What the Heck Is EOS?: A Complete Guide for Employees in Companies Running on EOS

by Gino Wickman

Rocks are 90-day priorities—the most important things you need to get done in the next 90 days. The weekly Level 10 Meeting lays down an agenda so you solve issues and stay connected as a team. These 2 tools help your company be more disciplined and execute better.

Your role is to set Rocks with your manager every quarter and to complete them on time. Your role is also to be fully engaged and actively participate in your weekly Level 10 Meetings by helping to identify and resolve issues.

So now you know why you need an operating system, why your company chose EOS, and what your company looks like when each of the 6 Key Components are 100% strong. Everyone in the company will be rowing in the same direction. You will have great people throughout the organization. Measurables will be in place so you have a pulse on where you are in relation to your goals. All issues will be solved quickly. Everyone will follow the Core Processes, creating consistency and scalability. You will execute well, with clear priorities and highly productive meetings. Everyone will work together as a healthy, cohesive team, ultimately making your company’s vision a reality. It will truly be a great place to work.

Most companies take a minimum of 24 months to strengthen each of the 6 Key Components. So your patience and commitment will be needed, because once you are at 100%, it is a lifelong commitment to keep your company there.

Before we dive into each of the tools in the following chapters, here are some questions to ask your manager. We’ll list 3 questions like this at the end of each chapter to help you push your company to fully implement EOS.

1. What is our weakest component, and how can I help strengthen it? 2. What is our strongest component, and why do you think that? 3. What is the first thing you want me to do to help implement EOS at our company?

always thought management didn’t know where we were going. If they did, they sure weren’t sharing it with me. The V/TO changed that. —LINDSEY CLEMENT, accounting and HR specialist, Proximity Systems, Inc.

Great companies have leaders who communicate a crystal-clear Vision to the entire company. A company’s Vision, simply put, is a matter of defining who you are, where you are going, and how you will get there.

Do you know your company’s Vision for the future? Every company has one, but it might not be written down or shared with everyone. Perhaps only a few leaders carry it around in their heads.

A worse problem is when a leadership team thinks they all agree on the same Vision and they really don’t. If they don’t agree with one another on the same Vision, they and the company will end up rowing in different directions. In addition, when the Vision is not written down, it is difficult for a leadership...

else in the company. This leads to poor communication, confusion...

The EOS tool that helps your leadership team define, document, agree on, and share the company Vision is called the Vision/Traction Organizer or “V/TO.”

The V/TO aligns your leadership team around the answers to 8 essential questions about your business.

The V/TO helps the team get their vision out of their heads and down on paper so it can be shared with the whole company. Once everyone throughout the organization shares the same vision, they can row in the same direction. They can now “see” where they are going.

A clearly defined vision shared by everyone in the company is like having that map. It helps you see where you’ve been, where you are, and where you are going. The result is a stronger company, which leads to more job security and opportunities for employees.

we’ll next take you through a deeper dive into each of the 8 questions on the V/TO: 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 3-Year Picture? 6. What is your 1-Year Plan? 7. What are your Rocks? 8. What are your Issues?

Core Values are a timeless set of guiding principles. There are typically just a few—3 to 7 is the rule of thumb. They define the behaviors you expect from each other. They define your culture and who fits and who doesn’t. They define what makes your company different and unique.

For a company to be great, it must first know who it is. Then focus on strategy. Who you are as a company is defined by your Core Values.

You’ll find that when you work with people who share the same Core Values, communication is easier, things get done faster, and the work environment is more fun. You will have a great organization and a strong culture.

Whereas Core Values define who you are as an organization, Core Focus defines what you are. Core Focus is about keeping your company and all of its people focused on the areas where your business excels.

Core Focus keeps companies from getting distracted. It comes from the intersection of knowing why your company exists and what you do in the world.

Your why is known as a Purpose, Cause, or Passion. It is an overriding belief that is bigger than a goal, and it makes you want to get out of bed every day. Your what is known as a Niche. It defines the space in which you do business; it identifies what you do better than anyone else. Once these 2 truths are clarified and put together, you have your Core Focus.

Once you know your company’s Core Focus, you’ll realize that you are part of something bigger than yourself. Hopefully, this will be inspiring. In addition, your Core Focus serves as a filter that allows your organization to say no to good

ideas and yes to great ones. As a result, all effort, people, systems, processes, and even products will be designed and aligned to keep you true to what you do best and propel you toward your vision.

Now that you know who you are and what you are as an organization, you need to determine where you are going. The 10-Year Target is your long-term, larger-than-life goal. It unites everyone around one common objective. In many cases, it helps you and your company achieve goals you never thought possible.

In addition, working toward a long-range goal can create more opportunities for employees like you. Finally, it gets everyone asking the right questions, like: What does our company need to start doing differently to reach our 10-Year Target? What do we need to change? What could we do better?

With a clear 10-Year Target that is shared by all, you will have a guiding light by which everyone can steer. This focus will direct your energy, resources, and decisions to help you grow faster and reach your 10-Year Target more quickly.

Defining your Marketing Strategy requires crystallizing who your ideal customer is and clarifying the most appealing message to them. Doing this will create a laser-like focus for your sales and marketing efforts. This in turn will help increase your sales and move you toward your 10-Year Target.

Many companies waste thousands of dollars trying to be everything to everyone. They waste money with inconsistent marketing messages. They take sales trips to prospective customers who are never going to say yes or are not a good fit for the company. They commit to projects in which they have no expertise.

The Marketing Strategy will help you stay focused, selling to customers who are the most receptive and take less organizational time to service. It will help align your organization around the real, unique value you provide the customer.

Your Marketing Strategy is made up of 4...

1. Target Market 2. 3 Uniques 3. Proven Process 4. Guarantee

The Target Market identifies the characteristics of your best customers (who they are, where they are, and how they think). Once your Target Market is identified, your company can focus more energy toward those ideal customers and less toward others who don’t fit or who generate less profit.

The 3 Uniques describe the 3 things that make you better than the competition and why your customers buy from your company.

The Proven Process is a visual of what you do, time and time again, to deliver value to your customer over the life of the relationship. It creates a picture of what your customers will experience when they work with you.

Your Guarantee is designed to take away your customers’ biggest fear when it is time for them to buy. It says that you stand behind your product or service. This is where you put your money where your mouth

These 4 elements make up your Marketing Strategy. Once implemented, you will focus on customers who are easier and more enjoyable to do business with. Your 3 Uniques will provide a consistent message for all of your sales and marketing efforts. You will differentiate yourself and put your clients’ minds at ease with your Proven Process and your guarantee. All of these will help increase your sales and put you on track to hit your 10-Year Target faster.

The next step in achieving your Vision is painting a picture of what your company will look like in 3 short years. The 3-Year Picture creates a vivid image of exactly what your company will look like, feel like, and be like in 3 years.

The 3-Year Picture helps everyone see the same image 3 years down the road. It contains just a handful of numbers: Revenue, Profit, and a Measurable. In addition, it contains 5 to 15 bullets that “paint” the picture for you.

The 3-Year Picture allows your leadership team to paint a powerful picture of the future so you can see what they are saying. Once everyone sees this Vision, it is more likely to happen. It’s important that you ask questions once this is rolled out. By challenging anything that isn’t clear, you will ultimately understand the big picture and then decide if you want to be a part of

This is where we start to take the Vision down to the ground. A solid 1-Year Plan makes the goals more tangible. Simply put, your 1-Year Plan defines your objectives for the year. It identifies and crystallizes your revenue target, profit target, and a Measurable, along with your top 3 to 7 goals for the year.

Why only 3 to 7 goals? Because fewer is better and less is more. When companies try to get too many things done, they lose focus and, as a result, accomplish very few of them. With too many goals, organizations spread resources across too many priorities and then fall short.

Once your 1-Year Plan is clear, you’ll know exactly what you need to accomplish over the next 12 months to put you on a path to reach your 3-Year Picture and ultimately achieve your 10-Year Target. All energy and resources will be focused on your selected few goals, propelling your company forward and providing you with a greater chance of success.

Rocks are the 3 to 7 most important objectives the company must get done in the next 90 days in order to achieve your 1-Year Plan.

Another benefit of Rocks is that they create a 90-Day World for your organization that addresses an important aspect of human nature—human beings tend to lose focus, get off track, and fray about 90 days into any project. Rocks get everyone refocused right on the 90th day as the unraveling begins, avoiding the coming fray and maximizing everyone’s efforts and energy.

By setting Rocks every quarter, your company will get a lot more done in a lot less time. Every 90 days, your company will refocus and set new Rocks. With that done, everyone will know the most important priorities for the company every 90 days.

The final question is as important as the previous 7. To achieve your company’s Vision, it is vital to openly admit all of your company’s obstacles to the opportunities that lie before you. This is simply a list of all the things that could prevent your company from reaching your Vision or that will help you get there faster.

All organizations have issues. The problem is that, in many companies, no one admits them, or when they do, everyone just talks about them but does nothing. As a result, it feels as if there are hundreds of problems that are never resolved.

Putting all of the issues on one list will help your company get a handle on them. And remember: in addition to problems, issues are also ideas and opportunities. You might have an idea on how to grow the company faster. That idea must be added to the Issues List too.

Once your leadership team answers the 8 questions and your V/TO is complete, documented, and shared with the entire company, you’ll have a crystal-clear picture of who you are, what you are, and where you are going as an organization. You’ll ultimately have a great company filled with great people who fit your Core Values. Your Core Focus will serve as a filtering and guiding mechanism for deciding on people, products, customers, and processes. All effort will be aligned toward achieving your 10-Year Target. Your Marketing Strategy will focus your sales efforts on the right clients with the right message. Everyone will see, buy into, and work toward the 3-Year Picture. Shorter term, all energy will be focused on achieving a handful of goals for the year. Your 1-Year Plan will be broken down into Rocks that will create a very focused and productive 90-Day World. Finally, all company issues will be placed openly and honestly on the Issues List, so you can pick them off by prioritizing and solving them, one at a time. With this clarity, everyone will be rowing in the same direction. You will be part of an incredibly focused organization with a strong culture.