How to Get More of Your Company Using EOS

Sometimes people ask me “how do I get more of my company using EOS®?” I always like to say “the answer is in the tools!”

Let’s walk through how you can use the EOS tools themselves as a guide to rolling out EOS across your organization.

Table of Contents

• Before you start
• Step One: Get Your Rollout Plan into Your V/TO
• Step Two: Use Rocks to Execute on Each Tool Rollout
• Step Three: Handle Your Rollout Issues
• Step Four: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Before you start

A key discipline for your Leadership Team to embody during rollout is LMA® – Leadership and Management that drives accountability. In terms of rolling out EOS, LMA means using and modeling the Foundational Tools so everyone understands this is not a passing phase – this is how your company operates now. You don’t want to be a “do as I say, not as I do” leader, especially if you want your rollout to succeed.

Your team needs you to lead by sharing a clear, compelling vision – use the V/TO. Then tie your decisions and actions to the “greater good” that is described on the V/TO. Practice good management by setting clear expectations via Rocks and To Do’s. Model good communication through Department Level 10 Meetings. Use Quarterly Conversations to help your team understand your expectations of the Roles in their Seat on the Accountability Chart, and how you see them living the Core Values. You can even help your team IDS their own issues.

Step One: Get Your Rollout Plan into Your V/TO

The first thing to do is to put it on your V/TO®. You need clarity on the Foundational Tools and how your org should be using them. The Foundational Tools are the Accountability Chart®, Level 10 Meeting®, Rocks, Scorecard and VTO. How much of your organization will be using the Foundational Tools by the end of this year? How about in 3 Years? Get it all into your V/TO.

Step Two: Use Rocks to Execute on Each Tool Rollout 

Then like always, break that bigger Vision into Rocks. I always recommend working one “tier” at a time. So depending on the size of your organization, start with each member of the Leadership Team introducing the Foundational Tools to their direct reports. 

Sometimes different teams have different needs. When I was an Integrator at an MSP, we rolled out Level 10 Meetings and Scorecards to the service team within 6 months of starting EOS. Next came the sales team, and eventually the admin/finance team. Not all the teams were ready (or big enough) for all the tools at once. 

Step Three: Handle Your Rollout Issues

When you run into blockers or challenges during your rollout, use IDS®. When an issue comes up for a department, take a minute to think about the root cause. Was it a lack of communication? Missing data? Unclear accountability? Unstated expectations? The answer will point you to which tool to introduce next, or which one to go back to.

Step Four: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate 

The last tool to help with EOS rollout is the State of the Company meeting. This is where you pull the entire company together once a quarter to talk about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going. It’s an ideal opportunity to celebrate wins that were facilitated by EOS Tools. 

Core Values callouts are a great way to start. Go deeper by sharing how the Rocks and Goals are moving the company forward. Show trends from the Scorecard that demonstrate improvement. Celebrate measurables that are hit. 

Showing how the tools help you all get what you want from the business moves them from Leadership Team jargon to a shared language. As people see the wins pile up, curiosity will build and they will begin to ask: when do we get a Level 10 meeting/Scorecard/Rocks?

Getting everyone “rowing in the same direction” takes time, patience, and intentionality, but it’s worth it.