BAT _ MAP: CORE ALIGNMENT TOOL
ROBIN WAS already waking up most nights at 2 a. m. with cash flow concerns. She was tired and frustrated after more than two decades of running a family business by the seat of her pants. A few months earlier, a business coach suggested she read Traction by Gino Wickman, and a light bulb went off. The book described her company’ s situation and provided a system to remove the frustration. Robin wanted to end the pain, so she learned how to implement the system through a training course. After completing the course, she started implementing it in her family company. An early step in the process is a tool that helps leaders see which people on the team show up in alignment with the company’ s core values. The company’ s leaders went around the table to score how they perceived each team member showing up in relation to the core value“ Doing What You Say,” her brother rated her a“ plus-minus,” which translates that“ sometimes” Robin does what she says. It hit her between the eyes. She couldn’ t let it go. She kept replaying it in her mind as she fell asleep. A few weeks later, she was running late; a deadline would be missed. She called her brother from the car. He listened. He paused. And said“ plus-minus.” The phone went silent. Robin was starting to see her blind spots. She was not passionate about the business and felt stuck. It was taking a toll on her and her family. Fortunately, Traction had led her to a proven process called the Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS, which helped her reignite her passion by giving her and the team the tools it needed to remove the frustration and gain control of the business that was controlling them. Robin and the team finished implementing the system. After flatlining for years, the company experienced its best years. The 2 a. m. cash flow concerns went away. The company no longer needed Robin to fight fires. Robin was free to do what she wanted. Today, she is The Traction Expert. She implements EOS Traction for companies, empowering them to take control, remove the frustrations, build culture, and most importantly, get people on the same page with where they are going and how they are going to get there. But how does EOS work? Robin explained,“ it is a complete system with simple tools that will help you get three things: Vision, Traction and Health.” Working with an EOS implementer, the leadership team works on strengthening the six key components of their business: Vision, People, Dates, Issues, Process and Data. The EOS implementer empowers leaders to address misalignment and dig down deep to get to the root issues holding the organization back from reaching its full potential. EOS helps leaders plan for expected results and then compare them to actual results to determine what must be addressed to achieve the company’ s long-term objectives. From Robin’ s unique perspective, she has seen how leaders are often unaware of how they come across to people within the company, and this creates blind spots that hold the company back. Robin told the story of implementing EOS with a company run by a“ dictator.” The dictator ran the business with short, crisp directives.“ Hello” and“ Good morning” were superfluous. The dictator was frustrated the leadership team wouldn’ t lead. Robin witnessed the communication style escalate into a shouting match. The team members were frustrated with the dictator but were afraid to say anything. Robin used DISC personality profiles so the team members could better understand the preferred communication styles of each team member. They could see the leader’ s profile. The reason why there was no“ Hello” in the morning was not because the leader didn’ t like them; rather, it was just the way the leader was wired. And the leader could understand how the team members needed more interactive communication. Robin could see the team would not be able to implement EOS successfully until they could trust each other. She utilized Patrick Lencioni’ s“ Start-Stop” exercise from his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, where each member of the team communicates what others should start and stop doing. Empowered by understanding their leader’ s preferred communication style, team members spoke directly. They let the leader in on what they needed her to stop“ telling” and start“ asking”. This insight gave the leader the opportunity to own changing her behavior. The team bonded and is now crushing it. And it started with the leader saying“ Hello” in the morning. Implementing EOS energizes Robin. Her client meetings often involve“ entering the danger” to help the leaders see their blind spots that are difficult to see on their own and that people in the room do not want to bring up. Robin recalled one episode when at the end of a difficult meeting with a client’ s leadership team, one of the partners came to her and with tears in his eyes said,“ I have been waiting to have that conversation for thirty years.” Can a Leader Be Confident EOS Will Generate a Return On Investment? EOS encourages its implementers to offer the pay-for-value guarantee. At the end of each session, if the leader is not satisfied with the value delivered, then they only pay for the value delivered. Robin has never had a session paid at a rate below than the pre-agreed-upon price. Over the first year of implementation, a leadership team will spend on average forty hours at off-site leadership meetings and ninety minutes per week in productive leadership meetings to process issues and identify weekly action steps. And what type of results do companies get on their first-year investment? Robin sees her clients earning a 3x – 10x return on their first-year investment. She described a recent client that doubled revenues and profits in its first year, another company that hit its three-year profit goal in two years, and a seventy-year-old company that had flatlined for decades but has now grown at 20 percent a year for three years running. For a full overview of EOS and a complimentary ninetyminute overview, please contact Robin Osborn at robin @ thetractionexpert. com.
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