The Elephant in the Room: Breaking Down Business Goals for Success

Hi,

How do you eat an Elephant?

One bite at a time…

That's how the saying goes & it's absolutely true for business, too.

You need to have a laser-sharp focus on what will move the needle & you have to make it manageable for your team.

BUSINESS TOOLS & REAL-LIFE LESSONS

Bite-Sized Goals

Less is more… If everything is important, then nothing is important.

So, we start with goals for the year. 

These are derived from your 3-Year Plan & 10-Year Target. (All part of your 2 page plan or V/TO).

In order to be laser-sharp focused, you don't want too many things as goals.

Ideally, we are looking for 3-7 goals.

Then, we break these down into bite-size chunks, called Rocks – things that you agree to focus on for the next 90 days to achieve the goals for the year. 

Again, less is more & the magic number is 3-7 rocks for the company.

You can watch the compartmentalising video to see how this all fits together. 

But in my years of experience coaching and running businesses, I find even this isn't enough to keep people focused.

What you'll find is that even with a weekly check-in on how things are going with the rocks, the owner of the rock will say it's on track right up until about week 12 (there are 13 weeks in a 90-day period). And then, all of a sudden, they'll admit that they won't get it done.

If we had picked this 'off-track' earlier, we could have gotten it back on track.

So, when I run my sessions with my EOS clients, I get them to break these down further into 3-5 key milestones (or completed action points) that would lead to getting success with the rock.

We agree on these in the quarterly session & then their homework is to put dates next to them.

I encourage them to do this within 24 hours of the session or at their next Level 10 Meeting and take the first action. This means that they're already making progress immediately, and they can check in with each other throughout the 13 weeks.

Now, we have to trust our team implicitly to do their role, so if we think that they might be off-track when they say on-track, all we need to do is say that we're unclear on the progress and would like an update. Ask that it gets dropped down to the Issues List, and then when it comes up as the issue to discuss, you can ask for an update against the milestones to sanity-check that it is on track.

The only reason we need to know if it's off-track is so that we, as the Leadership Team, can help them get back on track.

There's nothing better than hitting those milestones and ticking off a rock at the end of the quarter, and that's what we all want! (Well, that and the champagne to celebrate!)

There are other ways of doing this. My EOS colleague Vijay Nyayapati wrote an article on what he calls the 24-hour golden rule, as a tool for achieving 100% rock completion.

And I've included a few more articles that may help too.

No matter what you do – just make sure you're eating it a bite at a time.😊

Enjoy this week's newsletter!

PS: I am back in Auckland for the next 2 weeks and then back to Melbourne again – sing out if you want to catch up!

Better Business Articles

Layers Of Rocks - Explore EOS tools through rocks for successful business growth.

Achieving 100% Rock Completion Is Possible - Start with the 24 hour rule to get 100% rock completion.

Managing Your Rocks - Discover rocks management for achieving objectives.

Podcast

Success isn't Rocket Science! - Achieving success through focused goal-setting strategies.

The Power of Focus, Discipline & Believing - Renee Russo shares her transformation focused on discipline.

Down the Rabbit Hole with David Serville - How focused planning drives entrepreneurial success.

Better Life Stuff

How Multitasking Hurts Mental Health - Discover how to enhance focus and avoid multitasking pitfalls.

10 Goals to Improve Mental Wellbeing - Improve your wellbeing with mental-health goal strategies.

A 30-Day Meditation with Insight Timer - Breakthrough and enhance your focus with this wellbeing tool.

MEET OUR TEAM

In this section, I introduce the team & our Trusted Partners. 

This week, I want you to meet Stanley Henry. 

Stanley runs The Attention Seeker, and I am grateful to work with him and his leadership team to implement EOS into their business. 

For our clients, The Attention Seeker provides personal branding and attention-seeking for challenger brands.

They work with big names like Six Sixty, One NZ (old Vodafone), and The Warriors but also work for Founders of privately owned businesses.

Stanley is a machine & he truly does walk the talk. I'd be surprised if you haven't seen him online.

His team is all about ideas and making things happen, and he has a knack for turning ideas into success stories. 

How do you help people?  

The Attention Seeker does exactly what the name suggests. We help people seek the attention that they are looking for to help them with their business goals. We do this by developing a sound brand, marketing and social strategy, producing engaging content, managing social media profiles, managing communities and much more.

Why did you get into what you are doing?   

I fell into it really. I understood building a brand was important, and when I left running hotels and moved back to New Zealand, I started building my personal brand. As we entered lockdown through COVID-19, I had lots of people ask me how I could help them do the same, and the rest is history. We continue to push the boundaries in what's possible with brand building, and once we figure it out, we sell the same to clients.

What do you love about it? 

Personally, I love the team we are building, but in regards to the work we do, I love working with the team to figure out how to get a story to go viral; what about this narrative will audiences relate to and share far and wide? We get so good at it that we joke about being puppet masters whenever our ideas work out. 

What do you do in your spare time, pursuing other passions?

What is spare time? No, but seriously, I love what I do, and business is my passion, so if I can, I work on my business. If I'm not doing that you can find me hanging out with my wife, usually eating, or you can find me playing video games.

Tell us something that very few people know about you   

I have a teddy bear that has been with me since I was born. His name is Toots. He sleeps in my bed every night. He has been all around the world with me. He is so engrained in our family that all my brothers know him, and when they see him, they grab him and say hello. It's also created a little tradition where I'm the uncle to give my nieces and nephews their first teddy. He will probably be with me until the day I die as well. 

FIND OF THE WEEK

So, guess what? I stumbled upon this old-fashioned gadget on Facebook called MemoMate.

Picture this: I'm away regularly, Steve and I have lots of events, and we like to have homemade meals as much as possible, but it's impossible to be easily organised.  

We've tried online calendars & apps, but the reality is that visually, it's just easier to see something written out.

Sound familiar? 

We used to use a paper calendar and notes stuck to the fridge, but I am a little OCD and like things to look nice.

So I was thrilled when MemoMate popped up in my Facebook feed one weekend.

I ordered it, and as you can see, it looks fabulous.

We now plan our entire weekly meals in one quick session, and we easily see when each of us has something on or is away.

And we even leave each other little love notes ❤️

I know what you might think: "Sounds awesome, but it's a bit pricey." 

Well, I didn't mind because it added enough value for me.

But I also found a cheaper version on Amazon for those who might be on a tighter budget. So, no excuses!

If you're anything like me, constantly juggling a million things, MemoMate is your secret weapon for staying organised. Seriously, give it a shot—you won't regret it!

Debra Chantry-Taylor

Certified EOS Implementer | Accredited Family Business Advisor | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Speaker & Workshop Facilitator

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