Why It’s Never the “Right Time” to Start Using EOS®

One of my clients who has been in business for over 20 years was hitting the ceiling when I first met them. They had been very successful over the years, but now they’d hit a plateau on revenue and profit. The team all felt stretched thin, even though they had 80 employees – plenty of staff for their needs – and they couldn’t put their finger on the real reason they were stuck.

A Leadership Team in Trouble

When I asked them what their roles were in the business, nearly everyone on the team said that one of their main roles was “firefighter,” putting out fires – shipment errors, production errors, customer complaints, workforce issues, cash flow challenges, and much more. They were also frustrated because although they felt most of their people were well-intentioned, they were all being pulled in too many directions.

This team was full of hungry learners. They’d actively attend seminars and workshops, seeking to better themselves, their team, and their company. But every time they came back from another seminar, it was overwhelming to implement one more thing they’d learned. And they were getting frustrated at the amount of effort it was taking to move the company forward. Several key people were close to burnout.

Is your leadership team in trouble? Find out how strong your company is.

There Is No Right Time (Like the Present)

This is what I learned about them at our introductory EOS 90-Minute Meeting™. At the end of our time, they were in love with the idea of getting the business to a point where they would get better results with much less effort than they’d been expending. But they were skeptical that they could take on “one more thing” when they were already stretched to the max.

The CEO persisted and rallied the team – he was adamant that they had to implement EOS now. If they didn’t do it now, when would they find the right time? He realized that if they put this off at all, they would be in a worse situation – losing key employees, profits, and more.

Fast-forward two and a half years. The entire company has gone through such significant change, it’s hard to recognize it. And it started with the leadership team. Of the original eight-member leadership team, three remain and three new people were brought on. It’s now the right size with the right people in the right seats. Every member of the leadership team is engaged, motivated, and excited to be part of taking the company to the next level.

From Trouble to Traction

As a result, the business has grown by more than 20% in the last year and they are no longer fighting fires like they once were. Lingering people issues have been addressed. Over 80% of the people in the organization strongly exhibit the company core values and have the right skill set to take their area to the next level.

Nearly everyone in the company has a number that they’re accountable for on a weekly basis, and they know where they stand at any given moment. People are living a more balanced life and taking weeklong (or longer!) vacations that they haven’t had in years.

Over the past year and a half, the leadership team has been fanatical about rolling out the five foundational tools of EOS (V/TO™, Accountability Chart, Rocks, Meeting Pulse, and Scorecard) throughout the entire company. Multiple times I’ve led their 15 midlevel managers through a workshop on LMA (Leadership, Management, & Accountability) and the five foundational tools. By strengthening these managers, it frees up the leadership team to grow the business and get out of the minutiae. Every midlevel manager has read Traction and How to Be a Great Boss, the foundational books on EOS and LMA.

This company never would have seen these kinds of results if the CEO hadn’t recognized the moment they were in. Though it wasn’t convenient to learn a new system, the results speak for themselves.

Ready to see your company gain traction like never before? There’s no time like the present! Request a meeting today!