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Nailing down and sticking with a vision is critical for business success.
A few successful pallet company leaders have recently mentioned how they have been blessed by reading and putting into practice the concepts outlined in Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman. The world is full of business gurus and books about how to improve or turn around a company. This one has practical steps that identify key things to do to build a better company.
Wickman identifies six key components of a successful organization – Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process and Traction. He calls these elements the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). See basic info on this system in the sidebar on page 31.
Everything rises or falls on a company’s vision. That’s why this article focuses on the first step in the EOS process.
Vision is the guiding values, focus and strategies to ensure that everyone is rowing in the same direction. The more everyone understands the vision, the better your team will be at achieving it. Sometimes as you refine your vision, you discover that you are wasting your time doing some activities or even producing some products. You may have to make some hard choices to really narrow your focus and work on the things that really matter.
You can access free worksheets and resources to help you discover your vision by visiting www.eosworldwide.com/vto.
So, let’s dive into the EOS steps for clarifying your vision. It actually starts with answering these eight questions.
1. What are your core values?
2. What are your core focuses?
3. What are your 10-year targets?
4. What is your marketing strategy?
5. What is your three-year picture?
6. What is your one-year plan?
7. What are your quarterly goals (EOS calls these Rocks)?
8. What are your issues or roadblocks?
Wickman warned, “Unfortunately, most organizations have not defined their core values, and the resultant lack of clarity hinders their growth…By not defining what your values are, you have no way of knowing who believes in them and who doesn’t.”
The process begins with the people who already are in your company and make it work. Your company already has some core values even if employees cannot readily explain what they are. These values are hidden in the core people who make your organization run. Start by bringing together a meeting of your leadership team. Consider scheduling at least 2-3 hours and start by asking, “Who, if you could clone them, would lead you to market dominance?”
Then go over the names and list the characteristics that make those people stand out. Your company’s core values are somewhere in the list you just created. Then through discussion narrow down your list to about three to seven core values that really belong. Get rid of the others. Ask everyone to think about these core values and come back in a month to see if everyone still agrees on these as core to your organization. Once you all settle on those values, now you can start talking about them within your business and rallying your teams around them.
The second major step is to discover your core focus – your reason for being, your niche. Wickman suggested, “Core focus is actually very simple. Don’t overthink it.”
Your leadership team meets again for two or more hours privately. This time they are there to discuss these two questions: 1.) Why does your organization exist? What is its purpose, cause or passion? 2.) What is your organization’s niche?
Wickman explained, “When your purpose, cause or passion is clear, you won’t be able to tell what business you’re in.”
The niche is the area or sector where you are doing the answer to the first question. Be aware that this is a process for a company that already has a successful revenue model in place.
These are the first two steps of the process. And it may take a few months to begin to discover and communicate these with your entire team. Then comes the really important questions related to identifying target goals and objectives, honestly stating roadblocks and obstacles, etc. Those are critical parts of the process to translate your values and focus to real-world action.
This article is intended to whet your appetite and get you started on the process of identifying your corporate vision. For more information, please see the book Traction by Gino Wickman and visit www.eosworldwide.com.
Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)
It has six major components…
Vision
Vision is the guiding values, focus and strategies to ensure that everyone is rowing in the same direction.
People
Is the reality of attracting the right talent and making sure they are sitting in the right seats to achieve organizational success? Are all of your people the right ones for the job?
Data
Developing a scorecard and metrics to measure the success of the organization. An effective scorecard allows managers to monitor a business no matter where they are.
Issues
The obstacles that must be faced to execute a vision. These issues present a huge opportunity to grow and become more successful. By addressing these roadblocks, you will save more time in the future.
Process
The way of doing your business. Smart organizations document the way you do core functions and work to ensure consistency each time.
Traction
Truly successful leaders have traction – they execute well and bring the vision down to the ground level. Traction is where all the theoretical work in EOS meets the real world to ensure success.
