Same Kind of Different

As an EOS Implementer™ I have the pleasure of working with many leadership teams of entrepreneurial companies. I get together with them in a room every quarter to make sure they are moving towards their Vision, realign them as a team and solve issues. And though every team and company is unique in their own way, all businesses struggle with the same issues, different but the same.

If the same 136 things are showing up in all businesses week after week, month after month and year after year, how do you break the cycle? How do you become one of the companies that is great at solving issues and, most importantly, solving them for good to make them go away forever?

Isolate the Issue

Companies running on EOS^® become really good at “compartmentalizing” their issues. Use the EOS Model™ as a virtual “lens,” and hold it up to each of your business issues to determine which of the Six Key Components™ the issue fits in:

• VISION – everyone is 100% on the same page
• PEOPLE – surround yourself with great people
• DATA – drive your business on objective numbers
• ISSUES – become great at problem-solving
• PROCESS – document your Core Processes
• TRACTION – discipline, accountability, and execution

Knowing what the Six Key Components of any business are, and defining the component the issue fits in (and sometimes it might be two), will help those 136 things you have been worrying about fall into place.

Solve the Issue

Once you have decided in which of the components the issue fits, you need to define the root of the issue. Most leadership teams have a tendency to solve whatever they are seeing in front of them today, which is most likely a symptom of the issue, not the REAL root of the issue. Sometimes it may take some digging and may I say, “fighting”, to get to the root of the issue.

The practice is simple – but it’s not easy. It takes time to learn to trust each other to be able to truly be honest about issues facing the business and the best way to move the company forward. Once you start compartmentalizing your issues with the EOS Model and using the tools in each of the Six Key Components, it will make solving issues simpler and more effective.

Don’t be the same kind of different. Be better.

Next Steps

• Download the Issues Solving Track™ from the EOS Toolbox™ to learn how to IDS (Identify, Discuss, and Solve) issues more effectively.
• Check the strength of your company with the Organizational Checkup™.
• Download the EOS Model.

Image Credit: Career Employer