Staying Centered: Focus on Your Sweet Spot

What if everyone in your organization spent all their time doing what they love to do and what they are great at? How could you possibly NOT succeed?

In EOS, we define a company’s vision by answering 8 questions. One of these questions is “What is your Core Focus?” A company’s Core Focus is it’s sweet spot. I like to explain it with the analogy of a golf club. The sweet spot of a golf club is where you get the most distance, power and accuracy with the least amount of effort. Your company has a sweet spot too and it works just the same.

Most companies intuitively understand this…there are certain things they do that are almost effortless. Every time they do these things, customers are delighted. On the other hand, there are also certain things that they just can’t seem to get right. Now matter how hard they try, they just can’t deliver what the customer wants. They’ve gotten out of their sweet spot.

In EOS, we say your Core Focus is where two important factors come together. The first is what we call your “Purpose, Cause or Passion”. It is your organization’s “Why”. Why do you exist? What do you just LOVE to do? The second factor we call your “Niche”. It is your “What”. It’s that thing you are great at that makes your Purpose/Cause/Passion real in the world. When we’ve found the intersection of those two factors we’ve discovered your Core Focus – your sweet spot.

But knowing your Core Focus is only half the battle. The real payoff comes when as you increase the amount of time and effort you spend living in that sweet spot. Your Core Focus becomes your filter for the decisions you make. For instance, every organization is bombarded with potential opportunities, things you could do:

·      An existing customer who asks you to do something you haven’t done before

·      A potential customer who is ready to sign if you can do just one thing a little differently

·      Industry pundits pointing out new market opportunities

·      Your competitor’s latest announcement that seems to put them a step ahead

The challenge is that you can’t do everything. So how do you know which of these are real opportunities, and which are just bright, shiny objects that will distract you from what you really SHOULD be doing? Your Core Focus gives you the answer.

EOS companies learn to align every aspect of their business around their Core Focus. Their product offerings, culture, people, compensation plans, processes and systems are carefully designed to make it easy for everyone to stay close to that center, and hard to deviate from it. It becomes like a gravity field that draws everyone and everything about your business into that sweet spot.   Because the more time you spend in your sweet spot, the better every aspect of your business will be.

Now, if I can just figure out a way to do that with my golf swing!