Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

by Gino Wickman

There is a direct correlation between organizational adherence to core processes and your own ability to let go. Handing over a turnkey system to an accountable leader makes it easier for you to delegate and elevate. As long as he or she follows the process and possesses the skill set to do the job, you’ll be confident that the job at hand will be accomplished correctly.

Lastly, you and your leadership team will need to structure your organization correctly. Your company needs to be organized in a way that reduces complexity and creates accountability. In addition, this structure should also be designed to boost you to the next level. Too many organizations become stuck because they are set in their old ways and unwilling to change to fit their expansion.

You must have one abiding vision, one voice, one culture, and one operating system. This includes a uniform approach to how you meet, how you set priorities, how you plan and set your vision, the terminology you use, and the way you communicate with employees. EOS is an operating system that puts everybody on the same page.

When systems work at cross purposes, your company is the ultimate loser. You cannot build a great organization on multiple operating systems—you must choose one.

The late Dr. David Viscott, author of Risking, wrote, “If you cannot risk, you cannot grow. If you cannot grow, you cannot become your best. If you cannot become your best, you cannot be happy. If you cannot be happy, what else matters?”

Similarly, in your business environment, you have to be willing to be open to new and different ideas. If you don’t know something, you have to admit that you don’t know. You have to be willing to ask for and receive help. Most of all, you have to know your strengths and weaknesses and let other people who are more skilled than you in a certain area take charge.

You cannot embark on this journey if you’re not willing to be vulnerable. You have to let your guard down to see your organization for what it is. Eliminate the facade with your leadership team, and invite openness and honesty. The leader who feels he has to have all of the answers and can never be wrong is completely missing the point. Being open-minded means being open to new ideas and being ready to change for the better. When your arms are folded, the wall is up and there is no getting in. The mind is like a parachute—it has to be open to work.

You must also be growth-oriented to take this journey. I have met many people who say they want to grow, only to discover after further questioning that they are petrified by the challenge and turbulence that growth creates. They are content at the size they are, and there are many good arguments in favor of contentment. EOS, however, is a system designed to help you grow.

most entrepreneurs can clearly see their vision. Their problem is that they make the mistake of thinking that everyone else in the organization sees it too. In most cases, they don’t, and as a result, leaders end up frustrated, staff ends up confused, and great visions are left unrealized.

Clarify your vision and you will make better decisions about people, processes, finances, strategies, and customers.

Entrepreneurs must get their vision out of their heads and down onto paper. From there, they must share it with their organization so that everyone can see where the company is going and determine if they want to go there with you. By getting everyone on...

“If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.”

The first step is letting go because the vision you’re about to clarify can’t be about you. It has to define something bigger. You need to create a vision that points the way to a greater good. The sooner you do that, the sooner you will make better decisions that build an enduring company. To learn how to create a strong vision, you must first answer eight important questions.

Let’s start by dispelling the myth that a company’s vision has to be a hundred pages long. You might need that level of detail for financing, but rarely is it necessary to build a great company.

The first tool in EOS is the Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO). Not only is the V/TO designed to get your vision out of your head and onto paper, it will help you answer these eight questions. It’s meant to help you create a clear picture of where the company is going and how it will get there. Most importantly, it does so simply, by boiling your vision down to only two pages.

What is vision? It’s clearly defining who and what your organization is, where it’s going and how it’s going to get there. It should be simple to articulate your vision, because it’s probably already in your head. Unfortunately, if there are five people on your leadership team, there may be five different variations of the company vision. The goal is to get you all on the same page. To the degree everyone on the team can answer the following eight questions and absolutely agree, you will have a clear vision.

By answering the following eight questions and filling out the V/TO, we will clarify exactly what your vision is. Let’s get started. The eight questions are as follows: 1. What are your core values? 2. What is your core focus? 3. What is your 10-year target? 4. What is your marketing strategy? 5. What is your three-year picture? 6. What is your one-year plan? 7. What are your quarterly Rocks? 8. What are your issues?

Please note that it’s recommended that you try to answer all eight questions in a full one-o...

What are core values? They are a small set of vital and timeless guiding principles for your company. A good rule of thumb is to limit them to somewhere between three and seven.

These core values define your culture and who you truly are as people. When they are clear, you’ll find they attract like-minded people to your organization. You will also find that when they are applied in your organization, they will weed out the people that don’t fit.

Once they’re defined, you must hire, fire, review, reward, and recognize people based on these core values. This is how to bu...

Unfortunately, most organizations have not defined their core values, and the resultant lack of clarity hinders their growth. When your people don’t embrace your core values, their actions hurt your cause more than help it. By not defining what your values ...

One important thing to understand is that core values already exist within your organization—they’ve just been lost in the day-to-day chaos. Your task is merely a matter of rediscovering what they are and instilling them as the rules you play by.

The following is the exact process all EOS clients follow for discovering their core values. First, schedule time with your leadership team. I recommend a minimum of two hours, preferably away from the office, as strategic thinking is always best done off-premises. In that meeting, you proceed as follows:

STEP 1 Have each member list three people who, if you could clone them, would lead you to market domination. These three names should preferably come from inside the organization. Once each person has his or her three,...

STEP 2 Go over the names and list the characteristics that those people embody. What are the qualities they exemplify? What do they do that puts them on the list? Start with a long list so that you can see all the possibilities. To help your thought process, here is a list of real-world core values: • Unequivocal excellence • Continually strives for perfection • Wins • Does the right thing • Compassion • Honesty and integrity • Hungry for a...

Maintains accountability • Services the customer above all else • Works hard • Is never satisfied • Is interested in continuous self-improvement • Helps first • Exhibits professionalism • Encourages individual initiative • Growth-oriented • Treats everyone with respect • Provides opportunity based on merit; no one is entitled to anything • Has creativity, dreams, and imagination • Has personal integrity • Isn’t cynical • Exhibits modesty and humility alongside confidence • Practices fanatical atten...

STEP 3 Your organization’s core values are somewhere in that long list you’ve just created. Now, narrow it down. In your first edit, circle which ones are truly important, draw a line through the ones that are not, and combine those that are similar. Remember, the rule of thumb is between three and seven; afte...

STEP 4 Here is where you’re going to make some tough decisions. Through group discussion and debate, decide which values really belong and are truly core. Remember, your goal is ...

Don’t run out and tell everyone immediately after you’ve established your core values. Instead, let them simmer for 30 days and then meet one last time as a team to sign off once and for all on the final list. The next step in the process is to communicate these core values to the rest of the organization. It’s time to create your presentation speech. People won’t necessarily understand what you mean if you merely state each core value. That’s why each one needs to be backed up with stories, analogies, and creative illustrations to drive home its importance. When writing your core values speech, make sure you word each core value with the same pattern or tense (e.g., “To always …” or “We always …”). Make sure to bullet-point three to five supporting examples under each. This will give you a rough guide of how the speech should be laid out. From there, you can improvise.

Your core values should become a guiding force in your organization and should be incorporated into your hiring process. When you interview employee candidates, they need to hear that speech. They need to know who you are. It’s easy to find people with the right skill set, but you want the one that rows in your direction. You will find that your hiring success ratio will increase if you evaluate applicants’ core values before their skill. Every one of my clients follows this exact same process. The reason? It works.

In short, it doesn’t matter what your core values are as much as it does that you’ve clearly defined, communicated, and are living them as an organization. Only then can you truly surround yourself with the people who will prepare your organization for growth.

Your job as a leadership team is to establish your organization’s core focus and not to let anything distract you from that. Many things have the potential to distract us from our core focus.

The central concept of a core focus has been given many different names over time, including “mission statement,” “vision statement,” “core business,” “sweet spot,” “the zone,” and “the ball” (as in “keep your eye on the”). In his book The 8th Habit, Stephen Covey calls it “voice.” Dan Sullivan calls it Unique Ability®. And in Good to Great, Jim Collins calls it “the hedgehog concept.” I call it core focus because it should come from your company’s core and you must stay laser-focused on it.

Most people are sitting on their own diamond mines. The surest ways to lose your diamond mine are to get bored, become overambitious, or start thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. Find your core focus, stick to it, and devote your time and resources to excelling at it.

When business owners get bored, there is always the potential for them to get distracted by the shiny stuff and inadvertently sabotage what they’ve created. Fading passion and losing sight of why you’re in business are other pitfalls that could lead to the same fate. Defining your core focus will return you to your original levels of clarity and excitement.

While a new idea may look like a no-brainer on paper, it’s simply not worth doing if it’s not a part of your core focus.

When your core focus is clear, you’re going to come to several important realizations. You’ll realize that certain practices, people, and, sometimes, entire divisions and/or product lines don’t fit into your core focus. As a direct result of this

discovery, past EOS clients have gotten rid of entire departments and...

Decide what business you are in, and be in that business. As the old saying goes, “He who chases two rabbits catches neither.”

Success in one kind of industry doesn’t necessarily dictate success in another. You can only succeed in the kind of business that is right for you and your team. As Jim Collins puts it in his bestseller Good to Great, “You have to figure out what you’re genetically encoded to do.” That’s a vital point. The combination of your talents and passions combined with your leadership creates something unique that no other company has, and that something is your core focus. You must uncover what it is.

HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR CORE FOCUS First, you and your leadership team should define, with absolute clarity, your two truths: your reason for being and your niche.

Core focus is actually very simple. Don’t overthink it. After reading this section of this book, lock your leadership team in a room for a minimum of two uninterrupted hours. Start by asking them to write the answers to the two questions below. Once everyone has finished, go around the table and have them share what they’ve written. Then, open up the discussion for debate and talk as a group for as long as you need to.

Do this with both questions, one at a time, until you’re on the same page and have each answer down to just a few words. Be warned: You may need several sessions to complete the task. Be patient and remember not to overthink and overanalyze. Like core values, your core focus already exists; i...

1. Why does your organization exist? What is its purpose, cause, or passion? When your purpose, cause, or passion is clear, you won’t be able to tell what business you’re in. You should be able to take it into any industry. This will also keep you from confusing it with your niche.

When your purpose, cause, or passion is clear, it should meet all eight points of the following checklist:

1. It’s stated in three to seven words. 2. It’s written in simple language. 3. It’s big and bold. 4. It has an “aha” effect. 5. It comes from the heart. 6. It involves everyone. 7. It’s not about money. 8. It’s bigger than a goal.

2. What is your organization’s niche? Your niche should be simple. It will ultimately become a filtering mechanism for your team to make its decisions as you move forward. Orville Redenbacher’s theory says it all: “Do one thing and do it better than anyone.”

With your niche and your organization’s reason for being crystal clear, you now have a core focus. Once your core focus is clear, you’ll need to stay true to it. If a new business opportunity doesn’t fit, don’t do it. If someone on the leadership team tries to throw something incongruent over the wall, throw it back. Let it be your filtering mechanism for all future decisions.

One important point: The task of clarifying your core focus assumes that you already have a financial model that works. If that’s the case, it’s just a matter of focusing on and executing your vision so that the profit will follow.