Why Committed Teams Struggle to Achieve Results

In working with dozens of leadership teams around the country as a Certified EOS Implementer®, I see teams that absolutely crush it and also teams that chase their tails in circles trying to get somewhere.

One of the most common situations I walk into, however, is the one you may presently be in. You know you have the right people and have a really hard-working and committed team that’s truly busting it, but you just can’t get anywhere.

You’re putting in crazy hours and feel like you’re doing everything you can to progress.

You question everything you’re doing and everyone you have, looking in every corner of your business trying to solve the mystery as to why you can’t take that next step and gain the traction you’re looking for.

Many teams, like yours, over the past few years have been at this point when I first walk in the door to work with them, and I’ve come to identify that there are really two main themes that stick out:

You Don’t Have True Clarity Around the Vision, or Haven’t Communicated It Clearly

In regard to organizational vision, I often make the analogy of trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean. If you’re lacking a clear, tight and focused vision, it’s comparable to telling your employees that we’re going across the ocean and to just hop in and trust you as a leader. That’s a pretty hard sell. You aren’t going to draw strong or committed people with that kind of mindset, and you’re also going to waste an enormous amount of time, resources and dollars frequently drifting off course as you just merely try to get to the other side of the pond. This leads to spinning your wheels, or in this case, your propeller, without really getting anywhere you had desired. To tell you the truth, how would you even know if you got there if you had never identified where there is?

Now, change that line of thought to We’re going across the Atlantic on this exact course, taking this many days to get there at these varying speeds and we’re going to port exactly here at this time. Now we’re talking about someone with a defined plan! This kind of approach when it comes to your company vision will excite and thrill your people, create massive accountability around the plan and also provide the benchmarks needed for them to stay on course.

This is why it’s so important to have not just a well-defined and crystal clear vision, but also a simple, manageable and executable plan for your people to follow to stay the course. In EOS®, we accomplish both of these items through the use of a tool we call the Vision/Traction Organizer®, or V/TO®. In this simple two-page document, we work with your leadership team in finding and clarifying the answers to 8 key questions for your organization:

• What are your Core Values?
• What is your Core Focus™?
• What is your 10-Year Target™?
• What is your Marketing Strategy?
• What is your 3-Year Picture™?
• What is your 1-Year Plan?
• What are your Rocks?
• What are your Issues?

You can learn more about the V/TO and other tools in our toolbox by downloading them below.

Download the V/TO and the EOS Toolbox

You Are Under Resourced

The second theme I consistently see in committed teams like yours that struggle to get anywhere is that you are under resourced, meaning you haven’t taken the necessary steps to eliminate the bottlenecks in your organization that exist around people.

You continue to get frustrated and state that you have so many things to do and so many priorities that have to get done, but you’re failing to realize that it’s not about how much you can get done. It’s about the prioritization of what you’re doing and making sure you have the horsepower to accomplish it. It’s also about making sure the right people are taking on the appropriate tasks.

Chances are, like almost every other company I’ve ever worked with in this situation, you’re at this point because it’s financially related. You’re afraid to pull the trigger on the roles and people you truly need because it will cost some dollars and set you back.

First, you must realize that it takes money to grow. Often, you have to go a bit backward in order to leap forward. It’s either grow or status quo, and growing has a cost to it. Yes, you may have to take out a line of credit or have some blind faith in burning through some cash, but accept the fact that you need to bring in that extra person or two you haven’t had before and that it will set you back for a little while. In the end, if you’re in it for the long haul and the long-term growth of your organization, that extra resource or two you’ve been holding back from bringing on board is the ultimate key to your success and will blow open the bottleneck that currently exists.

Second, it’s crucial to know exactly where this bottleneck exists in your organization so that you can effectively make that correct hire. Look no further than the top of your organization, as a majority of the time this bottleneck is occurring somewhere within your leadership group. You have a leadership team member that won’t let go of tasks that a $15/hr employee should be owning, they’re buried in the day-to-day details or they refuse to make that hire that will relieve them of the endless paperwork they’re pushing. Believe it or not, many times it’s merely an entry-level type employee or similar that can take items off others’ plates that is needed to make that initial surge, especially in younger companies without a ton of employees.

Wherever the challenge exists, get the appropriate resources in the door to open your organization up for more capacity and growth. Until you do, nothing is going to change. In fact, it will only get worse as you try to push harder and faster.

Summary

I encourage you to take a look within your own company and see if you are that committed team that just struggles to move things forward and break through that ceiling. Ask yourself Is our vision clearly defined, communicated and shared by everyone in the company?

Look at where you have bottlenecks and people over capacity within your teams. What are you going to do to help them? How will you open things up with that next crucial hire? How will you make it happen?

Contact Us to schedule a free meeting or call if your leadership team is finally ready to get unstuck.