As the Integrator of EOS Worldwide, Visionaries regularly ask me about finding the right Integrator.
Why Visionaries Need Integrators
Understandably, Visionaries who have the ideas, vision, or solutions to a problem often find it challenging to find their Integrator counterpart. The right Integrator can make a Visionary’s ideas come to life and transform their business to achieve desired results.
When the Visionary and Integrator roles are in sync, they create Rocket Fuel™ that can launch a business to the next level.
The Challenges of Finding an Integrator
There is a four-to-one ratio of Visionaries to Integrators in small- to medium-sized businesses. Visionaries may feel the odds aren’t in their favor. However, these three key considerations and recommendations can help them seek, find, and make that partnership real.
1. Know Thyself
Before you can search for your right-fit Integrator, start by knowing yourself, what you love to do, and what you are great at. Understand that you’re looking for an Integrator to complement your skills and capabilities (not find someone just like you).
Go ahead and be selfish (in the best way possible)! Take Clarity Breaks (or join an upcoming Visionary Masterclass) to define clearly what you want your V/I relationship to look and feel like.
My business partner and the Visionary for EOS Worldwide, Mark O’Donnell, and I review our “V/I Relationship doc” at each Same Page Meeting. It’s a simple 10-point list of how we want our relationship to be and how we want to show up for others. We know we need to be aligned for our leadership team, the greater EOS Worldwide team, owners, partners, and collaborators.
Starting each meeting with that list keeps us on the same page and pressure tests our discipline. We work hard to be 100% open and honest with this exercise and not make it a “check the box” exercise. This is how we’ve created a winning partnership, and you can do it too.
2. Invest the Time and Attention
As you begin searching for your right-fit Integrator, remember this is the most important hire for the future of your business. So please treat it as such by investing the necessary time and attention into your hiring process.
Pre-Hire
Choose the right level of experience and caliber of Integrator you need for where you want your business to go.
Too often, Visionaries hire Integrators the business needed yesterday (or today) instead of planning for where the business is heading. Trying to stretch a new hire to the level the business will need may cost more than you’d think. But I urge Visionaries/Owners to see this as less of a cost to the business and more of an investment in it.
A right-fit, highly capable Integrator will return multiples to your business in revenue, profitability, efficiency, and business valuation year-over-year. When considering your future, remember what hockey legend Wayne Gretzky famously said, “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”
Post-Hire
It takes time, even when you have the right fit Integrator, to create the V/I Duo of your dreams. It will take more time than you think (or wish) it would. Think of it as a commitment similar to a marriage.
So, while it takes some time to find your right-fit Integrator, you still have work to do once that person is onboarded. Onboarding is only the beginning. You’ll want regular recurring Same Page Meetings. These meetings are the highest, most valuable time in the week for you, even more than the Level 10 Meetings.
It’s critical to hold this one-on-one time sacred. You and your Integrator need to know one another at deeper levels than any other team member. Understanding your counterpart’s inner thinking, deep-seated beliefs, and strategic ideation takes time.
Do not short-change this process or reduce your investment of energy and presence. Before long, you will see the benefits and settle into a trusting, confidence-based relationship. As goes the V/I Duo, so goes the leadership team. And as goes the leadership team, so goes the rest of the entire organization.
3. Stay the Course Together
Important relationships like this take time to nurture. Things won’t always be easy, but I urge you to stay the course and to do so together. Take the long view of learning, growing, and evolving together over time.
As humans, we’re meant to change and grow to become the next best versions of ourselves. With nourishment and care, doing that together as a V/I Duo is critical. It keeps the pacing and frequency of the relationship in tandem, interesting, fun, and exciting!
Personal and professional development, peer groups, education, training, and team/partner-building getaways are important for both the Visionary and the Integrator (like the V/I Duo Summit). Proactively plan and incorporate these activities into your budgeting process as ongoing investments.
Finding Your Right-Fit Integrator
For Visionaries ready for the journey, finding your right-fit Integrator is within reach (I promise!). I’ve found that living your EOS Life and doing so with your right-fit Integrator is a joy worth the time and effort to attain.
You can find your right-fit Integrator through our V/I Connector Program, ongoing training, and community support on our Rocket Fuel website. Finding your right-fit Integrator is the key to your team’s culture because we’ve learned that building an intentional culture for the entire organization begins at the top!
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