Are you satisfied that your customers consistently receive great products and services from your company? Is value dependent on who is delivering it or how it’s being delivered? Both are important, but without a written process that is followed by all, people will deliver value their way which is often not your way nor the best way.
Some of our EOS clients confuse the terms Core Process and Proven Process.
It happens to all successful entrepreneurs: your business gets to be more than you can handle. When you first start a company, you have no alternative but to be involved in every aspect – planning, sales, operations, finance, personnel – because you’re working either alone or with a very small team of collaborators. You work hard, and the business grows to the point where being involved in everything is a job and a half. You are overworked, overwhelmed, and the freedom you dreamed of having when you started out is nowhere to be found.
A few years ago, a friend of ours was given the task of diagnosing and fixing defects in the first version of a huge-brand consumer electronics product. The product’s initial launch had been an embarrassment. Worse, since it was first sold at Christmas and the defects didn’t become apparent for several months, there was very little time to get things fixed for the next holiday selling season.
Over the last few months, about 80% of my clients have conducted their two-day Annual Planning Sessions. These powerful, jam-packed sessions always help a leadership team go deep – to celebrate the successes of the prior year, identify issues that don’t always come out during more routine sessions and meetings, and to increase team health.
If the company you work in is like most, you are frustrated with constant interruptions to your meetings. In days gone by, it was interruptions by secretaries (remember those?) and phones. But we live in a more insidious time now – electronic interruption and expectation. Because we all carry our smart phones with us, everyone expects that if they phone, email or text us, we will answer immediately. It’s a vicious circle. Because we have those devices – we feel we have to respond. If we do respond, we reinforce the expectation.
