S2E7: ISSUES | Building Your Issues List

Are you tired of obstacles hindering your organization’s progress? Do you feel like there are hidden challenges holding you back? I get it. Most clients begin that way in EOS®.

Those obstacles are called “issues.” An issue is anything that slows you down, ticks you off, gets in the way. It’s an obstacle, a barrier, an idea, an opportunity, anything requiring your attention. 

Now, if you’re thinking, “Oh yeah, we’ve got issues,” then congratulations! You are normal. Having issues means your company is growing and evolving. The worst-case scenario is that you’re not being transparent. You’re not surfacing what’s in the way and causing friction on your business. If you’re not facing your issues, you’re either on your way to – or you are in the process of – dying.

Naming your issues is just the first step, however. On today’s podcast, we’re digging into the EOS Issues List, which helps manage your issues more effectively. The EOS Issues List acts as a game-changing tool, illuminating your elephants in the room and fostering open communication within your company.

Remember, an issue is simply an important topic or a concern for discussion. It’s not always negative, and it’s not something you can solve on your own. By removing emotional reactions and addressing issues as a team, you’ll discover quickly how manageable they can truly be. Think of your Issues List as a parking lot for all the issues that come up throughout the week.

Instead of constantly and consistently interrupting your teammates with those “got a minute?” meetings, you can condense all issue-solving into one weekly segment of your EOS Level 10 Meeting™. If it can wait – it’s not time-sensitive or mission-critical – put it on your next Level 10 Meeting Issues List.

We’ll prioritize and handle it with IDS®. And this is where we build the muscle of patience. This is not a skill most entrepreneurs have. The Issues List will actually end up giving you time back. Because it increases productivity and allows you to focus and let go of those nagging thoughts that permeate your skull when things aren’t going well.

They’re safely captured and parked on the list, and you know you’ll get to them by the next meeting. Utilizing your Issues List well takes practice. And your team might struggle with being open, honest, really naming the issue, and getting to the root cause in the beginning. That is normal. Again, you have to help your team effectively get the issues on the list and encourage that by doing the following:

Number one, create an environment where every team member feels safe and encouraged to voice their concerns, ideas, and suggestions. Remove the fear of judgment or condemnation and replace it with a shared commitment to growth and improvement. Thank people for being brave, courageous, and willing to say the hard thing, because it’s not the way our world is hardwired to receive any kind of concern.

Number two, emphasize that discussing issues is not about blame. It’s about finding solutions. You need to frame conversations around focusing on your collective goal of progress. 

Number three, set the tone by being vulnerable yourself and sharing your own challenges and where you need help.

And last but not least, build trust by being open to feedback and welcoming diverse opinions. Ultimately, your Issues List helps your team members raise concerns without worrying about getting in trouble. You don’t want people hesitant to share what they really think because we know we can solve it. On the other hand, when you’re guessing or assuming, often you make mistakes.

For example, imagine a marketing team struggling to meet their campaign deadlines due to a lack of resources. In the past, that issue might have been ignored or swept under the rug. That’s not good. By using the Issues List, team members have a platform to bring that issue up openly. Together, the team can brainstorm solutions, reallocate resources, or seek additional support.

It creates a sense of empowerment and ownership because everyone can contribute to finding resolutions. As you begin to build your Issues List, you’ll find there are three common types of issues:

Number one, solve. This requires input and perspective from other team members. The person raising the issue may need help getting out of the weeds or looking at their challenge in a different way.

Team members can be supportive by asking probing questions to get to the root cause of that issue so that they can solve that issue. 

The second one, ideate. This requires a creative approach. We call it brainstorming. It’s about finding new or alternative solutions because we’re hitting the wall and running out of good ideas. We need help by ideating. 

And the last one, inform. This simply refers to information that’s shared with your team. It might be a progress update, a policy change, a process change, or information that’s going to affect your business. If that issue needs to be shared with others, you create a cascading message so that you can consistently spread that information. 

Sometimes tensions will rise when you look at the Issues List. If your team experiences this, remind them that they’re just issues, and it’s not about pointing fingers or dwelling on problems. As a team, you have to detach your emotion from the issues and remember that naming each issue in one clean sentence is the first step to solving it.

I had an incredibly courageous company. During their quarterly, they walked in with a long Issues List. They had so many issues. They were overwhelmed. And it seemed like we were hitting the ceiling in the middle of the session.

When they thought about the business differently, they had to call out a hard issue. And when that happened, it was like we put the brakes on the session. Everybody sort of froze. Then I said, “Hey, team, let’s take a break. I want you all to take 10, get out of here, go get some sunshine, come back in the room, and let’s see what happens.”

After the break – which is a common and good thing to do when you’ve hit the ceiling in the middle of a session or during an IDS time – one courageous leader came back and said, “I think I have to call out the elephant in the room, and it’s the reason we have so many issues: we need to downsize.”

They kept setting goals they weren’t attaining, and at this point in that company’s history, the hard decision was to downsize their organization. Now, that came with some emotion, but when they called it out, again, an hour to an hour and a half later, the Issues List decreased significantly. We spent our time on The Accountability Chart™.

We came up with plan A and plan B. The team worked creatively and cohesively. And as a result, several people changes happened. But you know what the funny thing was? Within six months, that company was on their way back, and within a year, they doubled and came back stronger and more focused, niched into a better part of their business and more effective as a result.

Was it easy? Absolutely not. Was it worthwhile? Absolutely. As you get better at naming and solving the issues, your business will grow. The EOS Issues List is a critical tool in creating an open, honest, vulnerable environment. It gives you the forum to address challenges head on and allows you to solve problems in a collaborative, non-emotional manner. You’ll also receive countless hours back by using an efficient Issues List to park your issues as they come up throughout the week, not hijacking or stealing time from one another as you build that patience muscle to say, “Is it time-sensitive? Is it mission-critical?” If not, park it. It can wait. Many of my EOS clients receive several hours back per week once they become practiced at using their Issues List.