Transforming Lives

Calling all Entrepreneurs!

Calling all Small Business Owners!

Our inaugural feature story introduces a man who has been helping people, like you, improve through change for over twenty years. Gino Wickman has worked with hundreds of business owners in a multitude of industries, and has discovered the following issues to be the most frustrating for entrepreneurs:

• Lack of control; over time, over the market, over the company. The business seems to be controlling you instead of you, the business owner, controlling it.
• People; entrepreneurial business leaders are frustrated with partners, employees, customers, and suppliers. These people just don’t seem to get your message!
• Profit.
• Growth. You’re feeling stuck and unsure of what actions are needed to take your company to that next level.
• Past strategies for improving the business. Your people dread the next new initiative as you continue struggling to gain traction.

If any of the above describes you, read up on Mr. Wickman’s Entrepreneurial Operating System. EOS will help you see your business differently. Gino says you should start changing by recognizing that “… all of your problems stem from you. It’s not the market; it’s not your people; it’s not your customers; it’s you.”

Once you’ve adjusted to this perspective, focus your business on Six Key Components. Strengthening these six segments will remove your frustrations and obstacles to growth. Through Wickman’s new book Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business and the one-hundred seventy-five sessions he conducts each year, he teaches in simple yet scientific terms, how to transform your business and become strong in these six key components:

• Vision
• People
• Data
• Issues
• Process
• Traction

On his website you’ll read “Gino’s passionate pleas” (phase I and phase II) to business leaders during these especially challenging economics. With the unique perspective of dealing with 35 companies at any one time, here in heavily hit Southeast Michigan , Wickman advises leaders to avoid being “frozen,” and to keep fighting for your business. Make a decision and move on it. “Don’t wallow in what you’ve lost.” People are looking for strong leadership during these times and as a business entrepreneur, that’s you. Be realistic. Be truthful. Don’t be overly optimistic and do not be pessimistic. And don’t be lazy. Working smarter is great, but in these times, there’s no substitute for working twice as hard. Stay disciplined. Above all, stay focused.

• Mr. Wickman says that the companies doing well in this environment, are those doing these seven things:
• They have a plan and are moving forward.
• They convey that plan to employees often.
• They are staying realistic.
• They are right-sizing.
• They are protecting cash flow and profits.
• They are working twice as hard.
• They are fighting.

The EOS process and Gino Wickman’s teachings provide a toolbox of solutions for strengthening your business. Read testimonials from satisfied customers and find out more about how the Entrepreneurial Operating System may benefit your business, at www.eosworldwide.com or contact them directly, toll free at 877-367-1877.

Editors note: If you’ve been part of a great change-related story and would like it considered for a future edition of Changing Times, write and tell us about it at [email protected]

The Triangle of Change
Applying the Triangle techniques

The Triangle-of-Change is another tool for managing change in your life. Like Gino Wickman’s Entrepreneurial Operating System, the Triangle divides your change into easily managed components.

The change agent (that’s you) better understands a change when it’s broken into these four simple categories:

• Product,
• People,
• Process,
• Performance

Give it a try right now. Bring to mind a change you’ve really wanted to make, but haven’t been able to implement. Whether it’s a personal one dealing with weight loss, exercise, or relationships, a professional one centered on your career, or a business-based improvement you’ve sought but haven’t been able to achieve, put the Triangle to work on it.

Step 1 is always at the tip. Visualize your end Product. Invest as much time as needed to picture your desired change. Know it, feel it, see it, taste it. Once you can “see” your intended change as clearly as you can see your own hand in front of your face, Quantify it. Put pencil to paper and use units (words that correspond to a numerical value) to describe your intention. Customize your units to fit your change using terms such as dollars per hour, pounds per week, time per day, units produced per hour, parts rejected per day, hugs per week, arguments per month, etc.

Step 2 is at the foundation of the Triangle. Here make a list of the People involved. Write your name first and then include any others associated with your desired change; those involved now, and those who should be involved, but aren’t yet. Label each person with an H,R, and/or I indicating who are your Helpers, Resistors, and/or those merely Impacted, by your goal.

Step 3 of the Triangle is on Process. Here you ask and answer the “what” related questions starting with “What IS going on now toward achieving my intended change?” Follow then by answering “What SHOULD BE going on?” Again, make a list. The SHOULD items will provide you with alternative actions for achieving your change. In the Process segment, decide which alternatives to put into action and schedule them onto a weekly calendar (in the book Changing Times, Decision Matrix Technology is used for deciding amongst viable alternatives). Then use your weekly calendar to put your actions into reality. This is where you pick up the phone, walk into your boss’ office, draft that proposal, begin your exercise regime, meet with your team, etc. This is where you DEDICATE the time YOU have allocated TO DO the ACTIONS chosen FOR ACHIEVING your CHANGE.

In Step 4 – the Performance segment, track the status of your actions to your plan. Measure how your status compares with your plan using the units established in Product. If you decided in Process for example, to walk three nights per week, or to meet with your staff in value-added, productive meetings three mornings per week, track your results to this plan. And display the results for all involved to see.

The Triangle’s premise, referred to as its core principles, is to proactively identify and resolve issues, by each of the four segments. You identify quantitatively, by segment, and then resolve by making and meeting agreements, again, by segment.

To learn more about how the Triangle-of-Change can help you achieve your personal, professional, and business goals, pick up a copy of Changing Times: Transform your life in 4 easy steps using the Triangle of Change, or write to us directly with your questions at [email protected]

Book your next change

Changing Times: Transform your life in 4 easy steps using the Triangle of Change

Changing Times is a short, simple tutorial written to help those seeking to improve their lives by better managing the sudden and intended changes in it.

Filled with practical examples and over sixty guiding illustrations, this handy reference uses seven basic WorkForms to step you through the proven techniques of the Triangle of Change.