“More businesses die from indigestion than starvation.” - Dave Packard, Co-founder of Hewlett-Packard
As business leaders, we can easily get caught up in many projects and operations. Often, the real roadblock for business success isn’t a lack of motivation but an approach without focus, taking on too many things at once.
Can you relate? If so, you might want to ask yourself what your business Vision is. Identify where you are currently at and where you want to go. To get there, you have to stay focused. Although that can be easier said than done, these tools are designed to be your guiding roadmap to success.
Having a vision is crucial to your business success. Without it, you won’t know where you want to be in one year, five years, or ten years.
“You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.” – Yogi Berra, MLB Hall of Fame player and coach
When it comes to Vision, remember these points.
So you have a vision. Does everyone on your Leadership Team share that exact vision, or do they have variations of the vision for the business?
The EOS Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO™) helps your Leadership Team and you answer the questions “Where are you going?” and “How are you going to get there?”
I’ll walk you through some of the key V/TO questions and you can download a copy of it for yourself to complete.
To keep your business focused and on track, the next step is to identify your key focus. Ask yourself these questions.
Focus on what you do best, where you can win customers, and remember to stay in your lane of expertise.
If you and your organization know how to answer these key questions, they will help steer the ship for decision making for your business. By crystallizing your Core Focus™, it will create absolute clarity for you to make good decisions. You’ll be amazed by how it will reinvigorate you and your company and keep you from chasing “shiny objects” that can divert your attention from what you do best.
With your Core Focus fleshed out, benchmarks for your business are the next guiding factor. By planning your longer-range target and goals, you’ll start making decisions based on that target. Where do you want to be in ten years? What is your Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), as Jim Collins explains in “Good to Great”. A well thought out 10-Year Target can help motivate employees and get them all rowing in the same direction.
By developing a clear 3-Year Picture, you start bringing your Vision to ground. What will be your revenue, profit, and key measurables in three short years? What are the 5–15 bullet points that illustrate what your business will look like in 3 years. The better you are describing the business in three short years and reaching a point where your team and you can clearly “see it”, the higher the probability you will get there. And, once you are clear on your 3-Year Picture, it sets you up for building a solid 1-Year Plan™
The next step is to get very clear on the plan for this year. What are your predicted revenue, profit, and key measurables for this year? What are the 3-7 goals that you need to complete this year to get you closer to your 3-Year Picture and your 10-Year Target?
Many companies make the mistake of trying to accomplish too many objectives per year. With the EOS® approach, we urge our clients to focus on a few goals rather than too many. If everything is important, nothing is important. Less is more!
With a gameplan for the next year, Quarterly Rocks help make those goals attainable by breaking them down into 90-day increments. Quarterly Rocks create a 90-day World® for your organization, a powerful concept that enables you to gain tremendous Traction®.
Every 90 days, your leadership team comes together to review the past Quarter, make sure everyone is still on the same page with the Vision, and establish its priorities for the next 90 days based on your 1-Year Plan. You discuss and ultimately conclude what has to be executed in the next quarter to keep you on track for the 1-Year Plan.
So what now? We agree on where we are going and how we are going to get there (our Vision), we know our Core Focus, and we are clear on our 10-Year Target, our 3-Year Picture, our 1-Year Plan, and our most important priorities (our Rocks) for the next quarter. Go execute, stay focused, and gain Traction in your business.
You can also request a free copy of the book “Traction: Get A Grip On Your Business” by Gino Wickman for more information and details on how to utilize these tools for business success.
Vision/Traction Organizer, EOS, 10-Year Target, 3-Year Picture, 1-Year Plan, 90-Day World, and Traction are the intellectual property of EOS Worldwide.
