Recently I was catching up with one of my clients at a cocktail reception. In our conversation, he said, “Do you know what you’ve helped us to do in our business? When we first started working with you, we only had two weeks’ worth of cash on hand. No one was on the same page, and several lines of our business were losing money. Now, two and a half years later, we have over six months of cash reserve built up. We have a shared vision in writing that we all believe in, and we’ve beat 65-year sales and profit records for the company this year. “If you told me back then where our company would be at now, I would have thought that was impossible and that you’re full of it. It is truly amazing what we’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time.” What did this entrepreneur

For a company to be successful, they’ve got to have great people on their team. Great people are people who fit seamlessly into your culture, they share your core values, and they’re very talented for their role in the business. Once they were hired in and brought up to speed, everything felt great. Then one day something changed. You can’t put your finger on the exact moment, but suddenly they don’t feel as great as they once did in that position. This feeling is subtly nagging in the back of your mind, but you’ve got too many other things going on at the moment to address it. But this great employee’s performance starts to slip, creating more workload on your already busy plate. It’s normal for this to simmer on many leadership teams without being addressed for weeks, months, and sometimes even years. Three different client leadership teams saw great

Thousands of entrepreneurial business leaders have read the Entrepreneurial Operating SystemⓇ books, downloaded the EOSⓇ tools, and are implementing the tools without help from a Certified EOS Implementer. But many of them continue to be frustrated because they’re still not getting everything they want from their businesses. Last week I presented a half-day workshop for business leaders who wanted to learn how to use the EOS Tools under the purest context so they could get the most out of their business. Throughout the day a common theme emerged. The EOS Tools are incredibly simple, but not easy. The distinction between these two words is important. Simple means not difficult to understand—not complex. Easy means free from pain, trouble, or worry. 5 Tools for Simple Business Solutions Here are the five biggest takeaways the business leaders shared from the workshop. Vision shared by all – Attendees felt that everyone on their team isn’t pulling equal weight.

The stats on employees and their workplaces are staggering: 87% of employees are not engaged at work 39% of employees have no idea what their company’s goals and objectives are 47% don’t know the state of their company’s performance 44% don’t understand how their role helps the company meet its goals And the result is a huge gap of accountability throughout the organization. How can we defy the statistics and effectively raise the level of accountability? Have a conversation—a quarterly conversation. In EOS we call this the 5-5-5. Once per quarter, starting with the leadership team, everyone who manages people schedules a quarterly one-on-one conversation with his/her direct reports. It’s best to do this offsite over coffee, breakfast, or lunch—and more importantly, to be free of distractions of the office. What’s the 5-5-5? The 5-5-5 is a way to stay connected and on the same page with your direct reports. By

People are at the foundation of every great business. In order for a team to achieve the company’s vision, the team must be surrounded with truly great people, top to bottom throughout the company. Many leadership teams know this, but they aren’t aligned on how to do this. Things quickly get muddy when it comes to what action to take, how to execute it, and when. In a survey of business owners, 82% cited people issues as their number one frustration. That’s because most teams haven’t taken the time to get crystal clear on their unique definition of what it means to be a “great person” for their company. And if they have a general idea of what a “great person” looks like for their team, then the next typical challenge is that they aren’t consistent in applying that definition to every role in the company. As a result, a

The Old-Fashioned Way of Hiring The results from my LinkedIn poll shocked me. It was unbelievable. And not in the hyperbolic way we usually use the word. I wanted to find out what was most important when hiring an employee. Overwhelmingly, respondents answered that the candidate should align with the company’s core values. In fact, 73% of respondents answered this way. I was pleasantly surprised as I believe that core value and culture fit is incredibly important for the health of an organization. But there seemed to be a disconnect. If 73% of people believe that a core value fit is the most critical aspect of hiring, why don’t most companies actually practice this – especially during the hiring process? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Of course, companies are still prioritizing qualifications and skill set over core values and right fit… That’s how it’s always been done!