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Scott Vejdani
What the Heck is EOS? A Complete Guide for Employees in Companies Running on EOS - by Gino Wickman and Tom Bouwer

What the Heck is EOS? A Complete Guide for Employees in Companies Running on EOS - by Gino Wickman and Tom Bouwer

Date read: 2020-08-02
How strongly I recommend it: 6/10
(See my list of 150+ books, for more.)

Go to the Amazon page for details and reviews.

EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) is an extremely quick read meant to provide smaller companies (10-250 persons) with aligning on their vision, communications, R&Rs, and goals through different tools and practices. It takes methodologies from several sources and creates its own approach. Some of it is original while others are clear reproductions of systems proven to work in any industry. The most interesting part is the L10 meeting process, which I could see being applied to any team in any size company.

Contents:

  1. THE VISION/TRACTION ORGANIZER (V/TO)
  2. THE ACCOUNTABILITY CHART
  3. YOUR ROCKS
  4. THE WEEKLY MEETING PULSE
  5. SCORECARD & MEASURABLES
  6. PEOPLE ANALYZER

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My Notes

EOS stands for the Entrepreneurial Operating System, specifically designed for a 10 to 250 person entrepreneurial company that is open-minded and growth-oriented.

The EOS Model focus on 6 Key Components: Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction.


THE VISION/TRACTION ORGANIZER (V/TO)
Made up of 8 questions:
  1. What are your Core Values? - 3 to 7 core values that define the behaviors you expect from each other.

    Examples include:
    • Humbly Confident
    • Grow or Die
    • Help First
    • Do What You Say
    • Do the Right Thing

  2. What is your Core Focus? - Core Values define who you are as an organization and Core Focus defines what you are. Your "what" is known as your Niche. It defines the space in which you do business.

  3. What is your 10-Year Target? - Your long-term, larger-than-life goal.

  4. What is your Marketing Strategy? - Requires crystallizing who your ideal customer is and clarifying the most appealing message to them.

    Your Marketing Strategy is made up of 4 key elements:
    1. Target Market - Identifies the characteristics of your best customers (who they are, where they are, and how they think).
    2. 3 Uniques - The 3 things that make you better than the competition and why your customers buy from your company.
    3. Proven Process - It creates a picture of what your customers will experience when they work with you.
    4. Guarantee - You stand behind your product or service.

    3 examples of guarantees:
    • We will hit our ship date, or we will pay for your shipping.
    • If we don't add value, you don't pay.
    • We will show up on time, or the first hour is free.

  5. What is your 3-Year Picture? - Contains just a handful of numbers: Revenue, Profit, and a Measurable. In addition, it contains 5 to 15 bullets that "paint" the picture for you.

  6. What is your 1-Year Plan? - Defines your objectives for the year: revenue target, profit target, and a Measurable, along with your top 3 to 7 goals for the year.

  7. What are your Rocks? - 3 to 7 most important objectives the company must get done in the next 90 days in order to achieve your 1-Year Plan. Set quarterly. This also can be cascaded down to the individual.

  8. What are your Company's Issues? - A list of all the things that could prevent your company from reaching your Vision or that will help you get there faster. These are also ideas and opportunities.

THE ACCOUNTABILITY CHART
A supercharged organizational chart that, in addition to showing structure, clarifies the roles and responsibilities of everyone in the organization.

For each seat in the company, 5 or so bullet points that clarify the major roles of that job.

In fast-growing companies, the Accountability Chart may change as often as every 90 days.


YOUR ROCKS
Every 90 days you will get together with your team and review the previous Rocks you set to assure they were accomplished. Then you will set new Rocks for the next 90 days. This is called creating a "90-Day World."

Your Rocks need to be SMART:
S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Attainable
R - Realistic
T - Timely

While Rocks are set every 90 days, you will check in with your team during your weekly meetings.

The minimum standard for a team's Rock completion is 80%.


THE WEEKLY MEETING PULSE
A 90 minute meeting every week meant to accomplish 4 things:
  1. Make sure everything is on track.
  2. Keep the circles connected (stay connected and on the same page with your team).
  3. Hold each other accountable.
  4. Solve issues.
Also known as Level 10 Meetings or "L10" for short - meant to produce a score of 10 out of 10 for being a productive meeting.

During this meeting you'll be creating an Issues List. This is where you put any ideas, opportunities, problems, concerns, or barriers.

The meeting must always take place on the same day and at the same time each week. It also must start and end on time.

2 roles needed to conduct an L10 Meeting:
  1. Meeting Facilitator
  2. Document Manager/Scribe
Make sure these are 2 different people.

The Level 10 Meeting Agenda:
Segue - 5 min
Scorecard - 5 min
Rock Review - 5 min
Customer/Employee Headlines - 5 min
To-Do List - 5 min
IDS - 60 min
Conclude - 5 min

Segue - Each person on the team shares one piece of both personal and professional good news from the past week.

Scorecard - During the Scorecard review there should be no questions, no color commentary, no excuses. Measurables are either on track or off track. If a Measureable is off track or if anyone on the team has a question, it gets dropped down to the Issues List. You do this by simply saying, "Drop it down."

Fight the urge to discuss anything during the review of the Scorecard - just report on the numbers.

Rock Review - The person running the meeting (the facilitator) will review the list of Rocks, reading each person's Rock(s) one at at time, and the Rock owner will simply state if it is on track or off track. Any item that is off track or that anyone has a question about gets dropped down to the Issues List.

Customer/Employee Headlines - Allows anyone to bring up good or bad news about customers, employees, or both. These should be quick, 1 to 2 sentence headlines. If it takes mare than a sentence or 2 to explain, drop it down to the Issues List.

To-Do List - Typically 7-day action items. The goal is that your team collectively completes 90% of them each week before your next L10.

IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) - Contains 3 types of issues:
  1. Decisions - Issues that need to be solved.
  2. Information to share.
  3. Information Needed - Someone needs information to do their job or brainstorming to complete their Rock or project.
Your objective is to solve the most important issues well, not to solve all the issues on your list. The goal is to solve them once and for all - so they never come back. If you run out of time, the other issues can just stay on the list until next week.

First you must Identify the real issue before you start to discuss anything. Once the real issue is clearly identified, you then move on to Discuss. That's where everyone gives their input on the issue, and once all the views are on the table, you move to Solve.

To help clarify the issue, use the "Who, Who, 1-Sentence" technique: Example of "Who, Who, 1-Sentence":
FACILITATOR: Who is teeing this issue up?
BOB: I am.
FACILITATOR: Who are you talking to?
BOB: Sue.
FACILITATOR: What's the issue in one sentence?
BOB: Sue, I'm not getting reports from you on time.

If you get off track, simply say, "Tangent Alert!" This is a great way to alert the team to the fact the conversation has started to go sideways and needs to be brought back to the originial issue. You could also say, "Rabbit!" to let the team know that they are going down a rabbit hole.

Try to resolve issue at your department level and avoid kicking them upstairs as much as possible.

Conclude - With 5 minutes left in the meeting:
  1. Recap the To-Do List that came out of the meeting.
  2. Decide if there are any cascading messages.
  3. Rate the meeting on a scale of 1 to 10.
When rating the meeting, think about the following criteria:
  1. Did it start and end on time?
  2. Did you follow the L10 Agenda?
  3. Is everyone on the same page?
  4. Did 90% or more of the To-Dos get done?
  5. Did you solve the most important issues?
The minimum average rating for your L10 should be an 8. If a team member rates the meeting below an 8, ask, "What would have made the meeting a 10 for you?"

For a tutorial video on the L10 Meeting, go to https://traction.eosworldwide.com/level-10.



SCORECARD & MEASURABLES
A typical company Scorecard will have 5-15 numbers that your leadership team reviews every week. Each department should have a department Scorecard that will usually have 3-5 numbers that you should review weekly in your L10.

A Scorecard must have 4 key columns:
  1. Who - The person accountable for the number.
  2. Measurables - 3-5 numbers you are tracking weekly on your Scorecard.
  3. Goal - The number that must be hit every week.
  4. Date - The week on which you are reporting.
Scorecards must display 13 weeks of data at a glance. By seeing 13 weeks of results, you can identify patterns and trends, potentially identifying issues before they negatively impact your results.

To make a Scorecard work, only one person should take responsibility for it, making sure it is completely accurate. Typically, this is the department leader, but not always.

Those 3-5 numbers of the Scorecard naturally become the numbers for each person on your team. This ultimately leads to what we call "Everyone Has a Number."


PEOPLE ANALYZER
List a person in the left-hand column and then your company's Core Values across the top.

The person is rated on how they live or don't live your company's Core Values with a plus, a plus/minus, or a minus: Every company sets a minimum standard, or "The Bar," for the People Analyzer. You will notice it listed at the bottom of the People Analyzer. This is the minimum score a company will accept from the People Analyzer.

Using the Accountability Chart, each person is evaluated against their seat's roles and responsiblities using 3 criteria called "GWC.":
  1. GET IT - Do they "get" the job?
  2. WANT IT - Do they "want" the job?
  3. CAPACITY - Do they have the "capacity" to do the job? This could be both emotional and intellectual capacity.
The answer to each GWC question is a yes or no. And the minimum standard, or "The Bar" for GWS is always 3 yeses.

The Quarterly Conversation is an informal, face-to-face, one-on-one meeting for you both to talk about what's working and what's not. It takes about 60 minutes.