Implementer Posts
Harmonizing Success: The EOS Integrator and the Symphony Conductor
In the world of business leadership, there’s a role that often goes unnoticed but is critical to the success of any organization: the EOS Integrator. Much like a symphony conductor, an EOS Integrator plays a pivotal role in ensuring that all the elements of a business work harmoniously together to create a beautiful, successful performance. There are striking similarities between an EOS Integrator and a symphony conductor including why their role is essential for achieving excellence. Setting the Vision Symphony Conductor: A conductor interprets the composer’s vision and sets the tone for the entire performance. They have a deep understanding of the music and communicate the vision to the orchestra. EOS Integrator: Similarly, an EOS Integrator understands the company’s vision and translates it into actionable goals and strategies. They ensure that everyone in the organization is aligned with the vision and working towards the same goals. Orchestrating the Team Symphony Conductor: The conductor
The Paradox of Tools
When an entrepreneurial company gets stuck, frustration seems to pour forth from every vein. There is a lot of energy expended through hard work, but it feels like Groundhog Day, solving the same issues repeatedly with no feeling of forward movement. Fatigue has become a normal feeling. The Paradox of Tools It is therefore not surprising that when EOS tools are proposed, the initial reaction can be resistance. Team members are already overwhelmed, and new stuff to learn feels like adding yet more work onto the pile. In their transformational book “The Tools”, authors Phil Stutz and Barry Michels refer to this feeling as the “paradox of the tools”, how at the beginning of a transformational endeavor, the acquisition and utiliza6on of a new set of tools requires commitment and effort from the very individuals who are already overwhelmed and overworked. Using tools makes life easier. Does this point really
Reflections on Courage and Trust
This August, I celebrated my 4 year anniversary of graduating from boot camp to implement EOS. As a business owner, I had been a part of the EOS community for over 5 years prior to becoming an Implementer, but I had no idea the magnitude or impact it would have on my life back then. The learning! The friends! The community! The hugs! Grateful to Gino Wickman for being a catalyst for so much growth worldwide. Over 200k companies using EOS tools as of August 2023. Wow. From back in my Department of Defense days, delivering briefs to war fighters to changing people’s lives through innovative fitness at Alchemy 365 to helping leadership teams find vision, traction and healthy team dynamics- I feel crystal clear on one thing. Trust yourself. The trust to embrace who I am and allow the evolution of my craft as a leader, a teacher, facilitator and coach the last two
You Are Not as Open to Feedback as You Think
You think you’re a person that’s open to feedback. You think people tell you the truth and come to you with open and honest input from the frontlines. They don’t. If you’re intimidating, you’re feared. (And you secretly love it.) People will be hesitant to tell you the truth because of your wrath. If you’re likable, you’re still feared. Being likable means that people want you to like them, too. So, why would they bring you bad news and make you associate unhappiness, failure, or disappointment with them? Usually, the only people who bring the news you need are the people who are less likable and don’t care to be liked, and thus you prefer not to have them around you. But you need them. Or, better, you need the feedback function they offer. So, how can you create an environment where you get the honest and accurate assessments, feedback
Our Moral Responsibility to Solve People Issues
I recently met with a client who had fired a “bad apple” that needed to go. They’d talked about this issue for a year before taking action. We met just days after the termination, and they were already feeling lighter- and kicking themselves for waiting so long. I often find people issues to be the ones we have the most difficulty confronting. As we go through our weekly, quarterly, and annual meetings, issues smoke themselves out. Frequently we feel people issues deeper than other issues, because relationships can bring us just as much pain as they can joy. When you have a people issue, it tends to create issues in every area of the organization. How do we define people issues? Simple – any person who isn’t a right person in the right seat. First popularized by Jim Collins, this concept tells us that right people for our business are right people: people
Barb’s Annual Season Survival Guide
It’s that time of year again – time to start thinking about your annual planning session! This time is critical for leadership teams to come together and set the vision and direction of the business for the next 12 months. An annual planning session is so much more than just picking rocks and setting goals. It’s an opportunity to strengthen your team, clarify your vision, and get into the mindset of working ON your business, not just IN it. You rarely get the opportunity to have the entire leadership team together for this much time all focused ON the business, so make sure to use the time to work on big issues. Here are my top EOS tips for leadership teams to make the most of their upcoming annual planning sessions. Take a Clarity Break Don’t show up cold to your annual planning! Block off several hours the day before your retreat