SPECIAL REPORT
What’s the Buzz on EOS? This story was impossible to ignore. As Connect Business Magazine’s editor, I’ve talked to a lot of business owners over the last six months. When asked about the key to their success, one answer came up again and again: Entrepreneurial Operating System®, or EOS. One business used it to transform its hiring practices. Another credited EOS with helping it set the right goals. Several companies praised EOS for transforming their corporate cultures from reactive to proactive. So what exactly is EOS, and why is it popping up in business conversations across southern Minnesota and beyond? According to the EOS Worldwide website, EOS is designed for entrepreneurial companies with 10 to 250 employees. It’s a “people operating system that harnesses human energy through a simple set of tools and principles.” Its goal is to eliminate frustration and create profitable, sustainable and more enjoyable businesses. To get the scoop on EOS, I visited with Joe Paulsen. Paulsen is a certified EOS Implementer, speaker and franchise owner based in Mankato. He’s coached over 40 businesses across the country in the EOS system. A System for Entrepreneurs Gino Wickman created the Entrepreneurial Operating System in 2005. Since its inception, it’s been implemented by over 10,000 companies across the globe. Paulsen first encountered EOS in 2015 as the site general manager for TBEI, a $40 million manufacturing company. He liked it so much he opened his own EOS business in 2016. Today he is one of 400 EOS Implementers in the United States. Many of Paulsen’s clients come to him when they’ve hit a wall and are looking for a way to get their businesses back on track. “When entrepreneurs get started, they’ve just got this great idea. They start finding customers and building their business, but they aren’t thinking about the structure. That’s an afterthought,” Paulsen said. “So when these businesses grow beyond a 28
November | December 2021
Joe Paulsen is a certified EOS Implementer, speaker and franchise owner.
certain point … it just gets beyond their reach and they can’t control everything.” At this point, according to Paulsen, the business has two choices: “They can try to control everything, but then they’re going to limit the organization, and they’re going to run themselves ragged. The other choice is to start to let go of things. Then other people are doing things in a way they wouldn’t have done them.” EOS creates a third option, implementing simple tools and a practical system to put business leaders back in the driver’s seat and get everyone in the business driving in the same direction. “We put that structure in so that it remains their business. All employees see the same vision so clearly … they know where they’re going, and everybody buys into it,” Paulsen said. “It’s just getting all of those human balls of energy operating and focused on the same things. And when they are all focused, amazing things can happen.” Eliminating Frustration There are five types of frustration that bring a business to Paulsen’s door. “The first frustration is lack of control, where the business is running them versus them running it. The second is profit; they’re not making a profit, or they’re not getting the return on investment they should. The third is people. They can’t find them, or they have people issues in the organization. The fourth is hitting the ceiling — everything’s going good, and
then all of a sudden, that ceiling hits — whether it’s a pandemic or landing a big, new customer. How do you work through that? Finally, the fifth one is that nothing’s working. They’ve gone to the seminars, they’ve read the books, they keep trying stuff and nothing sticks,” Paulsen said. EOS addresses those frustrations with a system that measures and improves performance in six key areas: vision, people, data, issues, process and traction. “The answers lie within the room with that leadership team,” Paulsen said. “I just point them to the tools.” Many of these tools are tried-and-true methods, yet it’s difficult for a business to execute them effectively without a system in place. That’s where EOS comes in. “All of these theories and research, they have been out there forever: Jim Collins’ ‘Good to Great,’ Stephen Covey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.’ So the research is there, and it’s pretty much undisputed. But how do you apply it to an entrepreneurial business?” Paulsen said. “That’s the magic of EOS.” A Simple Path to Success The first step in EOS is a complimentary 90-minute meeting to determine if it’s a good fit. Then, once a business commits, the real work begins. First, Paulsen pulls the leadership team off site for a day to put a framework in place. Next, they dedicate two days to vision building, completing a Vision Traction Organizer.
