Status Go: Ep. 244 – EOS – Driving Business Results | Ashley Walters

Summary

In this episode of “Status Go,” Jeff Ton is joined by the dynamic Ashley Walters, seasoned EOS implementer and the visionary behind the Waltline Group, as they dive into the transformative power of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). Discover the secrets to structuring your business for success, setting impactful 90-day goals, and driving efficiency through the revolutionary L10 meetings. Whether you’re struggling with revenue, grappling with team alignment, or seeking to refine your business’s execution, this episode unpacks the essential EOS tools and strategies, from the People Analyzer to the Vision Traction Organizer, that are reshaping the landscape of leadership and innovation. If you’re on a quest to break away from the status quo and catapult your business to new heights, buckle up for a session that promises actionable insights and a blueprint to turn your business vision into reality.

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About Ashley Walters

Ashley Walters is a dynamic and accomplished Professional EOS Implementer, renowned speaker, and entrepreneur deeply committed to empowering fellow entrepreneurs and their teams with the essential tools for success. Her mission revolves around three foundational pillars:

• Vision: Getting everyone in the organization 100% on the same page with where they’re going, and how they plan to get there
• Traction^®: Instilling focus, discipline, and accountability throughout the company so that everyone executes on that vision—every day
• Healthy: Helping leaders become a more cohesive, functional, healthy leadership teams

Leveraging the Entrepreneurial Operating System® process and tools, Ashley specializes in fortifying the Six Key Components™ crucial to business success.

Before embarking on her EOS journey, Ashley showcased her proficiency in driving transformative results. She played a pivotal role in the turnaround of a software company, contributing to a remarkable 10x increase in revenue growth. Additionally, her tenure at a spin-off of a large manufacturing business saw her spearheading the design and implementation of pivotal processes and systems. This included leading a team to create a custom app development portal and delivering a 1200-user CRM.

An alumna of Purdue University, Ashley holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems. She shares her life with a fellow Purdue graduate who is a Cloud Architect. Together, they take pride in being parents to two current Boilermakers and one aspiring to join their ranks! Ashley is enthusiastic about sharing her expertise to help others get what they want out of their business.

Episode Highlights

[00:00:00] – Kickstart your business revolution with the power of EOS!

[00:00:37] – Status Go: Igniting the beacon for savvy business and innovative tech leaders!

[00:00:54] – Unveiling the game-changing EOS implementation secrets for sky-high business success!

[00:02:12] – Transform your business strategy with the dynamic vision of EOS – Your new secret weapon!

[00:03:19] – Sharpening your business’s focus with EOS’s 90-day priorities – Eye-opening insights await!

[00:05:34] – Master the power of the L10 meeting – your key to unstoppable team synergy!

[00:06:58] – Elevate your vision with annual plans that turn your business dreams into reality!

[00:09:11] – Witness the evolution of leadership teams through the lens of the People Analyzer!

[00:10:56] – Discover the GWC factor – Get it, Want it, Capacity to thrive in your business!

[00:12:41] – Inside scoop on aligning core values to find your business’s perfect fit!

[00:13:34] – The must-have playbook for structuring your business first and finding the right talent!

[00:15:13] – Scorecard revelations: Tracking the pulse of your business with laser precision!

[00:16:51] – Defining your business rocks – Learn the strategies that will forge your path to success!

[00:18:24] – The rhythm of productivity: Nailing your meeting pulse to keep your business on track!

[00:20:36] – Crafting your Vision Traction Organizer: The blueprint of your business’s future unveiled!

[00:24:14] – Escalate your business scaling game – Pick up “Traction” and watch your empire grow!

[00:26:42] – Revolutionize your business success with the transformative power of EOS – Try it now!

[00:28:21] – Unlocking the value of third-party EOS implementers – An essential guide for ambitious leaders!

[00:30:07] – Essential resources at your fingertips – Visit intervision.com for insights that shine!

[00:32:17] – Set the cornerstone of your business with unshakeable core values and a crystal-clear core focus!

[00:33:59] – Zooming into your business’s future with a visionary three-year picture – Revenues, profits, and beyond!

[00:35:39] – Decoding the visionary and integrator roles – The dynamic duo of business transformation!

[00:38:16] – A peek into the power of departmental EOS adoption – Consistency is key to tracking success!

[00:40:45] – Your first taste of EOS mastery is just 90 minutes away – Don’t miss this transformative opportunity!

[00:43:12] – Waves of agile innovation – Embark on your EOS journey with a focused full-day session and beyond!

[00:45:55] – Wrapping it up with EOS magic – Transform your business and break free from the status quo with Status Go!

Episode Transcript

Ashley Walters [00:00:00]:

We take a structure first, people second approach. In EOS, we’re going to look at the structure of your business, and we’re going to say, what should this business look like six to twelve months from now? What are those functions that are here? And what are the five roles in each one of those functions that need to exist? And once we’ve done that, we can then say, okay, who’s the right person to actually own that function?

Voice Over – Ben Miller [00:00:24]:

Technology is transforming how we think, how we lead, and how we win. From InterVision, this is Status Go, the show, helping IT leaders move beyond the status quo, master their craft, and propel their IT vision.

Jeff Ton [00:00:45]:

Welcome to Status Go, the podcast that guides tech professionals beyond the ordinary. Hello, Status Go listeners. I’m delighted to have you join us for another insightful episode where we explore the realms of innovation, leadership, and breaking away from the status quo. In today’s discussion, we have the esteemed Ashley Walters, a seasoned EOS implementer and the founder of the Waltline Group.

For all you tech enthusiasts seeking a departure from the norm, this episode is for you. We’ll be delving into the entrepreneurial operating system, a transformative framework for businesses aiming not just for success but for genuine change. Ashley will be sharing wisdom gleaned from the influential books like “Traction,” “What the Heck is EOS?,”  “Rocket Fuel,” and several others.

I know over the course of several episodes in the fall, some of our guests mentioned EOS as something that they use. And so I thought it would be important to really find out what it is and how you might be able to use it. So we’re going to navigate through key concepts such as the scorecard [and] rocks. If you don’t know what rocks are, you’re going to find out. And this fascinating dynamic of visionaries versus integrators, not versus in an adversarial way, but in a partnership way.

Whether you’re a seasoned leader or an aspiring tech innovator, there’s valuable insights for everyone. So, tech trailblazers, get ready for a thoughtful exploration. We’re here to uncover strategies for not just surviving but thriving in the ever-evolving tech landscape. This is status go, where we discuss breaking the status quo with a measured and thoughtful approach.

So, let’s get started. Ashley, welcome to Status Go.

Ashley Walters [00:02:46]:

Hey Jeff, thank you so much for having me. I’m super excited to be here.

Jeff Ton [00:02:51]:

I was really excited when you agreed to sit down and talk to us about EOS, because you and I have known each other now for a couple of years, and I’ve been following the success of your business as you expand and add in EOS, the entrepreneurial operating system, into your service offerings. And so, I thought it would be a great conversation to have with you today.

Before we dive into EOS, can you share a little bit about your background and how you came to be doing what you’re doing today?

Ashley Walters [00:03:25]:

Yeah, absolutely. So, I came from tech. I started out. I’m a Purdue girl. So, for our Midwest friends, I have a computer information systems degree. I’ve kind of grew up in tech, essentially. So, I’ve been to the major stops around the city of Indianapolis. One of my big stops was at Allegian, right after they were a spin-off from Ingersol Rand, and it was an amazing place to be because with being a spin off, we were a startup and a Fortune 500 overnight.

So we got to recreate what did that business look like, really, from the ground up, from a systems and processes standpoint and had a lot of fun doing that. I even led some custom app dev and then moved on from there to a software company that was in transition to become a SaaS product. While there, I was hired to roll out a product, but I quickly discovered two weeks ago that we had a product that didn’t work. I had a board that was ready to pull my funding and customers that thought they were getting this product three years before.

So, we used a lot of the processes and principles of what EOS is, such as getting the right people in the right seats and making sure we were delivering and accountable, which all of us know in tech is first and foremost. And we were able to get that business delivering. And I decided if I could do that for them, I wanted to go help other people do that.

Jeff Ton [00:05:01]:

That’s fantastic. And you had some great stops. Allegiant. You probably worked with my dear friend Tracy Kemp.

Ashley Walters [00:05:10]:

Absolutely.

Jeff Ton [00:05:11]:

Who’s led that for quite a while. And I know at the software company, you mentioned you worked with another friend of mine up there, so that’s awesome. It feels like we were connected even before we were introduced, just through some of the background.

Let’s start with the basics. What is EOS? I’ll use the title of the book. What the Heck is EOS?

Ashley Walters [00:05:36]:

Right? So, EOS is nothing more than simple tools and timeless concepts that, when you use them together, have really formed a business operating system that allow you to get what you want out of your business.

Jeff Ton [00:05:54]:

So, I know it was first the brainchild of Gino Wickman. Right? Gino is the one that’s written most of the books, definitely all of the books that I mentioned, and now it’s a part of Firefly, is that right?

Ashley Walters [00:06:12]:

Yeah, it’s owned by Firefly. EOS is owned by Firefly, which is a private equity group here in Indy.

Jeff Ton [00:06:18]:

So you call it an implementer, you’re an implementer.

Ashley Walters [00:06:21]:

Correct.

Jeff Ton [00:06:23]:

What’s kind of the process that you go through to become an implementer?

Ashley Walters [00:06:27]:

Yeah. So, becoming an EOS implementer is quite a process. You actually go through an interview process, so they vet you, make sure that you’ve got the experience to really back up who you say you are, and that you can perform the work from there. EOS has moved to a franchise model in the last few years, so I am a franchisee owner. So, everyone that you talk to that is an EOS implementer, owns their own franchise. At this point in the game…

Jeff Ton [00:06:59]:

Are you geographically constrained in where you can operate?

Ashley Walters [00:07:04]:

No. Yeah, we’re really lucky that we can go wherever the client needs us and we don’t have… no, I’m not stuck just in Indianapolis, I can go.

Jeff Ton [00:07:15]:

Awesome. Well, so I love what you said, that EOS basically is this operating system, hence the name, and I’ll just call it EOS because entrepreneurial is hard to pronounce multiple times on a podcast.

Ashley Walters [00:07:32]:

A lot to say.

Jeff Ton [00:07:33]:

I get tongue-tied enough without trying to say that. But the word that you used that really jumped out at me was accountability, and that’s really how it enables a business to drive success. Right? It helps you hold yourself and the business accountable.

Ashley Walters [00:07:53]:

Correct.

Jeff Ton [00:07:55]:

Well, how does it do that? What are the core things, the core pieces of this operating system?

Ashley Walters [00:08:02]:

Yeah. So, we have what we’re going to call the EOS foundational tools. And when you start thinking about that, your vision is part of that. We have a Vision Traction Organizer that puts that together. But I really want to focus more in on the accountability chart. We take a structure first, people second approach in EOS. And what that means is when you sit down with an EOS implementer on your first session, we’re going to look at the structure of your business, and we’re going to say, what should this business look like six to twelve months from now? And what are those functions that are here? And what are the five roles in each one of those functions that need to exist? And once we’ve done that, we can then say, okay, who’s the right person to actually own that function?

Jeff Ton [00:08:55]:

So when you say structure, you’re actually taking a look at the organizational hierarchy of the organization, how it’s divided up.

Ashley Walters [00:09:04]:

Yes, absolutely. Okay, so we start from the ground up, and.

Jeff Ton [00:09:14]:

I’ve been a part of a company. So InterVision Systems, who is the publisher of this, during my tenure, I can’t speak to their operating model that they use today, but during my tenure, they implemented EOS. And I was trying to recall back to the way we started, and we did dive into that organizational structure before we went anywhere else on that.

So, once you’ve got that, where do you look next? Where do you go to next?

Ashley Walters [00:09:48]:

Yeah, then we would move over and really figure out what’s a scorecard need to look like for you. And we’re focusing on the leadership team level here. So, these are the five to 15 measurables that really can be a pulse on your business. I like to say if we get these five to 15 numbers right, this means you can go on vacation and sleep well.

Jeff Ton [00:10:12]:

Because you know you’re clicking, right?

Ashley Walters [00:10:14]:

You know you’re clicking; you know exactly where your business is at all times, and you feel like you have a true pulse on your business. So we get that scorecard in place, and those measurables on the scorecard link back to that accountability chart. Somebody on those accountability charts owns each and every one of those measurables. So that’s getting you that clear accountability on not only do we have the right people in the right role, then are we measuring exactly what that role is producing.

Jeff Ton [00:10:48]:

You’ve got your organizational structure, and you mentioned getting working with the people to make sure you’ve got the key five roles filled with the right people throughout that. And now you go to this accountability, or, sorry, the scorecard. You go to the scorecard. How does that relate to this concept of rocks? First of all, what are rocks, and how do they fit into this mix?

Ashley Walters [00:11:15]:

Yeah, we haven’t got there yet, but yeah. So, rocks are a fancy word for priorities. Let me just say that right here and there. Let’s keep it simple. Rocks are nothing more than your 90-day priorities.

Jeff Ton [00:11:28]:

Okay.

Ashley Walters [00:11:28]:

And every organization or I hope every organization, whether you’re running on EOS or not, has priorities. You all have things you’re trying to get done. We call them rocks. And we then hope that you’re living in the 90-day world where each and every quarter we are executing on our rocks, and we stop, and we look every 90 days and come up and say, did we have the right rocks? Did we get them done? And what do we need to do next quarter to move the business on down the road?

Jeff Ton [00:11:59]:

I know I’m jumping around a lot on you here, Ashley, and I appreciate you bearing with me, because this concept of rocks, to me, is pretty key to the success. We’re talking at a corporate level. Rocks. How many rocks should an organization have in a given quarter in a given 90-day period?

Ashley Walters [00:12:24]:

Three to seven.

Jeff Ton [00:12:25]:

Three to seven?

Ashley Walters [00:12:26]:

Yeah. We like to say there are three to seven company rocks. And then every individual on that team is going to have three to seven rocks as well.

Jeff Ton [00:12:37]:

Every individual on the executive team, yes. So, for their department, their division.

Ashley Walters [00:12:43]:

Exactly. And some of those company rocks. So, if there was, say, a rock that was very marketing driven, whoever is sitting in the marketing function would own that rock. And that company rock just became one of their individual rocks. But they’re the one that’s going to deliver on that this quarter.

Jeff Ton [00:13:00]:

Okay, again, I’m jumping around on you. How do you keep track of all those rocks and the progress that you’re making?

Ashley Walters [00:13:10]:

Yeah, absolutely. So each and every week, another one of the foundational tools we use is our meeting pulse. And every week, the team, that core leadership team, has what we call an L10. An L10 stands for level ten. It’s your 90-minute meeting, we hope. And our goal is for this to be your most important 90 minutes of your week.

So, in that meeting, we start off with good news. So, we’re connecting with each other. So in other words, we’re getting ourselves out of the business, out of being in the weeds and really on top of the business. That’s how we’re getting ourselves out that connection time.

The next thing we’re going to do is we’re going to check on that scorecard. We’re going to say, are you on track or are you off track? After we have figured that out, anything that’s off track would drop down to our issues list, and we’ll get to that one in a second.

And then we’re going to look at our rocks. Each and every week you’re going to get asked, are you on track? Are you off track? This is how we don’t have surprises at the end of the quarter. We’re making sure each and every week, and if we’re off track, we’re dealing with it. We’re figuring out what’s going on.

Then we do a little bit of customer employee feedback and talk about, hey, did you hear about our new contract or the new person we hired or we’re having some issues with X client and we need to talk about that. So, it’s kind of a drive-by section for that.

And then we spend the majority of that meeting working through the issues. And the issues are the most important issues in your business this week we IDS, which stands for identify, discuss and solve. And we prioritize, say you’ve got ten issues on the list. We’re going to prioritize first, which are the most important three we need to tackle. We’re going to tackle those first three. We’re going to use that IDS process to really get to the root cause and solve that issue.

You’re probably going to have to-do out of it that you’re going to leave with at least one. At least one. Right. That’ll hit your to do list. And our goal is you’re hitting 6…9…12 issues every single meeting. Once you get in the flow of this and you get good at it. At the end of the meeting, we recap any new to-dos, and we say, okay, let’s rate the meeting. And again, I called it an L10 meeting and our goal is that everybody rates this as a ten.

And this was the most important and best spent 90 minutes of your week because we’ve really tailored down what’s that agenda. You need to really move your business forward.

Jeff Ton [00:15:50]:

I think that’s part of the key to this, is that you’ve got that agenda. You know what to expect when you’re walking into the meeting, especially when you’re at the leadership level of the organization. You can get so bogged down in the noise. And this really helps you focus on the things that are most important to the business. I can remember a couple of L10 meetings that we only got to one issue because it was a pretty sticky issue and we spent the whole time talking about that.

As you’re doing the. I’ll get to that in a minute. I was going to talk about an implementation, but before that.

What are some of the other foundational pieces of EOS?

Ashley Walters [00:16:37]:

Yeah, I think we’ve really covered the majority of our foundational, really. The five are the VTO, which is that vision traction organizer that’s really kind of your business laid out in a two-page document. I’ve got one, actually. If you don’t, it looks like.

Jeff Ton [00:16:57]:

Yeah. So you’ve got various sections, you’ve got your scorecard, you’ve got the issues list. But importantly, you have the ten-year, three-year, and one-year goals, right?

Ashley Walters [00:17:10]:

Yes. And your core values start at the top of this one, actually. So, it’s kind of your core values, your core focus then that’s the ten year goal. And I want to say that ten years does not have to be ten years for some of my clients. That’s, hey, I want to sell in five. Yeah, and other clients. I want my grandparents or my grandchildren to take this business over 30 years from now. So ten is a flexible number.

It’s just what works for your company and where you’re trying to go. And we tailor it that. But you’re exactly right. We get that ten-year goal down, we come up with what’s your marketing strategy, and then we move into what’s your three-year picture. We really want people to be able to visualize. Where do you need to be three years from now? What’s this company look like? Not only from a revenue and a profit, measurables, but really, if you think about it, how many people are here three years from now? Yeah, kind of systems and processes do you need to run an organization like this three years from now if you’re going to hit these goals?

So really helping them see that, then it’s pretty easy to transition to the one-year goal if you can really see that three-year picture in your mind. Because if you’re going to be there in three years, you’ve got to be so far down the road in one. And then 90 days makes pretty much sense of if I’m going to be there in a year from now. I know this quarter I got to do that. I need to accomplish x.

Jeff Ton [00:18:38]:

Well, talk to us a little bit about this concept of visionary and integrator. I should say “and” instead of verses. I know it sounds better, but what is that? How does that fit into EOS?

Ashley Walters [00:18:54]:

Yeah, we believe every company has a visionary and an integrator. And I will preface, our goal is that these are two separate roles. When you’re a Smaller Organization, sometimes that is the same person to start off with. But when we think about it, an integrator is the person that really holds your business together. They are the glue. They’re the ones that are beating the drum of your Organization and are quite frankly responsible for getting things done. They’re making sure that everybody’s talking.

There’s not silos. They’re the ones generally making the hard decisions. Often, hiring and firing is left to the integrator. As I said, they are just that glue for your business. The ones that truly make it happen versus the visionary. The visionary is generally the CEO. That’s generally who started this business. And they’re the visionary for a reason.

They had a really awesome idea to start this great business, right? Yeah, but they have lots of ideas. We like to say they bring 20 ideas a week to that L10 meeting. And the integrator says 19 of these are not going to work.

Jeff Ton [00:20:14]:

So they complement each other.

Ashley Walters [00:20:18]:

They do.That visionary owns that big relationships. They’re generally the public face to your business.

Jeff Ton [00:20:23]:

Yeah.

Ashley Walters [00:20:24]:

And, yeah, that’s who you see when you see the company, you see this person. But oftentimes, as we all know, you’ve got to have a strong integrator that’s behind the scenes that’s making to actually get it done.

Jeff Ton [00:20:37]:

Do you see, in most companies, the integrator carries a title like chief operating officer?

Ashley Walters [00:20:47]:

COO is a very common title for that. Smaller companies, you’ll see it as chief of staff even sometimes.

Jeff Ton [00:20:54]:

Oh, yeah.

Ashley Walters [00:20:56]:

But yes. And I think what’s important as you think about this, that Visionary and integrator partnership, that’s a make it or break it deal for many businesses. And it’s so important, again, kind of going back to that accountability chart, that even we get the five roles that the Visionary and the integrator are both going to do. Very clear, because oftentimes this is where they don’t have clear expectations and kind of the fighting happens or the trouble happens and the visionary says one thing and the integrator says another, and then what do we do? Who do we listen to? And that causes strife in your organization?

Jeff Ton [00:21:40]:

Yeah, kind of that jumping back and forth from priority to priority.

Ashley Walters [00:21:46]:

Yeah.

Jeff Ton [00:21:47]:

I want to talk some about implementation, but before I do that, I want to talk to some of our listeners who may be working for an organization that they’re not the CEO, they’re not the COO, they may work in corporate IT. Can EOS work in a department rather than the entire company. Can you take some of these concepts and do that? Or is this? You’re only talking about a company-wide initiative.

Ashley Walters [00:22:20]:

So, I would say there’s kind of two answers to this. If I was giving you the absolute textbook answer, they would say that it needs to come from the top. I have also seen it work organizationally. So, if you think about it in different departments, you still have the same core values no matter where you are in that business. We still have the same core focus, and we still, quite frankly, often have it at the same ten-year target. Where we get into is for our department. We can absolutely start thinking about what are our one-year department goals, what’s our three-year department goal, and what our scorecard looks like. How do we show that we’re actually making progress? And then, of course, those 90-day priorities that match kind of that scorecard almost as if these are our priorities, these are our metrics we’re tracking.

Jeff Ton [00:23:13]:

Yeah.

Ashley Walters [00:23:14]:

And that pulls that all together. And if you can do that in your department, that’ll catch wildfire because everybody’s going to be like, well, why are they getting so much done and we’re not? And that’s a great way to use it as an influence tool.

Jeff Ton [00:23:28]:

Yeah, kind of influence upwards. Right? You start to see some of these things. And the consistency that it brings from one quarter to the next quarter, from one year to the next year, I think is crucial.

Well, let’s do dive into implementation a little bit. What does an implementation look like? What would I expect if I reached out and said, hey, Ashley, I want you to bring EOS to Ton Enterprises, given I’m a one-man show but let’s pretend I had a bigger organization than that? What does that look like? What can I expect?

Ashley Walters [00:24:02]:

So, the first thing we would do is I would sit down, and I’d have a 90-minute meeting with you. And that 90-minute meeting is free to you. That’s just 90 minutes of my time that I would give you. We would walk through exactly what you would expect. So, I would walk through all the nuts and bolts of this. I’d learn a little bit more about your business, where you’re trying to go…make sure that we’re a fit. And then we would say, yeah, if it was a fit. And we’d be like, yes, let’s go.

The first thing we would do is schedule your focus day. And your focus day is a full-day session. So that’s an eight-hour day, approximately. And on that first day, we’re going to talk about ways you’re hitting the ceiling in your business. We’re going to take our first look at your accountability chart. So, we’re going to look at the structure of your business. Day one, what are we doing? What should this look like? We’re going to dive into your first set of measurables on that scorecard. And I do want to preface

The scorecard takes, I’ll say, one month to one year to get right. It’s an agile process. Let’s be very honest about that.

Jeff Ton [00:25:09]:

Where you’re going through iterations?

Ashley Walters [00:25:10]:

Yes. You’re going to leave that first session with your first set of rocks, that first set of 90-day priorities, and you’re going to understand how to run that L10 meeting that I walked through a few minutes ago in detail. And you’re going to go back, and you’re going to run, and then 30 days later, we’re going to come back together, and that’s called vision building. Day one, we’re going to spend the first half of the day making sure that you got those focus day tools right, because it takes some tweaking. This is a process. It’s not just a once and done. And then we spend the afternoon on the first half of that VTO, that vision traction organizer, helping figure out what are the core values or validating the core values of your business, really understanding what’s the core focus you’re after and setting that ten-year target. The next time we get back together, we dive into those tools one more time, making sure you got those focus stake tools right.

Again, as adults, it takes us a minute, we’re not 20 anymore, so it takes our brains a little bit to learn to put it all together. And quite frankly, when you go back and use things, it’s like, oh, I didn’t think about this, or I didn’t have that question. So, we’re going to make sure that you’ve got that. We’re going to finish out, what is your marketing plan really need to look like? What’s your three-year picture? What’s that one-year plan? And then ultimately, you’re ready to set your next set of rocks because you just had your first quarter.

Jeff Ton [00:26:42]:

Yeah.

Ashley Walters [00:26:42]:

Then from there we just roll into straight execution. We’re in a quarterly cadence, and once a year, we do a two-day annual planning session, kind of health check to say where we are. But then, more importantly, where are we going?

Jeff Ton [00:26:53]:

And as an integrator, are you involved in each one of those, or do the clients take over, so to speak?

Ashley Walters [00:27:06]:

I’m the implementer. So, if you kind of want to think about it from an implementation perspective, I get them going, and I have checks with them. So, we’ve got three full-day sessions that first quarter. And in between them, if they’re stuck, I expect them to pick up the phone and call me. I’m going to call them as well and make sure that things are going well. But I want you to win. I mean, you’ve got to get it right, and I want to help you get it right. So, I want to be that resource to make sure that if you have questions, we get them answered. So this does work for your business?

Jeff Ton [00:27:45]:

Yeah, well, and I think I might have called you an integrator instead of an implementer if I did. My apologies. This terminology, while simple, can be a little confusing when you first get involved in, and so that repetition does begin to help. So, implementer, implementer, implementer, when you walk into a business, what are some of the common challenges that you see a business facing. And how do you address those?

Ashley Walters [00:28:18]:

Yeah. So, a lot of times when someone calls me, we have a revenue issue. We stopped growing, and we don’t know why. Everybody has people issues across the board, whether it’s right people in the right seats. One of the tools we have is called a people analyzer.

Jeff Ton [00:28:41]:

I love that, and I think it’s My favorite tool.

Ashley Walters [00:28:44]:

And, you know, just for your audience, you can download all of these on the EOS website. But in the people analyzer, what you do is you put your team members’ names down one side of the paper, and then across the top, you write your core values and just make a grid. This is just a simple grid. You can do this on paper and pencil, and you ask yourself and put yourself on the grid, so first rate yourself, do I always live this core value? Do I sometimes live this core value, or am I not living this core value? And when you look at that, that gives you a really good idea. Do you have the right people?

Jeff Ton [00:29:26]:

Yeah.

Ashley Walters [00:29:27]:

And you decide for your organization what your bar is, and your bar being what you will tolerate. So, my only requirement is that it’s more than 50% pluses or always lives the core value. You get to decide for your organization what’s right and then for the right seats; we have a really fun way to look at this. And I say fun way, and I don’t mean that rude, but it cuts to it. We’re it people. I like data, and I like to have a clear way of knowing whether or not I’ve got the right person or not.

So, we have a tool called GWC, and you can just add this onto the end of your people analyzer. Put GWC on the end of that grid, and “g” stands for do they get it? Do they want it? And do they have the capacity to do it? So, think about it this way.

Get it means they totally understand that job. They know what they’re supposed to do. The neurons in their brain are firing, and they know that they can do this. You’re confident in that. That has to be a yes.

Do they want it? I think post Covid, especially, we’ve seen a lot of this people get it, but they don’t always want it.

Jeff Ton [00:30:45]:

Yeah. Excite them. It doesn’t challenge them.

Ashley Walters [00:30:49]:

Are they excited to show up every day? Do they want to be part of your organization? And then. So that has to be a yes. And then the third one is capacity. Do they have the capacity to do it? And the only thing I will say, here is 90% of the time. This has to be a yes.

Jeff Ton [00:31:05]:

This means capacity. The time capacity or the skill. Talent capacity.

Ashley Walters [00:31:12]:

And that’s where it’s a. 90% of the time is a yes, because it’s both, Jeff.

Jeff Ton [00:31:16]:

Okay.

Ashley Walters [00:31:17]:

Do they have the time? So, do I have the capacity on my plate, so to say, but do I have the mental, emotional capacity to do this, or do I have the right skill set? And if it’s, I can take something off this person’s plate to give them the capacity, or if I can send them to a training class to help them learn the skill that’s needed, then we can get to a yes. Then, yes, they’ve got the capacity to do it. But otherwise, if that’s a no, we’ve got to talk about that not being the right individual in that role.

Jeff Ton [00:31:54]:

Yeah. And I think it’s those conversations that, when I was a part of that, that were the most intriguing, the most beneficial, because we would review, as part of the executive team, we would review each other’s people analyzers, including the GWC. Sometimes, you get feedback on someone on your team from someone outside your organization that you either didn’t see or couldn’t see for a variety of reasons. So, it’s great to have that.

The other thing we did with that is, as you mentioned, rating yourself is we rated each other as well. And sometimes you have to have an executive team or a leadership team that is pretty open with each other to really talk through these issues and talk through, especially something like the people analyzer, because it is very personal at some.

Yeah, well, we have come to time. I knew this would just fly by as we got into this because we’ve tried to cover this amazing operating system in just a short 30-minute period.

Perhaps we need to have you back on the show and take a deeper dive on this. Ashley, at some point. But before we leave our listeners today, I have one final question. And as our listeners know, I ask this every episode, and that is, what are one or two things our listeners should do tomorrow because they listen to our conversation about EOS today.

Ashley Walters [00:33:42]:

Yeah. So, I would say, one, pick up a copy of Traction. It’s an easy read. And my second would be, if you’re not running on an operating system, whether it’s EOS or something else, businesses that really scale and run, well, run on an operating system. So, pick one and decide that’s for you, and give it a try because I think you’ll be amazed at the results you’re going to see in your business.

Jeff Ton [00:34:12]:

I could not agree more with both those. Traction is a great book. You’re right, it’s a pretty easy read and it’s much harder to implement. So, I think you need an implementer to do this. I know many companies have done this on their own, but I think having that implementer, who is not necessarily a disinterested third party but that third party who doesn’t have an internal agenda, can be very helpful when you’re implementing this.

Ashley, thank you so much for carving out time to talk with us today. I really appreciate it. I’ve enjoyed it. And like I say, we need to have you back to go a little bit deeper into maybe some stories and get into some blood and guts stories behind this.

Ashley Walters [00:35:00]:

I would love that, Jeff!

Jeff Ton [00:35:00]:

To our listeners, if you have a question or want to learn more, visit intervision.com. In the show notes, we’ll have Ashley’s contact information as well as links to Traction and What the Heck is EOS and Rocket Fuel, which is all about the visionary integrator role so that you can check that out as well.

This is Jeff Ton for Ashley Walters. Thank you very much for listening.

Voice Over – Ben Miller [00:35:31]:

You’ve been listening to the Status Go podcast. You can subscribe on iTunes or get more information@intervision.com. If you’d like to contribute to the conversation, find InterVision on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Thank you for listening. Until next time.