The EOS Playbook | Bill Stratton | Ep 199

Bill Stratton  00:00

It’s a game changer for employee engagement in the organisation, for people getting aligned for where you're going and how are you going to get there, for people all rowing in the same direction. For the people that just the whole culture itself, that whole quarterly conversation done well, is huge. You Debra,

Debra Chantry-Taylor  00:24

welcome to episode number 199, of Better Business, Better Life. It's really hard to believe, but we're almost there, up to 200 episodes. I'm your host, Debra Chantry Taylor, and just like my guest today, I am passionate about helping entrepreneurs lead their ideal lives by creating better businesses.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  00:49

I'm a certified EOS implementer and FBA credited family business advisor and a business owner myself with several business interests. I work with established business owners and their leadership teams to help live that ideal entrepreneurial life using EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System. Today's guest is a fellow certified EOS implementer. He has taken a EOS family business from national company to a truly global company, traveling the world, including Australia. He's worked with over 60 businesses through the EOS framework. And he's a certified Kolbe A Consultant. Today, he's going to share how you can use the EOS tools to create a better business and better life. Bill Stratton is a 7635 on the Kolbe a profile, and he's the person who will help visionaries cut through the noise and crazy ideas to have the really tough conversations and deliver real value. So welcome to the show, Bill. It's great to have you here.

Bill Stratton  01:41

It's great to be here. Thanks for having me Debra.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  01:43

Absolute pleasure. Hey, look, I always enjoy getting my fellow EOS implementers on board, because one of the things I loved about EOS is that all of the implementers have got actual experience in running businesses. So we're not some kind of theoretical coach that's never done anything. We've actually been there, done that. We've got the t shirt, and you've got a really interesting story in terms of how you came across. EOS, right?

Bill Stratton  02:03

I do.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  02:06

Would you like to share some of that with us Bill?

Bill Stratton  02:08

Sure. So I, I've worked in family owned manufacturing businesses for the last 30 plus years, actually, until 2014 before it became an eight with a simple matter, one, we grew from 13 million to 115 million in revenue. And we also went from being a national player in the United States to a global player. And it was a lot of fun. I got to see a lot part of the world, including your part of the world in in Australia and in Southeast Asia. And then in 2014 I was recruited by a family-owned business that makes manufacturers home elevators and wheelchair lifts and dumb waiters, and they were losing money, and I was asked to turn it around. They actually hired me as president and CEO. And I thought, Okay, this is a neat opportunity. Let's do something different. And I got on board, and it actually was worse than even the owners knew.

So it was a lot of work. We had to make some difficult decisions, but we did, and we stopped the bleeding, and we turned the business around, and it started to make money, starting in 2015 and in 2016 we were making progress, but I felt that we were missing something. I didn't know what it was. I just knew we could be better. And at the time, I was in Vistage, which is a peer group of other CEOS that I was working with, and our speaker for one of our monthly sessions. It was on process triage, actually. And at the end of that day, since I was a host, he gave me a copy of the book Get a grip by Gina Wickman and Mike Payton. And I thought, Okay, thanks. And then I started reading it. And, like, I read it fast, like, this was like, wow. The light bulb went off for me. It's like, this is what we were missing. And so I called EOS worldwide. Talked to Sean Fain, who was handling warm leads at the time, and she put me in touch with Hank O'Donnell, who was very well-known EOS implementer, and he came and did the 90-minute meeting for my leadership team and me in July of 2016 and two days later, we said to Hank, let's do it. Let's go. My whole team wants to do this.

Bill Stratton  04:23

So we had our first focus day in September of 2016 and it was a two year journey that was absolutely transformational for the business, starting at the leadership team level, then as we rolled it out the rest of the organisation, it just changed the whole trajectory of the business. And I remember the second year we're still working with Hank second year of EOS implementation, we had one major issue. Our sales weren't growing the way they needed to. They should have been growing at this higher rate than housing starts, and we were actually a slower rate than housing starts. So something was missing. And so that's the issue. One issue we actually IDs two weeks in a row. Our level 10, meaning that that issue alone, and it came to the we came to the conclusion that the issue was not our sales team, but our business model, and that we had to change the business model to something that could take help us grow more properly in the future. And in order to do that, we also had to form a new division to support that, which we did. Both we got the owners to agree to it, and so we were positioned in the summer of 2018 to grow.

I had a very strong leadership team. We had started getting revenue in this new division, supporting the new business model, and I let the owners know that I'm going to leave. I want to do what Hank did. I want to make a difference for other entrepreneurs, just the same way that Hank made a difference from my leadership team and me at this manufacturing business in central Pennsylvania. So that's my story. And then in 2018 I went to boot camp. I was in the first, first Denver boot camp, best boot camp ever. And I've been being an EOS implementer ever since, for the last six years, I've worked with over 40 different business owners and their leadership team, and I've completed over 330 full day sessions. And I'm enjoying it. I love it.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  06:13

I love the EOS community. I think we all have a great passion for what we do, and I think that what you just said was really true for me as well. It's like it does make a difference almost immediately in the business. Is what I find fascinating, is that right from the word go, from the focus day, there is a different, a fundamental difference and change in the way the business operates, which is what I think is great about EOS.

Bill Stratton  06:35

Yeah, I totally agree. And then seeing how some of these business owners and their teams have progressed over the years, as I've worked with them and the traction they're gaining, and especially some of the ones that not only is it positively impacting their business, but their lives we make, we do make a big difference on our clients lives.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  06:53

I completely agree. Hey, I want to just deep dive into something for a moment. There you said that you IDs an issue in that business twice over two level 10s. And I think this is one of my things that I do love about EOS, is it really gets you laser sharp, focused on the things that are most important. But some teams feel like they have to get through all their issues in every single level 10. But in reality, sometimes it can be that one issue that really makes the biggest difference right?

Bill Stratton  07:17

Yes, that that one issue was a game changer for the business. They wouldn't have doubled in size over the last six years. If we didn't make that decision, they wouldn't have the profitability that they have today, if we didn't spend the time on that one major issue. And yes, it took us two. That's the only thing we talked about for two straight weeks in our level 10, but it was game changer for us.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  07:41

Yeah and that's the that's the power of the ideas. If you're really dealing with the most important issue, even if it takes up the whole meeting or two meetings, it's worthwhile doing it.

Bill Stratton  07:49

Absolutely.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  07:51

Yeah. Right. Okay, so you've been a EOS implementer now for six years, and obviously with a whole number of companies, how has it been switching from being somebody actually running the business, is somebody helping other people in the business.

Bill Stratton  08:05

It's been great. It's, you know, I get, I get. It's almost like it magnifies my influence, because I'm working with at any one time between 15 and 20 different businesses and their leaders, business owners and their leadership teams. So my skill and everything I bring as an EOS implementer just spreads it out, as opposed to just working in one business. It magnifies it.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  08:27

And it helps that you've actually used it in running your own businesses and seeing the power of it. Is the favourite EOS tool that you have is the one thing that sort of really stands out for you, that you sort of because you said you had to get a grip. And I have to say I was the same. I voraciously read that book. It was like, it was just and to get it was all very, very quickly. And I suppose there was, there's a lot of very simplistic tools in EOS, but is the one that really stands out for you?

Bill Stratton  08:55

For me, it's a quarterly conversation.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  08:58

Okay.

Bill Stratton  09:00

Which is part of LMA, it? When done well, it is a game changer for employee engagement in the organisation, for people getting aligned for where you're going and how are you going to get there, for people all rowing in the same direction. For the people that just the whole culture itself, that whole quarterly conversation done well is huge. And unfortunately, not all my clients take it to heart the way they should. But if they do the quarterly conversation, they have the proper discussions, they develop the relationship with their direct reports, and they hold their direct reports accountable. To me that's, that's the most important tool.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  09:42

Yeah and I think for people who maybe aren't completely familiar with EOS, we have lots of three letter acronyms, and LMA being one of them, so that stands for lead and manage to hold people accountable. And the quarterly conversations, I think, is something that was, it was a bit of a game changer for me too, because it is actually a conversation. It's not designed to be a. Performance review. It's actually about having a genuine conversation to understand where they're at, to understand where they feel things could be improved. Tell me a little bit about the true kind of quarterly conversation.

Bill Stratton  10:11

So a really well done quarterly set conversation, the leader, the manager and the direct report prepare ahead of time, not letting anything formal, but just what's working well. What's not working well? How well are you doing on your rocks? How is your behaviour as a as it relates to your core values for the business? How are you doing in your role? What are those, you know, the five or so key things in your seat? How well are you doing in those roles, responsibilities that you have? Are there things we could be doing better? Is there things of me as your boss that I can help you with? And so I'm looking for feedback as well. If I'm going in there as a manager working with my direct report, I want to have their feedback.

And it's a two-way conversation. When we have these quarterly conversations, it's back and forth, and it's very healthy. And we do this every 90 days, and we recommend we do it every 90 days. And that also the other important thing is that you schedule them out six months, so you have it on the calendar every six so you have 190 days from now, 180 days from now, and you keep that out there, because that sends a huge message to your direct report that they matter. So that's a big part of that. And then by the time, if, if the business does annual performance reviews, by the time they get to the formal performance review, this should be no surprises.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  11:38

Yeah, and I love the fact that we do schedule them out in advance, because, like you said, I think it's also a if you get called into a meeting ad hoc, it feels like there's something wrong, whereas if you're actually scheduling, then what you're doing is being proactive. You're saying, hey, we want to make sure we're doing the best we possibly can every 90 days.

Bill Stratton  11:54

Yeah. And it also sends a positive message, direct report that they matter.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  11:59

Yeah. Very true. Okay. Okay. And so for people who've never heard of this concept before, who you said that the leader and the manager and the employee obviously prepare for it. Is this done across the whole organisation?

Bill Stratton  12:13

Yes, it should be the whole organisation.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  12:18

Yeah, and the power of that means that we've got everybody having conversations about, particularly, what's working. When we ask about what's working, what's not working, we get people to think about the company as a whole, the department, and then also individually, both the employee and the manager, what's working, what's not working.

Bill Stratton  12:32

That’s correct. It should be across the board. And I've come across situations where, maybe especially in manufacturing, where maybe you might have a shift supervisor or production manager, have 15 direct reports, and they look at me and when we're in session, when I'm teaching them LMA, and they like, How can I do 15? And I look at them and say, Well, you have a structure problem. Take a look at your accountability chart, because you shouldn't have 15 direct reports. How can you give them what they need individually if you've got 15 direct reports? So then I go back to them and I say, you know, maybe you set it up that you have team leads. There's different ways you can do it to get it to the point where everyone's having a quarterly conversation. So oh, by the way, you'll be a much better manager if you've got the time to have these meaningful conversations with direct reports.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  13:24

It is interesting, isn't it? I know that I've worked with a couple of teams now that have had even the leadership team. 11 people in the leadership team. When we first, you know, did the first 90 minute and he got, how can this possibly be? And, you know, it was actually quite fascinating. One of them was, actually, there was a visionary, very, very clear visionary with 11 direct reports at the leadership team level, but no integrator in the business. And as this 11 people were working 70-80, hour weeks and always running around, always chasing their tail. And it came down to that, I know it came well, came down to the fact that they were all there was no filter between the visionary and the leadership team. So when the visionary had an idea, these 11 people would be madly rushing around trying to execute on that idea, and probably all 11 of them working on things simultaneously, not even realising they're working on things simultaneously. And it was just amazing that that whole less is more. Once we got it down to four people across the leadership team plus the integrator plus the visionary, it was just a game changer.

Bill Stratton  14:22

Oh, yeah, I would imagine it would be.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  14:24

Yeah. But the same applies at other levels. Like you said, you cannot have 15 people reporting to you and be affect an effective leader and manager of that.

Bill Stratton  14:31

No, you can't. It's just not possible.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  14:34

Now, when we spoke, before we got onto the podcast, you talked about the fact that EOS brought a whole new level of sort of transparency and ability to have difficult conversations. Can we explore that a wee bit more.

Bill Stratton  14:48

Sure. You mean at the business I was at?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  14:51

Yeah.

Bill Stratton  14:52

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I could tell you that I had a had a leadership team that wasn't afraid to challenge me. I remember one situation. I had a really good production manager, and he came into me one day and goes, Bill, and this gets back to this whole issue we had, and why we had the level 10 Deep Dive. And for that one issue, Bill, what am I going to make in two weeks? And so I was a sales leader as well as a integrator, and I couldn't answer his question. He was telling the truth, and that let I mean, that was a difficult conversation, but he was not afraid to come in and say, Bill, I need to plan, where are the orders?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  15:32

That’s great. And so talk me through how you see this playing out when you work with clients, like, how do they get why do they suddenly part? Why are they suddenly able to have these more effective conversations and not be afraid to challenge?

Bill Stratton  15:44

It’s, they build trust as a leadership team. We do teach them, especially on the annual planning sessions to be, you know, the Lencioni pyramid, so The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni Pyramid, or trust, is the base, but you know, we emphasise and we encourage it, and we call it out that they've got to be open and honest. They've got to be open to the perspectives of the other members of the leadership team in the room, and that you want to listen to understand, not listen to just answer a question, and that if you don't agree, you've got to speak up, because the best decisions are going to come when you're open and honest with each other. If you don't speak up, you're basically maybe agreeing with a less than optimal decision for the business. If you look at Lencioni pyramid, once you have that trust, the next part is conflict, and it's not conflict personal, it's conflict on the issues, and it's about getting to the best decision for the business. So as these leaders that I work with are getting used to having these difficult conversations, they're actually having much more effective meetings, and they're making better decisions, and they're not afraid to have the difficult conversations that they need to have.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  17:02

Yeah, because they've got that trust amongst them. I know it'll be used against them.

Bill Stratton  17:07

Correct.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  17:08

Yeah, it is. It's wonderful. You must see it a lot. I see teams who really completely transform in quite a short period of time just by bringing in some very, very simple tools that help them to have those conversations. I'll never forget I had one team where, you know, how we score our level 10 meetings, and it's always out of a 10. And you know, every meeting is perfect before it starts. There was one particular person in this level 10 meeting who kept scoring it at a six or a seven, while all the rest of the team was scoring at eight plus. And some of getting on the phone for this person, I said to them, you know, how come you're scoring this meeting at six, when everybody else is an eight plus. And she's like, well, you don't understand. You see the boys, they go off on these tangents and they do this and they do that and they don't. I said, Well, hold on a second. Are you not in these meetings? She said, Yes. I said, So why aren't you actually calling that out? Because it's your responsibility to ensure that you actually get the best from these meetings. And it was kind of like a light bulb moment for it's like, oh, I should be doing that. Yes, this is what it's all about. You've got to actually take responsibility.

Bill Stratton  18:08

Yeah, yeah. That happens a lot. And the other, the other area, I encourage them, is if someone's saying the rocks on track, rocks on track, and you don't believe so you question it, you've got to call that out as well. You don't want to wait till two weeks before they're quarterly to find out the rocks off track, because then you probably can't get it back on track.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  18:27

Yeah, and there's always kind of, kind ways of doing that, you know, you can always say, Look, I just don't feel like I have enough information about that. Why don't you kind of, let's drop it down to the issues. Let's have a discussion around it. But, yeah, you're absolutely right. I think that we it's good to see people actually wanting the best for the company. Yeah, okay, so we've got the quarterly conversations. I think level 10 meetings are definitely a game changer. There's something that I think obviously we teach in the focus day, and that's why we see significant results from day one. What other tools do you find really simple but really effective?

Bill Stratton  19:00

I like Kolbe. Kolbe A index, and the reason for that is that people don't understand they're all wired differently, and it just helps them work together more effectively. And so I tend to teach Kolbe a when, when I can sometimes earlier in the process, because it really helps teams understand how each other are wired, how they actually go about striving and solving problems.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  19:27

So for those who've never heard of Kolbe, so Kolbe is, my understanding of it is actually you're certified, you can probably find it a whole lot better, but it is about the way that people naturally work, and I believe that doesn't actually change over time, like we're fundamentally wired to work in a certain way. So tell me more. Tell me about what that teaches us, how that helps us to understand our team better.

Bill Stratton  19:46

So Kolbe, but basically, there's three parts of the mind, the cognitive part of mine, that's about how your intelligence, your education, your experience, the effective part of the mind. Mind. That's the part of the mind that it's what you want to do, it's what you value. Assessments such as Myers, Briggs or disc or print or some of the others, they are really measuring the effective part of the mind, what you value, and then the conative part of the mind, which is what Kolbe A measures, is how you naturally strive when you have to solve a problem or working on a project, it's where you put your energy. And we're all wired differently. And you're right. It doesn't change over the course of our lives. You can take it when you're 15,35, 55,75 and it's not going to vary by more than a point or two.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  20:40

Okay. And so then, by doing the Kolbe A test, they get the results. Then what?

Bill Stratton  20:47

Well then, then we look at look at them. How do you have any gaps as a team? Or do you have too much of one type of energy that might be getting you stuck, like if you've got a team full of initiating fact finders, they could get caught going down rabbit holes because there's no one on there to say, Okay, let's summarize it. Let's move on. And so there are some traps. So what I do when I work with teams is I not only work with them and share with them what their individual Kolbe look like, but actually put together team synergy analyses to show them. Here's where you're strong, here's where you're missing, some methods that you might need depending on the project or the problem you're trying to solve. So it is very good of actually identifying who would best work together on this particular project or this particular issue.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  21:39

I’m interested. What is your Kolbe profile Bill?

Bill Stratton  21:41

I'm a 7635, which means I am wired as a natural integrator. I'm the one who's going to push back on that visionary with 1000 ideas. I'm going to want to my three says three is a counteracting quick start. So as a three, I'm going to want to say, Okay, if this is working, why do we want to change it? Or if the visionary that's coming up with 20 ideas in a week, I'm going to say, let's narrow that down to three. Mr. Visionary. Ms visionary. And let's make some choices from there. Also the seven, six means, if I'm going to work on a project, my first amount of energy. So I'm a seven in fact finder, which means I need details. I want facts. So if I'm gonna work on a project or solve a problem, I'm gonna do some research before I actually do work. That's just first. That's where my energy goes.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  22:36

It’s interesting. I'm actually a 6293, so I'm one of those terrible, quick start.

Bill Stratton  22:42

You're the visionary.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  22:45

Yep, which means that it does help me relate to my visionaries in my business, but I have, it's interesting, because I did actually work as an integrator in a quite a large business about 220 staff, so I actually one of those people who's able to do it. But it's probably not my natural star.

Bill Stratton  23:00

Yeah, it probably, it probably was hard. Took a lot of energy.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  23:04

Yeah, they did, for sure. Okay, so, so in terms of using Kolbe, combined with some of your other profiles, like your Myers, Briggs and your desk, and then obviously having the EOS framework as well just means you've got a really good understanding of not only who you are, where you're headed, what you're trying to do, but whether your team is the right team to actually do that, and who should be working on which parts in the business, right?

Bill Stratton  23:27

That's correct. And you got to make sure you've got so the Kolbe is actually really helpful, because different seats have sometimes need a certain Kolbe, like if you have a CFO, you probably wouldn't want to be there because you're counteracting follow through and initiating quick start. And if someone is there, they're probably not going to follow rules. You talk about financial management. CFO, you want someone who follows systems and processes?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  23:56

Yeah, absolutely. That's great. So you did your certification in Kolbe. That was that a recent thing? Or have you done that for a while? Now?

Bill Stratton  24:08

For a while, I’ve had it since 2020.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  24:11

Okay, great. And it obviously dovetails quite nicely with the EOS framework and working with teams to understand, yeah. Okay, interesting. So in terms of EOS, have you got any sort of re I mean, you've got some really great stories already, but if you've got some teams so you've really can share a fundamental change, because I think that it helps all teams in terms of improving the business. But is there any sort of real standout rock star type stories that you could share?

Bill Stratton  24:39

I've got one. I was one of my third client, so I started with them almost six years ago. They're a cyber security consulting business based in central and they've actually tripled the size of the business. They've actually their visionary, who's a good friend of mine, and. Has really taken the time to make sure he's got the right people in the right seats. So he's actually changed a few people over the years. Early on, he didn't and they weren't get the rock. Completion wasn't getting done. They were getting frustrated. But then when he started putting the right people in the right seats, it started to click for him. He knew he sat in the integrator seat for a little while, and he knew he and his team knew that wasn't a good move, and so he actually hired, a he hired a fractional integrator for six months, and then that fractional integrator did a great job new EOS insight now and then, after that, he helped him hire a full time integrator.

And what I can tell you is this guy, he has been able to take family vacations without calling the office for three weeks at a time last year, or actually early this year. It was in there when they were in the middle of getting a very important compliance for the type of business they're in, because they do a lot of work with the US government, and they were doing a major trade show, and his wife scheduled vacation, and he just went on the vacation, and everything worked out great. So when you see that happen, it's like we talk about EOS life, right? Doing what you love to do with people whom you love to do it, making a significant difference, being appropriately compensated, and having time for other things in your life, other passions. That's what he's doing. And it's just so nice to see and so nice to see his team just thriving.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  26:21

But that’s what's really interesting, what I just took from that with my notes is that, you know, it's, it's often about the right people, isn't it? You know, when you when you're not getting rocks completed, you've got to take a good, hard look and say, Do we really have the right people in the right seats? Because that's probably the cause of our lack of rock completion.

Bill Stratton  26:38

Yeah, that was the cause.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  26:40

Yeah, and it’s difficult, isn't it? Because you would have seen this yourself, and I know I had to make some pretty tough calls as well when I was an integrated for the bus company. But you know, sometimes the person is a great person. They've been there for a long time, and it's really hard because we don't want to upset people. But if you continue to keep that person there, they become the rotten apple, don't they?

Bill Stratton  27:00

Yes, they're actually if they're not, if they know that they know if they're not. GW, see in the seat, getting it, wanting it, and actually having the capacity do it well, they know it, and they're going to be frustrated. They can see it. And so the kindest thing we can do is be kind to them. Being nice isn't necessarily being kind. Patrick Lencioni talks about that all the time, and so having that meaning of a conversation and maybe help them find another place, a seat, if you don't have a seat where they can shine, and you love working with and you like them, help them find a seat somewhere else in the market where they can thrive. And everyone wins in the long run.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  27:37

Yeah, that's actually, genuinely being kind, because, you know, they're going to go and they're going to enjoy way more the role that they actually do. GW, see, what about wrong people? Have you had, you know, have you seen in businesses where there are the wrong people that, I think the classic is in Get a grip, right? There was definitely, um, people in there that were the wrong people, but they kept them because they were good at the job.

Bill Stratton  27:57

I had that issue. I actually had it. What in the manufacturing business, where Hank was our facilitator, our, I mean, our EOS implementer, we had one of our core values, would be a great team player. And we had a brilliant electrical engineer who designed our control system for the elevators, who knew it inside and out, was great at it, but he was just he was a minus on being a team player. He was picking fights with folks on the manufacturing floor, with our with our purchasing manager, and it scared the crap out of his boss. His boss was the director of engineering, and it scared the crap out of both of us, because it had to, he had to go, or he had to change. And Cliff, who was his boss, who's now running the business, worked with him. Actually, it was amazing. He worked with him and said, You've got to change your behaviour. Give him a copy of one of the books on emotional intelligence. And he wasn't self-aware, and with coaching, he totally changed in six months.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  28:58

Yeah, I think that's the beauty of the People Analyzer. We use it a lot with our teams. Whenever you've got a people as you get the People Analyzer, and the first question you have to ask is, Is it them or is it us? You know, have we actually been really clear about what the boundaries are for that particular value? Have we been really clear about the behaviours that we expect? And if we aren't clear about that, then how? You know, maybe they just are not aware of it. Like you said, self-awareness, maybe they don't realise that's what they're doing. So by being the clearer you can get around your core values, the clearer you can get around the behaviours are acceptable and not acceptable, the more you can work on it. So he actually changed him from being a negative.

Bill Stratton  29:34

Oh yeah, to a plus. It was great. It was amazing. Yes, it was amazing. And, and, yeah, and then his value to the company just went through the roof, because now he was a self aware, he was a team player, and he's still GW see to see very well.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  29:50

So the key thing is, though, if you've got somebody who is negative or doesn't GW see their role, you've got to be able to put the time and resources, and if you really want to, you know, if you believe they can be. Change. There's a huge amount of time and resources that needs to go into that. Is that fair?

Bill Stratton  30:03

That's fair, yeah. So you have to want to do it. You have to want to help them change. And if they don't, that's where they have to go.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  30:12

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so that's one of my favourite tools. People Analyzer. It's really funny. It's, I'm fun. Five years into my journey now, and I've worked with, I don't know, 30 or 40 businesses through this, this process, and it's one of the very beginning tools, but it's actually it's coming back more and more and more now, as we start to work through Do we have the right people that, you know I love, that People Analyzer, for me, just takes all the emotion out of it and just makes it a tool that is, yeah.

Bill Stratton  30:38

Yeah. I actually use it like if we have a people issue on the issues list, say in one of our quarterly pulsing sessions, I'll actually, okay, I'll write down the core I'll actually put the People Analyzer on the whiteboard, write down the core values, so four or five, whatever they have, and I say, Okay, let's grade this person that we're talking about on core values, plus, plus, minus, minus. So we do that. And then I'll put the seat. I'll actually draw their seat on the accountability chart, write in the five things that they the five or so roles that they're responsible for in that seat, and ask for each of those, do they GW? See, do they GW? See each of the roles. And then once, then it's there, then you can actually see what the real issue is.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  31:19

Yeah, it's not just exactly the same, yeah, yeah. And I said the whiteboard, the whiteboard just puts it there in black and white, black and white, colour, whatever you want, but yeah, it's right there. And then they have to say, you have to ask the question quite genuinely, is it them? Is it us? Have we done everything we need to get that person to be the best they possibly can be? And then often there's a realisation. It's like, yeah, actually, we probably haven't set the boundaries. We probably haven't given them the feedback. Maybe we need to do something about that. Yes, and then they commit to it, and that's their to do.

Bill Stratton  31:50

Yep, absolutely.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  31:51

Okay, great. Any other rock star or examples you'd love to share of people where EOS has just fundamentally changed the way their business is run?

Bill Stratton  32:00

Oh, wow, I've got a whole bunch of them. I've got one. That's It's amazing story. It's a business owner who started the business 20 years ago. They make specialty cabinetry, and he actually built his leadership team from his it's a small company, about 20 people, but he built up his leadership team from within, and they have actually taken it and loving EOS, it's helped them gain a lot of traction. They're getting a handle on everything, and they're actually they're going to graduate with their annual come in January, that they've made so much progress, and it's just so cool to see all the progress they've made and how well they work together as a team.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  32:39

It is. I think that's why we love what we do, right? Because you really do get to see the huge difference it gets to make. And I say right from the word go, right from that focus day, I tell you what the thing that made me fall in love with EOS, when I first got given the books, when they launched into the event centre over here, was the fact that the proven process starts with the focus day, which is actually about tools that change the business, as opposed to the vision and all the because I worked in the ice house over here for many years, which is a very, very world famous incubator, and we did lots of strategy days where we get the whole leadership team in. We did the vision building. And of course, they'd all leave the room, very rare. Yeah, we've got visions, we've got mission, we've got values and of course, they go back into the real world, and nothing had changed, so they couldn't actually execute on it. Yes, I love the fact that focus day is focused on some really simple, pragmatic tools, or fundamentally change the business.

Bill Stratton  33:30

Yeah, it gives them the tools to actually execute on their vision. So we've got to give them the tools first.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  33:34

Yeah, which? Which is, it turns things on its head, because most, most leadership coaches, most business coaches, will go straight into let's do the plan. Let's get the strategy rather than, how do we actually change the business.

Bill Stratton  33:44

Yeah, yeah. And they come back to their office and they say, Okay, now what? They don't know how to move forward.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  33:50

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, great. So we've talked about a couple of tools that you love. What's your third and final kind of tip for anybody who's considering EOS in their business,

Bill Stratton  34:00

I would say, reach out to EOS worldwide and schedule a 90-minute meeting with an EOS implementer, professional EOS implementer. That's the one. I'd say, if nothing else, you're going to get some tools you can take back in your business. Doesn't cost you any money. It just costs you 90 minutes of your time with you and your leadership team.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  34:21

And I think what's really important, people see that as a sales tool, but it's absolutely, genuinely not. I mean, I love the fact that you're coming into that 90 minute meeting, you will get taught about the model, about the tools, how to use them. So even if you choose not to work with an EOS implementer, which we would say is not the best choice, but if that's what they choose to do, they still can have you had to be able to walk away with those tools they can actually use in the business.

Bill Stratton  34:43

Yeah. So we even give them a copy of the book traction.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  34:47

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, great. Hey, Bill, look, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you. It's always fun to get to know my fellow EOS implementers, especially those who actually know where Australia and New Zealand is. I always. We always laugh a wee bit, because when Daniel Davis, who set up the Australian kind of community over here for many, many years, he tried to convince Gino to come over to Australia, and Gino just wasn't having a bar of it. So, oh, it's, it's nice to have some, some people who've actually been over here, worked over here, and even worked close with my parents used to lived.

Bill Stratton  35:19

So I think, yeah, that's cool.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  35:23

Yes, yeah. So thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. It has been a lot of fun. Thank you, and we'll look forward to catching up with the next QC.

Bill Stratton  35:30

Thank you, Debra.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  35:31

Oh Bill, before I go, people want to get hold of you. What's the best way to get hold of you?

Bill Stratton  35:36

So my phone number is  +1-717-495-1429, I'm on LinkedIn, so that's another good place, or my email address is          .

Debra Chantry-Taylor  35:53

Fantastic. Hey, look. Thank you so much, Bill.

Bill Stratton  35:54

Thank you, Debra.