strength is now your greatest weakness.

“Wait, I need to delegate? How can I do that — it takes time to set expectations, teach others to do what comes naturally to me — it’s so much easier to do it myself.” Those last, eight simple words will steal your productivity and undermine your success.

It does take time to teach your team members how to manage the company — tasks such as customer scheduling, order fulfillment, customer service, etc. Create the Core Processes that document your company’s way of doing business, and then teach everyone how to follow the Core Process. It may be helpful to create checklists for each process to reinforce learning and provide support.

If you don’t think about the big picture and work with your leadership team to create a compelling vision for the company because you are too busy wearing all the hats, who will? If everyone in the company reports to you and you’re too busy playing “the boss”, who will stay out in front of the company’s strategic needs?

It is all about managing you and producing results through increased clarity and purpose. And the only way to get there is to focus on doing only the things you can do.

As an entrepreneur, one of the hardest jobs you’ll have is to trust others with your business. I know how hard it is to delegate responsibilities to others, because I’ve done it myself. Let’s talk one-on-one about all of the tasks you should no longer be doing. Simply fill out the consult form below to schedule a time to talk personally with me about the challenges of delegation or any other business topic that’s on your mind. Whatever it is, EOS^®has a process to handle it. You don’t have to do everything yourself. And talking with me is the first step to lightening your load.

How much thought have you given to setting expectations for your meetings? When I work with Leadership Teams, I set the meeting expectations at the start of Focus Day™, and at every session thereafter during the entire length of our work together. 

The purpose for setting meeting expectations is to help every person in attendance stay focused, have an opportunity to participate, and get value from the meeting. So here are my expectations for each meeting I facilitate:

1. No sidebars. A private conversation between two people when someone has the floor is the greatest insult to that person. A private conversation suggests that topic is more important, interrupts your ability to listen to the speaker, and is distracting to others around the table.
2. Tangent alert. This is a verbal prompt I use and encourage others to use when the discussion veers off course. When we stray from a discussion, we lose sight of why we were having the discussion in the first place. So, if we are talking about our company’s exhibit for the upcoming trade show, and someone asks if the new logo has been finalized, we need someone to quietly say “tangent alert.” That reminds us to finish the discussion about the trade show, after which we can talk about the new logo.
3. Comfortable with the uncomfortable.There are times when a discussion is uncomfortable. We may need to solve an issue related to someone’s performance, or their attitude, or an unsuccessful project. Take a deep breath, take ownership of the issue, and focus on the facts. The toughest part is the 10 seconds it takes to state the topic.
4. No electronics. Teams are best served in meetings when everyone disconnects. Yes, that means no laptops and put your cell phone in silence mode. Using laptops and cell phones in meetings encourages us to do something other than listen and participate. The one exception is using a tablet with a stylus for taking notes – no typing.
5. No politics.We want to hear everything everyone has to say, and we only need to hear it once. If you say it twice, you are politicking. When we politic we are campaigning for our team, our seat, our project. We serve the company best when we focus on the greater good.
6. Participate. It’s a privilege to be here, and preparation and energy are linked. Show up as though it matters to you; it’s the only way to ensure you receive value.

Does this list sound like insignificant ideas? Perhaps. Yet I encourage you to give these meeting expectations a try. What could be better than having people come to a meeting prepared, energized, focused, and participating?

EOS^®offers many processes, tools, and words of advice that help you run your business more efficiently and effectively. I’d love to talk with you more about EOS^®and the impact it can make on your company. Please fill out the contact form below to request a free, 15-minute phone consultation with me. As an EOS^®Implementer and business owner, I understand the challenges you face and know first hand how much of a difference EOS^®can make.

Let’s talk today about improving the quality of your meetings and the efficiency of your business.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of leaders is the ability to make a decision. Making a decision literally means to “cut off” other courses of action. It is not uncommon to watch a Leadership Team struggle to make a decision.

Enter 10 do’s and don’ts for great decision making:

1. Do not rule by consensus. Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, is quoted as saying, “No major decision we’ve studied was ever taken at a point of unanimous agreement.” Consensus management does not work. Too often when we look for team consensus, it means we are going to wait until everyone agrees. The result—our decisions are usually too late and often equally disagreeable to everyone. If everyone has been heard during a discussion, and not everyone agrees with the decision, it is time for the leader to step in and break the tie.
2. Do not play small. Many times a decision sounds simple, yet is not easy to implement. Don’t back down and take an easy way out.
3. Do be decisive. Sit up, set your feet on the floor and don’t look back because we’ve got work to do.
4. Do not rely on hearsay. Get the facts and current information so you fully understand the situation and the issue you are solving.
5. Do fight for the greater good. Leave your ego, title, and historical viewpoint outside the meeting room, and make the best decision for the company.
6. Do solve real problems. Not the ones you can’t impact as a team or as a company.
7. Do make a decision. Your only choices are to live with a situation, end it, or change it.
8. Do decide quickly. Drawing out the decision creates unnecessary pain and suffering.
9. Do enter the danger. Not every decision is easy to address. Set aside your fear and become vulnerable.
10. Do try something. It is better to propose a solution and revise it later than it is to do nothing.

Making good decisions requires patience and practice. With time, you and your team will find it easier to have important discussions and make impactful decisions. My buddy Yoda summed up decision making very simply when he said, “Do or Do Not Do. There is no try.”

I hope you’ll make the decision to complete the consult form below to have a one-on-one phone conversation with me. And after our conversation, I hope you’ll decide you want to move forward. There will be no pressure to do so of course, but I’ll answer all your questions and give you all of the information you need to make that decision. Success results from a series of good decisions. I hope you will make your next one with me.

I learn from every one of my clients. They teach me new ways of thinking, methods they use to teach their staff to create Rocks, or unexpected ways EOS^®impacts their companies. 

I value their teachings because they help me be a better EOS Implementer™. I frequently share what other clients have taught me if I believe it will help the client with whom I am meeting. Each of my clients has heard me say, “I have a client who . . .”

I was working with a client in their Quarterly Pulsing™ session recently. We were having a great discussion about one of the EOS^®tools: the Assistance Track.™ The tool includes several techniques for managing your time better so you can focus on your priorities.

One of the techniques is called The Stack. You have probably heard this one before. It recommends touching everything only once, and creating “The Stack” that you can delegate to someone else.

The Leadership Team’s Integrator had an “aha” moment as we discussed The Stack. The Integrator has a 15-minute stand up huddle with her team each morning. They review their priorities for the day, and let their colleagues know if and where they need help that day. The Integrator saw the huddle as an opportunity to ask the team for help with her Stack. From that idea came a bigger idea — ask the team’s help with the items in the two lower quadrants of her Delegate and Elevate™. Those are the items a person does not like to do, yet is good at, and items the person does not like to do and is not good at.

The rest of the Leadership Team liked the idea, and decided they would try doing the same with their teams. I later received an email from the Integrator — not only did handling “The Stack” at the daily huddle work, but it also helped the Integrator identify colleagues who love to do the things she doesn’t like to do, regardless of whether or not she is good at the task. What a great way to Delegate and Elevate™.

This is another lesson I can share with other clients, and it’s also a perfect example of how EOS^®tools work together. The tools don’t operate in silos. They compliment each other and collaborate as part of an efficient, effective system. The EOS^®process is always evolving; the more you use it, the more you will learn other ways to use it. 

If you’d like to learn more about EOS^®, please fill out the consult form below to request a free 15-minute phone call with me. I welcome the opportunity to learn about your business and share my EOS^®story. After using EOS^®in my own company and then becoming an Implementer myself, I have many perspectives and lessons to share, as I’m sure you do too. I know the system works, and I’m eager to help other businesses grow and thrive. Let’s talk about how we can align your efforts under one vision.