E.O.S. is Entrepreneurial Operating System
Often, entrepreneurs and small to mid-sized company leaders have challenges with communications. I observe that many business leaders don’t create repeatable processes and have difficulty getting their teams on the same page. They use different languages for goals and objectives. Discipline and follow-up are often weak or non-existent. What’s missing is an operating system – an approach to management that gives a framework for success.
E.O.S. is an operating system for entrepreneurs – like IOS for Apple or Android for Google that defines a systems approach. The E.O.S. system was developed to get people and goals aligned.
Fighting Battles, Building Leaders
Cal Riley is an E.O.S. implementer based in North Carolina. We met recently when I connected to him when one of my clients used E.O.S. (entrepreneurial operating system) to run their business. Cal kindly walked me through the basics and shared his story.
Cal helps entrepreneurs and their leadership teams solve root problems, lead more effectively, and gain Traction® in their companies through a simple, proven operating system. He is an implementer, which is E.O.S. language for someone who trains an organization on the system.
As a combat-tested officer in the U.S. Army, Cal understands what it takes to be a great leader, motivate and build effective teams, and, most importantly, how to grow leaders who can develop leaders themselves. After his last deployment to Afghanistan, Cal took over the family medical construction business and quickly immersed himself in multiple severe business issues.
After a year of treading water, Cal found and implemented E.O.S. for his construction company. Cal’s Company, Riley Contracting Group (R.C.G.), is an award-winning Veteran Owned Commercial General Contractor headquartered in North Carolina. R.C.G. specializes in commercial renovations, additions, and remodeling for industries including BioPharma, Technology, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Higher Education, and Industrial.
Cal has sat in every leadership seat from V.P. Level to Integrator to Visionary through implementation and understands the challenges of implementing E.O.S. for leadership teams and subordinates and how to overcome those obstacles to success.
Implementing E.O.S. in his business has led Cal to more freedom of time and income. He loves helping other entrepreneurs and their teams experience the same successes through implementing E.O.S.
What Type of Companies Need E.O.S.?
If your business isn’t achieving its goals and lacks consistent processes for alignment and getting exemplary work done, this might be a worthwhile system. It can help get everyone using the same language, tools, templates, and scorecards to measure progress. Businesses from 5-250 employees, growth-oriented and afraid of status quo – not change.
Becoming an E.O.S. Implementer
The Entrepreneur Operating System is an approach to running and managing a business that has helped more than 14,000 businesses worldwide. It takes the complexity of running a company and helps align everyone toward the same goal – structure, discipline, and clarity.
Written by lifelong entrepreneur Gino Wickman, in his book Traction, Wickman touts the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®) and outlines six key business components: Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction®.
Wickman contends that companies must define and align these core components to succeed. There are 483 certified E.O.S. implementers globally and 110,000 full-day sessions for 80,000 organizations. Some owners or Presidents choose to read Gino’s book Traction and do the work themselves. Others hire implementers like Cal to get expert outside help.
E.O.S., appropriately implemented, provides a reliable framework for running meetings, determining who attends, setting agendas, and tracking tasks, goals, and responsibilities. The subsequent structure removes the guesswork and saves the harried leader’s time.
Vision, Traction, and Getting ROCKS Aligned
Rocks 101: What are Rocks in E.O.S.?
In E.O.S., Rocks are similar to quarterly goals. Setting Rocks is a business leader’s process to decide which tasks to prioritize in 90 days. But if you’re here, you know there’s more to it. Rocks should be S.M.A.R.T. – smart, measurable, actionable, realistic, and within a timeframe.
The E.O.S. System
- Vision – Simplifies strategic planning by translating leadership’s vision into simple data points defining the organization, its mission, and the milestones for getting there.
- People – Emphasizes placing the right employees within the right roles.
- Data – Involves tracking key metrics weekly that monitor an organization’s actual health and performance.
- Issues – Prioritizes identifying errors, failures, and conflicts and surfacing effective resolutions.
- Process – Stresses the importance of identifying, addressing, documenting, and sharing key strategies to ensure the organization can continually perform those functions efficiently and productively.
- Traction – Directs attention to achieving synergy, the phenomenon that occurs when leaders bring focus, accountability, and discipline to a company and make the vision a reality.
Many organizations’ adopting E.O.S. invest in the services of a professional Implementer, a trained E.O.S. consultant familiar with the system’s nuances, processes, and components, versus managing the E.O.S. fundamentals themselves. For the first couple of years, until E.O.S. processes are well understood and entrenched, working with an Implementer is advisable to help keep everyone’s “feet to the fire.”
Tapping such expertise is a critical consideration. The Implementer will help guide your business through adopting the system’s fundamental routines, including three one-day quarterly meetings and one annual two-day planning session.
There’s too much at stake to permit foundational errors and potentially taint performance and results. While an Implementer’s expenses are likely to approach or even exceed twenty-thousand dollars annually, it’s a small price to pay for an, ultimately, smooth-running and profitable firm.
An Integrator Can Bring Ongoing Maintenance
While having an implementer like Cal is critical to getting E.O.S. to stick, an Integrator can be someone already in the company like a C.F.O. to keep the operating system in practice.
If you want to speak to an EOS implementer, start with Cal. cal.riley@eosworldwide.com-
I bet he can help you align a few rocks in your business.
Photo by Andrew Charney on Unsplash
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