10: How to master your business with an Entrepreneurial Operating System - with Mike Paton of EOS Worldwide

Mike Paton has spent most of his life learning from entrepreneurs. Today, he spends all his time giving back - as an Author, award-winning Speaker, certified EOS Implementer & the Visionary of EOS Worldwide. Specifically, Paton helps entrepreneurs clarify, simplify and achieve their vision – by mastering the simple concepts and practical tools he’ll be sharing with us today.

I first met Mike Paton at a digital agency conference about three years ago where he was a featured speaker. Now I'd never heard of Mike before or the entrepreneurial operating system (EOS) that he was talking about, but one of the other agencies there had – and they were at least 10 times the size of most of the other agencies in the room, so that got my attention!

In this session we did, Paton reviewed the main concepts of his the entrepreneurial operating system, and then had us work through a series of questions known as the vision traction organizer (or VTO), which had this group of creative entrepreneurs completely engaged. By the time I was on my flight home, I was already well into Mike's book, get a grip, that I had acquired a copy of at the conference, and I was eager to begin implementing the entrepreneurial operating system EOS in my business

When I came onboard so young, which is the business I now Co-run with my wife, The first thing we did was the VTO exercise that Mike had us do at the conference. We also created an accountability chart, which Michael share more about in a moment, and implemented weekly meetings to review our scorecard.

Having had this Entrepreneurial Operating System system in place now for the past nearly 2 years, I can sincerely say that it has transformed the way we run our business. We are now proactive about solving problems and able to consistently monitor and grow the business with confidence and clarity.

6 Key Components of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)

Entrepreneurs spend so much time in their optimistic futures that they’re in danger of not tending to the foundations. This is why most business owners aren’t getting everything they want from their business. This lack of fulfillment and progress exists to the extent that they have not fully implemented the 6 key components of the Entrepreneurial Operations system.

Vision Getting everyone in the organization aligned on where you’re going and how you plan to get there

People Getting great people in the organization to help you achieve the vision

Data running the business on facts and figures rather than opinions and egos

Issues Getting good at prioritizing and solving your issues as they arise and addressing core causes rather than just the symptoms

Process do the most important things the right and best way, every time

Traction Instilling discipline and accountability everywhere in the organization

In what order should you implement the tools?

The first priority is to build the traction muscle

• Accountability Chart
• Level 10 meeting pulse
• Scorecard - 5 to 15 leading indicators that are tracked on a weekly basis
• Rocks - 3- 7 of the company's 90 day priorities
• Then take on the VTO

The distinction between Visionaries and Integrators

The Visionary Role Visionaries are inspiring and have tons of creative ideas - but don;t like to stay grounded. They live at the 30,000 ft level of the business and don't like getting dragged into the details or having to deal with the rudimentary aspects of the business. They are great at big relationships, imagining what’s possible and breaking through barriers.

The Integrator Role

Integrators love getting into the trenches, love listening to the 20 big ideas but then settling on the one or 2 that will move the business forward. They are the ones who are In the trenches executing on the vision every day and making what’s possible actually happen.

Know who you are

One key to the EOS system is recognizing who you are at the core, and making sure you have someone in the organization who can complement either your Visionary or Integrator approach.