Implementer Posts
Tackling the Five Frustrations of a Business Owner
Regardless of the system they follow, every business leadership coach has one primary task: help their clients overcome the impediments to their success. When Gino Wickman developed the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, he wanted to help entrepreneurs overcome what he called the “Five Frustrations of an Entrepreneur.” In my work as a Certified EOS Implementer®, I’ve seen how EOS® addresses each of the Five Frustrations. Here are some examples. Frustration 1: Lack of Control Entrepreneurs and business owners tend to be optimists. Where others may see problems, they see endless opportunities. However, this perspective can change as circumstances begin to put speedbumps in front of what started as a seemingly perfect business model. I have a client that specializes in building components for the Southern California light industrial manufacturing sector. When we started working together on their EOS Journey, the CEO shared with me the following thought: “With our business so
How an EOS Implementer® Differs from an Executive Coach
The Entrepreneurial Operating System® attracts all kinds of professionals. Future IntegratorsTM are drawn to elements of EOS® like process discipline and institutional structure. CFOs appreciate the system’s foundation in long-term planning. In my experience, owners and CEOs—the people who most often align with the Visionary role—make up the biggest single group of people who get attracted to EOS. The reason is simple: they are looking for ways to eliminate their company’s internal barriers to growth. Leaders of organizations that are stuck in a rut typically have plenty of explanations for their struggles. Maybe attracting great talent is hard, or a key supplier is underperforming. Many Visionaries I talk to also recognize themselves as part of the problem. “How do I get out of the way of my business?” is a common question newcomers to EOS often ask. It’s important for Visionaries to understand that although the role of an executive
THE THIRD COMMANDMENT of GOOD DECISION MAKING: THOU SHALT BE DECISIVE
The third commandment for good decision making from Gino Wickman’s ebook, Decide, is a close cousin of the second, (Thou Shalt Not Be A Weenie) but is stated in the positive. THOU SHALT BE DECISIVE! LOSE THE HEAD TRASH: YOU WERE RIGHT A friend of mine once said to me: “Don’t doubt in the dark what was revealed in the light.” Most of us carry around a lot of head trash… second guessing ourselves, doubting, squirming at the first sign of trouble or conflict. We face the temptation to go back to an earlier decision that we set into motion and either undoing it or changing it. Would you be willing to consider the high probability that your original decision was right? Why should you believe this? If you made your decision in the context of running your business on EOS, you made your original decision when you were at your peak
The 2nd Commandment of Good Decision-Making: THOU SHALT NOT BE A WEENIE.
(More thoughts on Gino Wickman’s 10 Commandments of Good Decision-Making from his e-book “Decide!”) MOVE FROM CONCLUSION TO DECISION A mentor of mine once said, “Sometimes issues solve themselves.” Now, I love and respect this guy to this day. And he wasn’t wrong, per se. But issues tended to linger longer than anyone wanted them. Sure, things may work out, but it’s our volition, our act of deciding, that sets a solution into motion, giving us more control over when and how solutions bear fruit. When addressing issues, sometimes we reach conclusions through purposeful interactions and thought. Other times we get there unconsciously, and suddenly, , there we are, on the top edge of the cliff, ready to move from our conclusion to a decision that will initiate action and change. And it feels like we’re about to attempt to cross the Grand Canyon. You JUMP! No you don’t. There’s a
Put Out to Pasture? Think Again!
The Challenge Transitioning into your Visionary Seat can feel like a challenge at the beginning of your EOS journey. If you were the Founder or were involved in the early formation stages of the business, you likely had your hands in everything and became the “Chief Solver”. No matter what the question or challenge was, you had the solution. Often, we find fulfillment in being the Chief Solver, even when we’re overwhelmed and wearing too many hats. Letting go can lead to the feeling described in “Rocket Fuel” as being “put out to pasture”. A New Focus With an Integrator running the day-to-day, I encourage Visionaries to begin thinking of their seat in a different way. You’ve haven’t lost anything. You’re now the Chief Solver at a macro level. You’ve gained an opportunity to focus on what Jim Collins describes in “Good to Great” as the Primary Flywheel. Before an Integrator
The First Commandment for Decision Making
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF GOOD DECISION-MAKING Our founder, Gino Wickman, developed “The 10 Commandments of Decision Making” when he wrote his e-book, “DECIDE!”, based on his personal experiences as he interacted with leaders and their teams. In the coming weeks, I would like to share them with you with some of my own thoughts and ‘experience-shares.’ The First Commandment of Good Decision Making: Thou Shalt Not Rule by Consensus I took the Myers-Briggs assessment for the first time in my early 30’s. I was told that my profile matched Dwight Eisenhower’s profile. I was curious, so I read up on him beyond what my public high-school education had provided me. One could mount a credible argument that Eisenhower’s go/no-go decision for Operation Overlord (“D-Day”) was one of, if not THE biggest, hardest, and most consequential decision ever made by mortal man. Long-term, hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of lives were in the