by Ryan Giles | Ryan@TractionStrong.com
Years ago, as a young leader in my business, I seemed to have 100 things coming at me every day: questions from employees, requests from clients, emails from vendors, and much more. No matter how good I became at fighting these “fires,” I still ended each day without a sense of accomplishment. I was stuck in a perpetual reactive cycle, and I knew I had to break free.
How was I to break out of fire-fighting mode, start becoming more proactive and make progress on my long-term goals? The first step was to realize that the 100 things that plagued me each day were simply symptoms of other problems in my business. If I could get a handle on the root causes of these issues, my life, and business, would improve dramatically. The good news is that all of the 100 things can be traced back to six areas of your business. We call these the 6 Key Components™ (part of the EOS Model).
1.VISION
The Vision Component™ of your business involves getting everyone in your organization clear on and aligned with the direction of the company. If your business is strong in this component, everyone is clear on where the company is going and how you’re going to get there. Everyone is rowing in the same direction.
2. PEOPLE
As Stephen Covey said, the People Component™ is all about getting the right people in the right seats. Right people match your company’s core values. The right seat is defined as having an employee who gets, wants, and has the capacity to do the job he or she has been given. You’ll never achieve your vision if you don’t have the right people in the right seats.
3. DATA
Once you have a clear vision and have the right people in the right seats, you need to measure progress. You can do this with a weekly scorecard. This is an excellent method of getting visibility into every area of your business and “managing to the exceptions.”
4. ISSUES
When you become strong in the first three components, it’s easier to see obstacles and opportunities. Becoming strong in the Issues Component means that you have a clear process of capturing and solving these issues so that they never return.
5. PROCESS
Do you want to sleep better each night? Systemize your business so that you can deliver exceptional, repeatable results to every single client. This makes the business more fun, easier to scale, and ultimately, more profitable.
6. TRACTION
The Traction Component may be the most important component. It’s the ability to execute on the other five components. Traction can be built into the business by establishing a meeting rhythm and an accountable system to set and achieve big goals.
The health of your business can be assessed by measuring the strength of the business in these Six Key Components.
Giles is an EOS implementer with Traction Strong. Find out more about him at www.TractionStrong.com or reach him at Ryan@TractionStrong.com.