How Great Leaders Avoid Surprises

Surprise!

You just lost a key client or employee. An important project goes sour. Something or somebody failed to come through at a crucial time. Your sales, profit, and cash are not meeting expectations.

If you run a business, you know that surprises come in many forms, but did you ever experience a surprise in your business that you felt somebody should have seen coming? That maddening sense of “How the heck could this have happened?”

In entrepreneurial companies, surprises can be fatal. As they grow, it’s up to their leaders to insulate the company from surprises that could threaten its survival.

This essential leadership ability is the power to predict.

As a Certified EOS Implementer™, I help entrepreneurial leaders become better at predicting by helping them implement practical tools to keep them focused on the future. We call it “climbing the tree more often”. When you’re mired in the day-to-day, it’s important to “climb the tree” to gain a better view. The EOS Tools™ help teams start thinking about what needs to happen next to guide the organization toward a shared vision of the future in both the long-term and short-term.

For long-term prediction (90 days and beyond) we use the Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO) to constantly re-calibrate the organization’s vision of the future. The Core Focus, Ten Year Target, 3-Year Picture, and 1-Year Plan form the essence of predictive planning.

These tools are focused on converting our shared Vision into intentions.

They turn our vision into concrete intentions and plans.

For short-term prediction (up to 90 days), we implement Quarterly Rocks, Scorecards, Issues Lists and the discipline of Level-10 Meetings with To-Do’s and the IDS issues-solving track. These tools are focused on results.

They turn our plans into commitments and our commitments into activity (Traction!).

Finally, all the tools come together in our Meeting Pulse, the discipline of integrating our tactical weekly meetings with quarterly and annual planning sessions to set priorities and hold each other accountable to commitments.

Helping my clients implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System® gives their entire team the ability to become expert predictors. The EOS Tools™ cultivate their ability to envision the future, map direction, monitor their progress and achieve results.

Best of all, with fewer surprises, running their businesses becomes a lot more peaceful.

If that also sounds like more fun, I’m happy to drop by for 90 minutes to show you how.

The Power to Predict: 4 ways EOS helps teams stay on track

1. VTO: CF, 10YT, 3YP, 1YP
2. Rocks
3. Scorecard
4. L10 To-Do’s

Dale Williams is a Certified EOS Implementer™ who is passionate about entrepreneurship and family businesses. As a former CEO with over 35 years of leadership experience, he has achieved many of my career goals. Seeking more entrepreneurial opportunities, since 2000, Dale has led multiple start-ups, private and family held businesses through growth, transition and exit. Connect with Dale at [email protected] or through his website, eosworldwide.com/dale-williams/