Written by Tim Harris, Professional EOS Implementer® at EOS Worldwide

It’s the lack of digging

The more I work with business owners and leadership teams, the more I see the same thing. No matter how experienced or intelligent they are, they get in their own way.

It’s not a lack of effort or ambition. It’s being so buried in the day-to-day that they lose sight of what really matters. The urgency of now overtakes the importance of building something solid.

I hear “we’re aligned”, but close enough isn’t good enough. Like an Olympic rowing team, if only one blade is out of sync, you don’t even make it to qualifying, let alone compete for a medal. Businesses waste time and energy because leaders aren’t 100% clear on where they’re going, how they’ll get there or who’s doing what.

The importance of values

Then there’s values. Most businesses know they should have them. Few truly live them. Too often they’re just words on a wall, accidental or aspirational, not embedded in daily decisions. That’s how culture slips. You don’t notice it until it’s too late.

People problems?

And people. Almost every business issue is a people issue. The wrong person in a key seat. A good person with strong, aligned values who simply isn’t that good at the job. Or worse, someone really good at their job whose values aren’t aligned. The latter has to go. They are a negative in the business. Ignore it and the negativity spreads. Good people will start to leave. 

Leadership teams want their voices heard when things are easy, but when it gets tough, too often they look to the owner for blame, not solutions. Meanwhile, the modern business owner is expected to be visionary, strategist, motivator, HR expert, crisis manager, psychologist and environmentalist. It’s unrealistic, but it’s become normal.

Discipline is key

Then there’s discipline. Motivation is great, but it fades. Discipline has to be your constant. While you’re building those foundations, vision, values, people and alignment, be disciplined. When the foundations are in place, stay disciplined.

Half of SMEs fail. Not because of bad ideas or lack of passion but because of a lack of discipline and accountability. Even with a clear vision, strong values and the right people in the right seats, it means nothing if no one is holding themselves, and each other, accountable.

Most businesses rush to grow without fixing the basics. It feels like there’s no time to stop and dig deep, but that’s exactly why they get stuck. Businesses don’t fail because people aren’t working hard enough. They fail because no one checked if they were building on solid ground, and no one had the discipline to keep checking.

Step out of the comfort zone

There will be some business owners reading this nodding along, probably while multi-tasking on another screen. They know this makes sense but they want to look away, pretend they've not read this. You know why? They’re tired, and it’s uncomfortable. That is the human condition, our brains are hard-wired for comfort. That’s why so many SMEs fail: they stay in their comfort zones. Uncomfortable decisions have to be made.

It's hard to even let a bad person go, leaders are human after all. It's harder still, soul destroying even, to let a good person go, but you can’t sweep these problems under the carpet. They don't stay hidden, they grow. For the greater good of the organisation you have to make those decisions. Alternatively, make your business plan one of hope. Yup, let's go with hope. Genius. 

So think:

• Who is that wrong person, that negative, in your business?
• Are you truly all aligned on your vision?
• Do we even know if our values are really our own?

Keep digging. It’s worth it.

Written by Tim Harris, Professional EOS Implementer® at EOS Worldwide

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