Implementer Posts
5 Ways to Finish Q4 Strong and Set the Stage for a Successful 2025
As we approach the end of the year, Q4 is your chance to finish strong and lay the groundwork for a successful 2025. Here’s how to take action: Review and Reflect Evaluate your performance from the past quarter and year. What goals did you set? How many did you achieve? Identify what worked and what didn’t. This reflection helps align your team and sharpen your focus for the future. Set Clear Goals for Q4 Establish clear and achievable goals for Q4 and start planning for 2025. Aim for 3-7 company priorities and individual priorities for your leadership team. Use the SMART format—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely to create your priorities and then break each into actionable steps. Define Your Vision for 2025 and Beyond Keeping everyone aligned on your long-term vision is critical to success. Revisit your core values and purpose during your annual planning session and make sure
Chicken Peer Group
During a recent trip to Europe, I had a chance to meet up with our German friends and travel with them through Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic and Austria. They had visited us last summer and left inspired to get chickens. So, last October, Burkhart went to work building his chicken coop and eventually got his first chickens in May of this year. He had a lot of adventures as he began his journey to become Chicken Daddy, including outsmarting a clever chicken who learned how to escape the coop, dealing with broody hens and setting up the coop so the hens would lay eggs in the coop and not in random places on their property. During our recent travels, I shared some of the things I’ve learned in an effort to reduce his steep learning curve. After all the help I received from my chicken coach and the chicken whisperer,
Are you a Rockhound?
The term Rockhound refers to someone who collects rocks as a hobby – have you ever noticed that many of us act like confused Rockhounds as we operate our businesses? Hear me out: The metaphor of Rocks, Pebbles, and Sand is used in the context of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to illustrate the importance of prioritization and focusing on what truly matters in a business. A business running on EOS prioritizes and executes their Rocks to get traction, every Quarter. In other words, they become expert Rockhounds and recognize that their focus should be on “collecting” or executing on what is most needed and valuable: Rocks! Read on for a few quick notes on how to apply the concept in your business… Be a Rockhound Rocks (Big Priorities): In EOS, Rocks represent the most important goals to be accomplished within the quarter. These are critical priorities that will move
Rowing in the Same Direction
Rowing in the Same Direction Early in my career, after a particularly good quarter, my Board Chair said to me: “Rob – if I had your team, I could do twice the work with half the people”. What he meant was that he understood every member of my team was contributing at a high level. They were all the Right People in the Right Seats. We had no dead weight. That was one of the biggest professional compliments I’ve ever received. For most business leaders, their greatest expense is human capital. So, why is it that so many employers settle for mediocrity on their teams? A high-performing team that is rowing in the same direction will drive significantly greater outcomes.. Think of it this way: Let’s say you have a payroll of $1,000,000, with 20 staff making $50,000 each. When each of those staff are delivering to only 80% of
An EOS® Implementer’s Guide on How to IDS (Identify, Discuss and Solve)
As an EOS® Implementer, I’ve talked to a lot of business owners about their team meetings. And not a lot of them have much good to say. They always go too long. One person takes the air out of the room every time. We never solve the problems we set out to solve. I consider all of these red flags when you’re trying to build a healthy team and an effective system for doing business. If you resonate with any of the above statements, something needs to change. The EOS® Level 10 Meeting (or L10) sets out to correct bad meetings through IDS—Identify, Discuss, and Solve the issues at hand. It’s the most important part of any meeting, and it’s where the magic happens. Here are a few insider tips and tricks for a great IDS session. What is EOS® IDS? IDS stands for Identify, Discuss, and Solve. It’s the way every issue should be addressed,
Get Stronger by Using the Right Tool
I wanted to add some protein to my smoothie. Finding my jar of whey powder, I mused over muscle-bound figures on the label. Once I unscrewed the cap I saw why: apparently you need to be an Olympic athlete to peel off that foil seal! Tried as I might, it was not coming off by my finger strength alone. So I grabbed a pair of scissors and quickly poked a hole in the foil. From there, it was easy to pull off. What made a hard job easy? A tool. If you’re tired of trying to run your business by brute force, it may be time for some simple, practical tools. You can download the EOS ToolboxTM below. Then visit my site to learn how I help entrepreneurial leadership teams put these tools into practice. https://eosidirectostg.wpenginepowered.com/anne-schoolcraft/