Implementer Posts
Celebrate Your Wins: No Matter How Small
Celebrate Your Wins: No Matter How Small Celebrating big wins for your business is common – huge new clients, a great sale, etc., but how often do you celebrate the little wins? Often, the big wins happen thanks to a bunch of smaller wins that don’t get any fanfare or acknowledgement at all. Studies show that celebrating the process and the little victories between each large victory creates better habits among your employees and strengthens the relationships between coworkers. Now that annual season is drawing to a close, I’ve seen many of my clients crush their goals and even achieve things they weren’t planning to, which means a good deal of celebration is due for you guys! While you’re celebrating those big wins, remember to recognize the dozens or hundreds of little wins over the last year or several years to get to the place you are today. The Science
Managing to Normal
The Scorecard metric was a ribbon of red. This team had NEVER met this metric, the number of errors in a particular process. As I glanced at the 13 weeks on the scorecard, the lowest number was 3. The highest was 15. Most weeks it was between 6 and 11. The Goal was 0. I asked if they had dropped it down to the Issues List to determine why they always missed this metric. “We drop it down, but we don’t talk about it”, said the Integrator shrugging his shoulder. “It’s a number we always miss. I guess we just aren’t very good at this process.” It became clear to me that the Leadership Team had become de-sensitized to missing this metric. “You SHOULD drop it down”, I said. “I think the root of this issue might be different than you think”. That got some curious looks. “Why do we
Strong in Six
“How strong is my business?” Most owners have no way to truly assess how strong their business is. Political, market, and economic uncertainty are just a few headwinds that could topple a weak business. Issues will crop up this year that you likely have never experienced before. A strong business will have leadership and staff that can face these challenges with confidence. Managers of weak businesses will suffer from doubt, fear, and stress. Gross revenue, EBITDA, revenue per employee, cash, and cash flow all provide some insights about what happened in the past. But are these really good measures of how well prepared you are to handle the future? The EOS Model® identifies six key areas of your business that, when strong, indicate your preparedness to handle whatever challenge you may face. The Six Key Components™ are: Vision – Getting everyone 100% on the same page on where you’re going People – Making
We Don’t Eat Our Chickens!
The decision to get chickens was totally mine. I’d been thinking about it for a while, and then in March 2020, when the world shut down, I realized I finally had time to start building my chicken coop. My husband was a good sport and supported me during the process, including allowing me to take over the garage while building the coop, assembling and leading the transport crew (it took four men to lift the coop into a trailer and move it to its final destination) and leveling the coop. Once I realized I would need some sort of fence to protect the chickens, he made multiple trips to Portland to pick up a dog run that I found on Craig’s List. And he spent a lot of energy digging below grade to ensure that no rodents could dig under the fence and get to our chickens. Even with all
Have These 5 Foundational Tools? You’re EOS!
Too many owners, executives, and teams are not getting the full benefit of running their organization on EOS®. This is, in large part, due to simply being misinformed. I write this to help the business community get it right. It’s Not A Strong House Without a Foundation A few months back, I delivered a presentation on the Entrepreneurial Operating System® to a number of business owners in the Grand Rapids area. After the presentation, an enthusiastic entrepreneur came up to me to share his passion for EOS. He explained he was self-implementing and also using someone who claimed to teach EOS. We were deep in a dialogue around the tools being implemented into his organization over the last 2 years, when I realized he didn’t mention the Accountability Chart. I asked him, “Do you feel your Accountability Chart is the right structure for your organization?” He replied, “We haven’t done
Good Parents Do This… 3 Quick, Timeless Tips to be an Effective Manager
Are your employees acting up? Not doing what you want them to do? Not getting the message? Simply put, this one could be on you, and you need to own it before things get out of hand. For centuries, there have been three tried and true methods for being a great manager; These methods include having a list of rules, repeating your expectations, and being consistent in your behavior to set a good example. These methods are remarkably similar to being a good parent. Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T.) created by Dr. Thomas Gordon has had a profound impact on relationships between parents and their children for over five decades. It equips parents to be better communicators, resulting in better relationships, and generating the results you want in your household. In order to get those results in the workplace, you need to become like a good parent. Method 1: A Handful