Building Your Vision

Agree 100% on who you are, where you're going, and how you'll get there.
Then, share your vision repeatedly until everyone is rowing in the same direction.

What You'll learn in this section

Key points, lessons and tools

Answering the 8 Questions: The path forward must be clear, SIMPLE, and compelling for you to ensure everyone in your organization is rowing in the same direction

Re-igniting passion, creating focus: The core of why you exist hasn't changed, but how you fulfill that destiny has. Return to the roots of your passion, while developing a clear path forward that can rally the troops.

Tools and Disciplines

The Vision/Traction Organizer™ - Your entire Vision (who you are, where you're going, and how you'll get there) on just two pages. This means it can be reviewed weekly, updated regularly, and most importantly - acted upon!
3-Step Process Documenter™ - Core processes are identified, SIMPLIFIED, documented, and followed by all.

In this video: Step-by-step through the 8 Questions

View Page 1 (Vision) of V/TO™

View Page 2 (TRACTION) of V/TO™

Answering The 8 Questions

Simple gets done. Complex gets ignored. We put your entire Vision on a two-page document called the Vision/Traction Organizer™ (V/TO™). We get your Leadership Team to agree on the answers to 8 simple (but not easy) questions.

Watch Gino talk about the 8 Questions

What are the 8 questions?

The 8 Questions on the V/TO™

What are your Core Values?
What is your Core Focus?
What is your 10-Year Target?
What is your Marketing Strategy to get there?
What is your 3-Year Picture?
What is your 1-Year Plan?
What are your Quarterly Rocks?
What are your Issues?

Your Core Focus

Your Core Focus consists of two parts: Your Purpose, Cause or Passion; and Your Niche (what you can do better than anyone else). Make it too narrow and you can't pivot when things change. Too broad, and it becomes meaningless.

A good Core Focus keeps you focused on your strengths instead of chasing shiny objects.

Tips for Defining Your Core Focus

Find your "WHY" - the real, emotional reason you do what you do. This is your Purpose, Cause or Passion. This will also be the WHY that draws the right and best people to your organization because they believe in the same things.

Your Niche is what you can do better than anyone else - "Popcorn"; "Fiber Optics", "Sustainable farming".

If you're in a market that goes through rapid changes (not "Popcorn"), don't tie it to specific products or services.

What are you most passionate about and great at doing that is something your market needs, but isn't what you're selling today?

When Gino set his (now reached) 10-year target of 10,000 companies running on EOS, they had only a handful of Implementers and fewer than 100 companies. Go big or go home.

Your BHAG (10-Year Target)

A powerful long-term target (Big, Hairy Audacious Goal) gives you a REASON for persevering through difficult times. It gives you a focus that you wouldn't otherwise have.

The interesting thing about these targets is that they are almost always achieved or nearly achieved IF SET, and almost never achieved if NOT set.

Categories of 10-year targets

When setting a 10-Year-Target

Make it BIG - achievable, but not necessarily believable.
You WILL NOT know how to achieve the goal.
It can be revenue, profit, status, ranking, size, or anything of your choosing that is meaningful.

Your Marketing Strategy

This might be a great time to rethink your marketing strategy. Keep it simple, but focused.

Target Market (Your LIST): What's changed in your market? Can you target a new list? What are the demographics, geographics, and psychographics of your NEW ideal customer?

Your Three Uniques: What is truly unique about you TODAY that is ALSO highly important to the needs of your market TODAY. There's a good chance things have changed.

Your Proven Process: Hopefully, you have a process you use that ensures your customers are delighted. Can you put this into 5 or so steps and create a visual one-page document? People LOVE this.

Your Guarantee: What can you say that will remove most of the fear people have of spending money today? How can you offer a promise or guarantee that will help them feel safe?

View one Proven Process example

Using Your Uniqueness TODAY

List the 3-5 MOST important needs of your customers today (may have changed)
What do you do that is better/different (unique) from your competition that aligns with these needs?
Pick the top three in terms of value and uniqueness.
Market the heck out of these to your NEW target market.

Keep it simple. But, DO NOT keep it to yourselves. Share your vision with everyone and encourage their participation.

What will this do for you?

Having a clear 3-year picture:

By having the same image in the minds-eye of your entire leadership team, you will achieve those goals faster and easier;
And, this sets you up for great 1-year planning.

Your 3-Year Picture

Don't laugh. You CAN paint a clear 3-year picture of your INTENTIONS three years hence.

Revenue, Profit, Measurables: Assume the best. If you totally get your act together, have 100% right people, right seats, and are completely aligned with a clear vision, what CAN you achieve in 3 short years?

Paint with bullets: Do not, under any circumstances try to create a detailed strategic plan. Just identify, in bullet form, what you'd like things to look like in 3 years. This paints a picture for all to see.

Examples of bullet points

3-Year Picture

New location up and running
100% Right people, right seats
Processes 100% documented & followed by all
75 full-time employees
Full health coverage for all
15% growth over 2019
90% 5-star reviews

Your 1-Year Plan

NUMBER ONE: KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Revenue, Profit, Measurables: Again, assume that your hard work will pay off, but be realistic. Set goals you can reach, but are a stretch given the recession.

Set ONLY three S.M.A.R.T. Goals: Normally, we'd set 3-7 goals, but you need to create a clear focus on the three HIGHEST PRIORITY goal for this next year. Your goals need to be measurable, and specific enough that you can set really clear Rocks every 90 days that lead you to achieving your goals.

Examples of SMART GOALS

1-Year Plan

Sales CRM system fully deployed and used by all sales people.
Engineering processes documented and followed by all
Production failure rate < 5% weekly
10 new clients at > 25% margin
Close business with bottom 10% clients

Keep it simple (notice a theme?). In EOS, Less is always More. It creates greater focus and enables clearer, more powerful 90-day Rocks.

Long-term Issues (> 90 days) go on your V/TO for safe keeping. Every other issue goes into your Level-10 Meetings™.

Ensuring Rocks Are Completed:

Rocks are S.M.A.R.T.
Everyone agrees that it is important and has the right owner.
The owner reports on progress and ensures it gets done.
Break it into weekly or monthly measurable milestones.
Review WEEKLY, and if off-track, IDS (solve) it.

Your Rocks & Issues List

Start from your 1-Year Goals

Company Rocks: Look at your 1-year revenue, profit, and other goals. What are the 3-5 MOST IMPORTANT things THE COMPANY needs to get done in the next period (60-90 days) that will move the needle toward these goals? Assign an owner and make it S.M.A.R.T.

Individual Rocks: What MUST the Sales manager accomplish? How about the operations, engineering, and marketing managers? Everyone (except the Visionary) gets at least one Rock - the most important thing they must get done.

Issues List: As you build out your V/TO (Values, Focus, 10-year, 3-year, 1-year, Rocks, keep a running list of any issues, obstacles barriers, objections, strong negative opinions, etc. that arise. These just go on your Issues List.

Strengthen the Process Component

The 3-Step Process Documenter

The idea: With a clear vision and some of the Traction tools in your tool kit, you need a way to ensure consistency, reliability, and eventually scalability as you emerge from any recession. Strengthen the Process Component to get that consistency.

What: There are only a handful (6-10) core processes in any company. Identify those, simplify them, document them, and get them followed by all.

see the 3-Steps

The 3-Step Process Documenter™

Identify: Identify a handful of core processes and make a list (HR, Marketing, Quality, Customer Service, etc.)
Document: Record JUST the major steps, favoring a linear/chronological approach. Keep it simple (the 20/80 approach). No more than 5 pages each.
Package: Combine all documented and simplified core processes into a binder, online folder, or even LMS (online Learning Management System).

Create consistency and scalability. Make your business more manageable AND more fun.

Next: The Process

In the final lesson, you'll learn our secret recipe. Any design plan is only as good as the implementation of that plan. Would you create an elaborate strategy and plan for a remodel and turn people loose with a set of tools they've never used to do whatever they want? NO.

Learn how to do this right