When Jeromy Huerta, Michael Overstreet, and Caleb Walker merged three insurance agencies into Heritage Advises in 2022, they built their EOS V/TO first. Two years in, its Core Values were still steering every hire.
A live V/TO clears out what stalls EOS between planning sessions: teams guessing at priorities, Rocks that don’t tie to any goal, and quarterlies that open with stale numbers. Keep your EOS V/TO shared company-wide, linked to your Rocks and Scorecard, and reviewed every quarter, and your whole team pulls in the same direction.
What a live V/TO looks like day to day A live V/TO shows up in the small decisions your team makes every day. You hire against your Core Values, set Rocks against your 1-Year Plan, and check shiny new ideas against your Core Focus. That’s the moment your vision turns into how your company runs.
You probably know how the other version goes. Vision Building wraps up, your leadership team is energized, and the V/TO is finally on paper. Then the quarter kicks in, the inbox fills up, and by week six nobody has opened it. We run on EOS ourselves , so we’ve watched that exact slide happen — and we’ve learned how to climb back out.
Want a quick gut check? Ask someone outside leadership to name one Core Value and one 1-Year goal. If they answer without digging through a folder, give yourself a high five. Your V/TO is doing its job.
It all starts with a vision worth sharing. Dana Wockenfuss, Director of Development & Advocacy at The Well , put it this way:
“I think the most powerful thing is documenting the company’s vision.”
If you’re still shaping yours, our vision and mission statement guide walks through Core Focus and the 10-Year Target step by step. Running a nonprofit? Our nonprofit vision guide covers the V/TO’s eight questions with your mission in mind.
From there, the fun part is keeping your vision in sight. Let’s dig in.
Why your V/TO belongs in front of the whole company Your V/TO can only guide the people who can see it. When you share it company-wide, the leadership team’s plan becomes everyone’s plan, and your front-line teams know exactly why their Rocks and measurables matter.
Most companies have plenty of room to grow here. Gallup found that only 32% of employees feel strongly connected to their organization’s mission or purpose . In earlier research, just 27% strongly agreed they believe in their company’s values . It’s hard to believe in values you’ve never seen.
The Well shows how good the other side looks. After rolling out EOS, Dana Wockenfuss said: “We’ve already seen the benefits of really digging in and ensuring everybody understands the vision. We’re creating an environment of transparency and trust, and everyone is working and making decisions that funnel to that big, hairy, audacious goal.”
Maybe you’ve had this moment: a manager asks what the 3-Year Picture says, and you realize only the leadership team has ever seen it. That’s your gap to close, and it’s easier than it sounds. A few simple ways to put your V/TO in front of people:
Walk new hires through it in their first week . Start with the Core Values and the Core Focus, since those guide the calls they’ll make on their own.Open your quarterly all-hands with the 1-Year Plan . Show where each goal stands before you share the new Rocks.Tie recognition to Core Values . When someone gets a shoutout , name the value they lived. It’s the fastest way to make values feel real.Some sections can stay with leadership, like the Issues List or financial targets. Your Core Values, Core Focus, and 10-Year Target belong to everyone.
How to connect your V/TO to Rocks and the Scorecard Your V/TO connects to weekly work through one simple chain. Annual Goals break down into quarterly Rocks , and your Scorecard measurables show every week whether those Rocks and goals are moving. When the chain holds, everyone on your team can see how their work moves the company forward.
If you’ve ever sat in a quarterly where someone asks “wait, why is this a Rock?” and the room goes silent, you know what a broken chain feels like. Here’s how to check that yours holds:
List your Annual Goals. Pull them straight from the 1-Year Plan.Map every current Rock to a goal. Each Rock should move at least one Annual Goal forward.Look for orphan Rocks. A Rock that doesn’t map to any goal is worth an IDS conversation . Either the goal is missing from the V/TO, or the Rock can wait.Check the Scorecard. At least one weekly measurable should show whether each Annual Goal is on track.Orphan Rocks are more common than you’d think, and they’re sneaky 🕵️. You’ll probably find one or two the first time you look. They usually start as a good idea someone raised mid-quarter, and everyone nodded along. They’re rarely bad Rocks. They just aren’t tied to where the company said it was going.
When the chain really holds, “why are we doing this?” gets a two-second answer. The Rock points to the goal, the goal points to the vision, and everyone gets back to work.
How often to update your V/TO Update the Traction side of your V/TO every quarter and the Vision side once a year. Your 1-Year Plan, Rocks, and Issues List move with the year. Your Core Values, Core Focus, and 10-Year Target are your anchor, so they stay steady.
You know the scene: the quarterly is tomorrow, you open the V/TO, and the numbers are from last spring. A steady rhythm keeps that from ever happening. Here’s one that works for most teams:
Every quarter : review the 1-Year Plan, update progress toward each goal, set new Rocks, and clean up the Issues List.Every year : revisit the 3-Year Picture, set new Annual Goals, and confirm the Core Values and Core Focus still fit.Before any big change : save a copy of the current V/TO first (in Strety, that’s a quick V/TO snapshot ). Future you will love comparing where you planned to be with where you landed.Between planning sessions, keep your progress numbers fresh. Log revenue, profit, and key metrics against your 1-Year Plan as the quarter goes. Your next quarterly then opens with current numbers already on the page, and nobody has to hunt through spreadsheets the night before.
The Heritage Advises team put it best:
“Make your vision and traction organizer a living part of who you are as a company.”
A V/TO you touch every quarter stays true to where you’re headed.
When departments need their own V/TO Give a department its own V/TO when it runs differently from the rest of your company. A separate location, a franchise group, or a sales team with its own targets are all great candidates.
You’ll usually hear the signal before you see it. Your company’s 1-Year Plan says “grow revenue 15%,” but your sales lead is chasing double last year’s new customers and can’t find that goal anywhere on the V/TO. Or a location manager keeps adding Rocks that only matter to their site. Both are good reasons to give that team its own V/TO.
The usual setup keeps your Company Vision intact and lets the team own its Traction. The department shares your Core Values, Core Focus, and 10-Year Target. It sets its own 1-Year Plan, Rocks, and Issues. Everyone points the same way, and each team gets to own its piece of the plan.
A handy rule of thumb: if a team runs its own quarterly planning session, it’ll probably love having its own V/TO. If it doesn’t, your Company V/TO has it covered.
How Strety keeps your V/TO live Strety is EOS software built by operators who run their own company on EOS, and an official licensee of EOS Worldwide. Your leadership team runs L10s, sets Rocks, reviews the Scorecard, and updates the V/TO in one connected place.
In Strety, your V/TO lives in the Company tab alongside the rest of your EOS tools , and your whole organization can see it by default. You can keep specific sections, like financial targets, with leadership.
Your leadership team links each Annual Goal to the Rocks driving it, so the chain from vision to weekly work is built right in. Before each quarterly, you save a snapshot of your V/TO and update your progress numbers. Departments that need their own V/TO can sync the Company Vision and set their own Traction.
When review time comes, the Traction Report pulls your V/TO together with the last 90 days of Rocks, Scorecard, and Issues data. You can share it with your EOS Implementer by secure link, with no Strety license needed on their end. For the full walkthrough, see the V/TO guide in our help center .
Where to start Your V/TO does its best work when your whole team sees it, uses it, and keeps it fresh. This week, try one small thing: open your V/TO, list your current Rocks, and map each one to an Annual Goal. Any orphans you find make great material for your next L10.
Still running your V/TO from a PDF or a spreadsheet? Strety offers a 30-day free trial with no card required. Bring your V/TO over and see how it feels when it’s connected to everything else 🙂
FAQ How often should we update our V/TO in Strety? Update the Traction side every quarter and the Vision side once a year. Save a snapshot in Strety before each update so you can compare versions over time.
Which team should own the Company V/TO in Strety? The Company V/TO is tied to the Leadership team by default. If another team runs your quarterly and annual planning, you can move it to that team in Adminland’s Organization settings.
Should the whole company see every section of the V/TO? In Strety, the Company V/TO is visible to your whole organization by default. You can restrict any section to Leadership, and the Issues List stays Leadership-only unless you turn on wider visibility.
How do we keep Core Values visible day to day in Strety? Tag Shoutouts with the Core Values from your V/TO. That way, recognition ties straight back to what your company stands for.
How do we bring the V/TO into our quarterly and annual planning meetings? Add the V/TO to your Leadership team’s agendas in Strety so you can review and edit it during the meeting. Teams with their own V/TO see it front and center in their Annual Planning Agenda.
How do we track progress toward the 1-Year Plan between quarterlies? Add actuals to the targets and measurables in your 1-Year Plan and 3-Year Picture. Actuals show next to each target in the V/TO and in the Traction Report.
What belongs on the V/TO Issues List? Long-term issues that affect the company’s direction, beyond this quarter’s work. In Strety, any Long Term Issue created in the Leadership team space shows up on the V/TO Issues List automatically.
How does our EOS Implementer review our V/TO before a session? Share your Traction Report through a secure, read-only link from Strety. It includes your V/TO’s Vision and Traction sections plus 90 days of Rocks, Scorecard, and Issues data, and your Implementer doesn’t need a Strety license.
