During the past quarter, I kept running into a strange situation that surprised me. I had the same conversation with three leadership teams of family businesses. All three family businesses wondered if all departments should follow EOS concepts when a company runs on EOS.
“What, I can be fired?!” I’ve heard this from owners more times than I can count. However, I’ve only heard it once when working with my Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®) clients. If someone asks this question in a session, we quickly look at the Partnership Rules of the Game.
Anytime someone works in a business experiencing problems, they experience stress. When family members work together, they deal with added layers of stress. When working in a business together, they need a simple way to talk about these complicated stressors. Enter the Vision/Traction Organizer™ (V/TO™). I’ve seen how using the V/TO helps family businesses in small towns overcome these difficult scenarios and thrive.
My heart broke for a family business recently. I tell their story hoping that it will inspire you to make tough decisions about family members in your business. This family learned the hard way that when the wrong people stay, the right people leave.
I have noticed that my family-business clients spend a lot of time and money on job descriptions. They write, rewrite, fuss, and fluff. And then start over. Personally, I can’t think of many things worse than doing this process over and over again. Can you? Because I’ve seen so much wasted effort, I pondered what EOS® could offer to help bring about the end of painful job description tasks.
Completing the Accountability Chart can be very stressful, especially in a family business – once completed, it sets the foundation for success!
