Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

by Gino Wickman

Most people’s memories aren’t good enough to remember what the intention was that far back. You don’t have to remember intentions if you have specific and measurable goals.

When the results are vague and debatable, it’s far too difficult to see clearly what worked and what didn’t.

I highly recommend an exercise I call One Thing. Each member of the team receives feedback from the others on his or her single greatest strength or most admirable ability and his or her biggest weakness or hindrance to the success of the company.

I believe the peer-evaluation methods that are conducted anonymously actually do more harm than good.

After everyone has received the feedback from their team members, each then must choose one thing he or she will commit to doing differently in the coming year based on the feedback.

The most productive outcome of the SWOT analysis is the Issues List.

challenge the company vision. This is the Annual Meeting Pulse, and nothing is sacred.

One-year planning rarely takes more than two hours.

By religiously implementing the Quarterly and Annual Meeting Pulse, you create a 90-Day World that will reap tremendous benefits for your organization.

Once the quarterly priorities are set, you must meet on a weekly basis to stay focused, solve issues, and communicate. As you can see by the following model, the Weekly Meeting Pulse is your opportunity to make sure that everything is on track.

If you’re on track for the week, then you’re on track for the quarter, and if you’re on track for the quarter,

What makes for great meetings is solving problems. Patrick Lencioni says it best: “Your meetings should be passionate, intense, exhausting, and never boring.”

You no longer need to take meeting minutes. They should be a thing of the past. If you want to know what was covered in a meeting, check that week’s agenda.

create the transition from working in the business all week to working on the business, disconnecting from day-to-day affairs. It’s important to turn off all electronic devices so you can disconnect, take a deep breath, change gears, and get to work.

To-dos are seven-day action items.

a Rock is a 90-day priority while a to-do is a seven-day action item.

I discovered that the commitments that team members were making to each other from the previous week were not being carried out. People would make promises, such as making a call, shipping a package, or finishing a report. A week later, I would find that, of 10 commitments, only a few were done. As a result, I incorporated a To-Do List into the meeting. Once everyone had to report on them the following week, the number of tasks completed went from a few out of 10 to nine out of 10. Productivity increased

it’s a mistake to start at the top of the list and work your way down because sometimes the most important issue is near the bottom of the list.

Concluding has two parts. First, recap your new To-Do List. Quickly restate all of the action items on the list to confirm that everyone has theirs written down. This step reinforces accountability. Second, discuss whether any messages need to be communicated to the organization based on decisions you made today, how you’re going to communicate

The meetings must 1. be on the same day each week, 2. be at the same time each week,

have the same printed agenda, 4. start on time, and 5. end on time.

Using the same agenda discourages reinventing the wheel; once you have an agenda that works, stick to it. Plus, it also hel...

make sure that at least 50 percent of the meeting time is spent solving issues.

Confidence: How Winning and Losing Streaks Begin and End, once described what she refers to as Kanter’s law: “Everything can look like a failure in the middle.” Sometimes on your journey, you’ll feel like it’s not working. When this occurs, I urge you to stay the course.

achieving 100 percent requires a state of

perfection that doesn’t exist.

fill out the Organizational Checkup together at least twice a year to see how you’re progressing.

find the gaps between where you are and where you want to go.

The goal is progress, not perfection.

Yet success is not based on where you are, but on how far you have come.

What the Heck Is EOS? Written with my co-author, Tom Bouwer, it is a complete guide for employees in companies running on EOS.

The 90-Day World stems from the reality that humans can only focus that long. • The To-Do List in the weekly meeting is designed to ensure accountability. When people know someone is going to check up on what they committed to, they do it. • The V/TO is designed to get your vision out of

your head and into the heads of others using a simplified approach of answering only eight questions. This makes it easier for people to see. When they can see it, they will believe it and it’s more likely to happen. • Data forces you to give people numbers so you can measure achievement. People relate to numbers because measuring is a natural human tendency. It creates a benchmark.

Core values go to the heart of human nature. Like attracts like. People who are like-minded work well with each other. Different people have different values, but when you meet someone who has yours, there is an instant fit. • The Meeting Pulse forces people to “keep the circles connected,

People need to stay connected. The saying “Out of sight, out of mind” is true in any company. If you don’t stay connected, you’re going to start to stray and people will start to work at cross-purposes.

• The Issues Solving Track addresses the natural tendency to avoid conflict, hoping that a problem will go away on its own. It won’t, ...

“It’s like going to the doctor and not taking the medicine, thinking that going to the doctor is the cure.”

STAY COMMITTED TO THE 90-DAY WORLD

A quarterly meeting is essential

whether things are going well or not.

continue to practice the five leadership abilities. You have to: 1. Simplify, using the EOS tools. Remember that less is more. When everything is important,

nothing is important. 2. Delegate and elevate by knowing when you and others are at capacity. 3. Predict well, both for the long term and short term, through your V/TO, Scorecard, and Rock setting and by following the Issues Solving Track. 4. Systemize by consistently managing your core processes. 5. Structure your organization the right way using the Accountability Chart, which continually evolves as you grow.

growth for growth’s sake is normally a mistake.

everything has its place. In other words, every issue, priority, action, or idea that is longer term than 90 days is listed on your V/TO Issues List. Anything that must be accomplished this year becomes a goal. If it needs to get done this quarter and will take weeks or months to accomplish, it becomes a Rock. Any issues that arise during the quarter and must be solved now go onto your weekly Level 10 leadership meeting Issues List. Issues that are departmental in nature

get pushed down to the appropriate departmental meeting Issues List, and any that are one- to two-week action items go on the To-Do List in your Level 10 Meetings, creating a simple system for managing all goals, Rocks, issues, and to-dos.

visionary/integrator relationships,

Every month, you meet for a few hours and reconnect the circles. You need to solve all of your issues, share anything that is angering you, and express any concerns. These meetings are not always peaceful, but you will clear the air and resolve issues.