The New Year has begun and you’re probably operating with a fresh set of goals and renewed enthusiasm in your business. Famous last words, right?
While you may be feeling good about your business plan and routines today, we all know what happens as the months go by—those big plans and aspirations sometimes get filed in a drawer and are never looked at again—or at least until it’s time to set them for the following year.
Not for us. We’ve worked hard to find a system that prevents us from sliding down that rabbit hole. We keep our goal front and center all year long with the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).
What the Heck is EOS?
EOS is a set of simple concepts and practical tools that help us identify our core values, develop our leadership teams, and hold us accountable for our responsibilities.
With EOS, we’ve developed a communication rhythm and accountability chart that keeps us on task so we understand our roles, who we are accountable to and when. Our accountability chart includes an Integrator, whose job (among other things) is to protect me from doing things that aren’t productive or aren’t in my area of expertise.
A challenge most entrepreneurs have is they don’t know about these systems early enough, and once they do, they often can’t afford to hire someone to help implement the systems. It’s possible to self-implement, but it can be difficult to fully master the process, educate your leadership team, hold everyone accountable and stay on top of your business responsibilities all at the same time.
Even though I had a solid understanding of EOS, I still needed an implementer to help me get the system established at Gerber. The implementer helped me identify Gerber’s core values, develop communication rhythms and frame the right decisions.
It’s a 90-Day World
The secret to EOS is adhering to its 90-day rhythm. We hold quarterly meetings, review our business’s scorecard every week, and review our “Rocks” (our goals) every quarter. The EOS system is built to keep our goals front and center all year long. If you follow the system, you can’t “not” do it.
I highly recommend you consider establishing a management system in your business. Whether you self-implement, hire an implementer, or just read the books, having a management system in place helps ensure you’ll make fewer mistakes and improves the odds of your success.
What’s your trick to keeping your goals front and center throughout the year? Share with us on Linked, Twitter and Facebook!
