Mike Paton is a good buddy of mine who has shown me the ropes to the Entrepreneurial Operating System®. He first discovered EOS about a dozen years ago while trying to take a $7 million company to the next level. Feeling stuck and quite frustrated by the endeavor, his search for answers has led him to Gino Wickman and the simple holistic power of EOS. Having learned from entrepreneurs for most of his life, he quickly became an advocate and joined the Professional EOS Implementer Community®. Since then, he has been working hard to give back as an award-winning speaker, best-selling author of “Get A Grip: An Entrepreneurial Fable”, certified EOS Implementer® conducting more than 1,400 full-day sessions with the leadership teams of more than 135 companies, and Global Ambassador of EOS Worldwide.
For today's episode, Mike Paton pleads his case on the importance of strengthening your business’ core processes, and how systemizing the day-to-day is crucial to grow and scale your company. How about starting with EOS® and making it pay off?
7:41 Mike talks about his passion for process
13:35 Getting the predictable stuff right every time changes everything
14:51 The first step is to get the leadership team aligned on what those core processes are
21:53 Reactive versus proactive
25:25 You can’t be great at predicting when you’re not great at systemizing
30:30 A lack of clarity and alignment on processes creates people problems
36:10 How EOS® is a framework for bringing structure, clarity, and alignment first to your leadership team, and then to the rest of the organization
39:57 Mike’s passionate plea to entrepreneurs
If you’re not getting everything you want from your business or your life, make some changes to the way things are working until you get what you want.
GET IN TOUCH:
MARK LEARY:
www.linkedin.com/in/markhleary
www.leary.cc
MIKE PATON
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikepaton/
https://www.eosworldwide.com/
May 26, 2021, Wednesday
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
process, people, implementer, eos, leadership team, clients, organization, problem, company, step, team, mark, business, lisa, component, talking, prediction, running, core, entrepreneurs
SPEAKERS
VO, Mike Paton, Mark
Mark 00:00
So we're rolling, cool. We are live. This is you're doing it wrong with Mark Henderson Leary in my name is Mark and I have a passion that you should feel in control of your life. And so what I do is I help you get control of your business. And part of how I do that is by letting you listen in on these conversations between people who love to geek out on entrepreneurship and all things like that. So today, let's get right into it. My good friend, the guy who trained me on the entrepreneurial operating system, and the author of Get a grip. And the guy who took over as visionary of EOS worldwide after Gino and before he pursued his ultimate passion, which is being an EOS implementer. My good friend, Mike Payton, how are you sir?
Mike Paton 00:42
I'm terrific. Mark. Thanks for having me.
Mark 00:45
What's on your mind these days? Is it is it has to do with a book you're writing?
Mike Paton 00:49
Well, that's that's a part of it. I'm writing with a co author, a professional us implementer from Colorado, Lisa Gonzales, a deep dive into the process component for the traction library and our publisher benbella. But really what's on my mind is helping entrepreneurial leadership teams get what they want from their businesses. I I'm super passionate about that, because I see how few actually do that. And it's a joy to come to work every day. Helping leaders get better at leading and living better lives.
Mark 01:25
Well, I do want to dig into process but before I do that, it crossed my mind you because you have the host of podcasts as well.
Mike Paton 01:30
That is correct. So s leader podcast,
Mark 01:34
EOS leader podcast. That's fantastic. So what are you seeing especially now post post ish pandemic? Are you seeing any trends with companies right now.
Mike Paton 01:47
Um, you know, the I've had the great fortune of interviewing leaders who don't seem flapped by what's gone on the last 15 to 16 months, they're unflappable, I don't know if being flammable is something you can be. But that's not the people I'm, that's, that's not the people I'm hanging out with, you know, something we started talking about in March of 2020, was that you still got to get up every day and lead and in a crisis, where a lot of things outside your control are impacting the way your business operates. It's probably more valuable than ever. And, you know, the companies I'm fortunate to interact with are running on Eos. So they know everything's just an issue. And, you know, here's this issue. And so I've seen some really inspirational, powerful responses to, you know, a global pandemic, that, that give me hope that the planet's in good hands and the world's in good hands, even under very adverse circumstances.
Mark 02:53
So the trend, certainly in the community is that people who've been running on EOS through this have credited as their lifeline to sanity and focus and execution and minimal damage, and in many cases, thriving in difficult times. Do you see a difference in mentality? Because that's, that's kind of the norm of your company has been running on us solid companies who are first considering us right now? Are you seeing difference? Have a mindset? People who are saying I'm interested?
Mike Paton 03:23
Yeah, and I have the benefit of having been through this similar times twice with the 2008 2009 financial meltdown. Very Similarly, there was a brief period of people going dark and just trying to get their senses back and get their bearings, if you will. And then the harsh realization that, you know, a things are tough, we can't, you know, just be average or good, we've got to be great if we're gonna get through this. And so I actually have seen an uptick in interest in implementing EOS or, or somehow investing in a way that makes our leadership team and our business better and more crisis proof for lack of a better term. So I'm very encouraged by that trend for for the rest of the implementers in our community and for the businesses who know, you know, that they Yes, in High Times, maybe, you know, high tides float all boats. But, but when things are tough, you got to be sharp and, and I think EOS is a great way to make sure you're always sharp. For sure.
Mark 04:33
When I'm when I'm the pattern that I've seen over the last couple of weeks, is if you're in a crisis situation, you really play defense, and then the tide, tide starts to rise. You're like, Okay, cool. I can take a breath. We're good. Many companies are like, the water still rising. And wait a minute, like it is not all good. And the panic starts to set in, like, I don't know what to do. Now. This is about to be a real problem. I'm gonna have to hide hire some people and tell them some things and I'm not ready to go into the next phase is coming at me too fast. And it's really, I challenged leadership teams occasionally when they, when they give me this message of, I'm freaked out and things are great. And I say something like, Are you having trouble reconciling why you're why you're feeling so bad when things are so good and like absolutely, exactly what it is. And so I don't know how to explain to you like things are so good. It's freaking me out. I don't know how to hire people or about focus is not a thing
Mike Paton 05:30
for us. Yeah. So, you know, it's interesting, because I go back to the book, great by choice on a Jim Collins. less known works, but super powerful. And it's about how to lead in times of risk and uncertainty. And one of the things he talks about is the importance of a 20 mile March. And he uses the expeditions to the South Pole as a as an example of two teams who tried to be first at the same time and one team when the weather was good, and conditions were good for hiking would, you know, make as much progress as they possibly can, and when the weather got lousy, they'd hunker down. And then the other team would just try and march 20 miles, every single day, regardless of the conditions that team survived and made it to the pole. The other team failed and, and died trying. And, you know, I think that's a big part of what EOS teaches with the 90 day world is, you know, day in and day out, you're gonna have issues crop up, you got to get together once a week with your leadership team prioritize and resolve those issues. quarter after quarter, you got to make the best predictions, you can under today's set of circumstances, and do everything humanly possible to push stuff over the finish line. So you can live to fight another quarter. And and I think that's a big part of the discipline that gets people through this stuff. You know,
Mark 06:59
I'm glad you reminded me of that, because I tell that story all the time. And I usually tell it from the minimum progress angle, and but you reminded me it's not just about that it's about don't, you know, don't get arrogant and don't bite off too much and die of indigestion as because exactly, don't agree, understand the consequences of of marching 40 miles when it feels good, know that that's not always the right choice. Right? Well, so I do want to talk about process. And so it's a good pivot point. I think we could talk about all that stuff all day long. How does it give us? What do you do? What have you learned about process as you're in the process of writing a process book about process?
Mike Paton 07:41
Well, having having spent a great deal of time on on podcasts myself, I will just say, Mark, I'm about to make a confession. Because, you know, part of my passion for process comes from an awareness that in the early days as an implementer. And even before that, as an entrepreneur, I had zero passion for process process was where entrepreneurs go to die. process was something you could get at the Bureau of motor vehicles, and look how well that serves you. Right? Everybody's waiting in line forever, God forbid, a an employee, wait one minute longer than their appointed lunch no matter how long the line is, right? That's, that's my attitude about process and, and what I came to understand in my early years of being an EOS implementer is the six key components are all vitally important. And they're also interdependent with the other five. And so about three to four years in tinian, I, you know, had an aha together where we're like, man, our clients are really under emphasizing the importance of documenting, simplifying and, and getting their core processes followed by all and while I wanted to blame it on the clients I was selecting Don was smart enough to recognize that he and I were
09:11
all for that.
Mike Paton 09:12
Sure. And so since then, I've been on kind of on a mission to help my clients see how vitally important processes and and help other implementers see that and, and now, Lisa and I are, are really passionate about helping everybody who's a leader in a business, being small, entrepreneurial or not understand that this high level approach to strengthening the process component is really vital to you living the life you want to live.
Mark 09:43
So it's interesting thinking about, you know, we talked about scorecards, you know, one of the things about a scorecard is it's going to take time, patience, tenacity, commitment, investment for it to pay off. And, you know, I'm used to saying that a lot because it's something we try to turn into a quick hit. But actually process has that times 10 or 100. In terms of the difficulty to get the nut cracked, but once you do get it, the gifts last forever, right? How do you get people? What's the whole? What's the journey when somebody's like, sure, next quarter, next quarter next quarter, and you're like, Oh my God, your margins are turnovers high, your margins are terrible. Well, you're not profitable enough, you can't hire two people. Like all processes, not our problem like that is
Mike Paton 10:34
your mark, you know me well enough to know how I deal with that I just rant and rave and drop a couple of F bombs. And eventually the client either fires me or decides they're going to do this. That is not what I would prescribe to a real professional. That's just the way Peyton does it. So you know, so it's interesting, you say that, because we you know, as Lisa and I started the writing process, the first part of the book is almost all related to mindset. The introduction is about three process myths that are just faulty, and and drive what we like to refer to as an anti process bias in the kind of people who want to own and run or lead in entrepreneurial companies or fast pace teams in a bigger company, or what have you. And, and, and so we spend a good deal of the first part of the book, busting those myths, and helping people see that the benefits of strengthening your process component are far greater than you might be calculating, the costs of not doing the work are far greater than you might be calculating. And the amount of work and disruption that you're anxiety ridden about is actually lower than you're assigning to this fear of what will happen if you if you drive process, I've heard a million times pushback from the owner of an entrepreneurial company saying, Well, what am I gonna have a 500, page SLP manual and some sort of a compliance committee and a bunch of mindless robots just walking around waiting until somebody tells them exactly what to do when and how to do it. And and that's just not what we teach when we're implementing Eos. And so that's really step one is getting people to understand the benefits, the cost of not doing the work, how easy it is. And then the process of strengthening your process component is actually very straightforward. And cuts through all the mind trash that you're heaping on this idea. So that so that you realize those benefits quickly.
Mark 12:52
What's the very first step, especially for companies who nod? Like Sure, cuz I'm thinking I think of this client, like, I believe you, Mark?
Mike Paton 13:01
Yeah, the very first, in my opinion, the very first, the very first step mark, absolutely critical is prioritizing this work, making the decision that of all the things you could focus on. This is more important than changing the color of blue and your logo or tweaking the, you know, hot, the, the focus of your company or what this work, getting the predictable stuff done the right and best way every time changes everything, it frees you and your leadership team and your mid managers up to actually lead and develop people and cross train and innovate and and streamline processes continuously improve until you get the basics done. Well every time you are going to get sucked into the basics every single day. And that's why so many entrepreneurs and their leadership team members are frustrated, stuck, and quite frankly, unhappy because they're constantly reactive, putting out fires cleaning up messes and not getting the results they want. So that's step one, just just commit to the work
Mark 14:24
with that. They're committed, they bought into it. They've okay margin is a problem. And if you're saying that's a way we can bring some margin back and if we can get happier clients out of it fine. Where do you where what's the actual process that people yeah,
Mike Paton 14:38
so you know, there's a EOS tool called the three step process documenter and it appears brain numbingly obvious and quite trivial. But step one is getting your leadership team in a row and getting them to agree on what your handful of core products These are what are the five the 12 things you or a member of your team does on a regular basis that creates value for your customers allows you to attract and retain great people delivers real value and great relationships to your vendors. Whatever your stick, what is it that you do? What's your secret sauce is really what we're asking. And what what Lisa and I have found and what you've found working with your clients is, there is a lack of clarity and alignment on most leadership teams about what those handful of core processes are, and what we're going to call them. And where they roughly start and roughly finish and when not everybody in the organization even agrees on that basic information. Your every other ounce of work you do is going to encounter a ton of barriers or resistance.
Mark 15:56
That's a good point. Because even when I first started doing this, when we describe it, it's you know, there's a list. Yeah, might be an HR people process might be marketing might be sales, and we kind of outline that for them. And then when you start the process work, it's not that simple at all, like, is the recruiting the same as the retention is that same process? Because like in the typical template one it is. But it's in every company, it's like maybe no, maybe they're owned by different people, it might be a separate process.
Mike Paton 16:27
Yeah, and I have, you know what, one of the common things I see is most teams left or their own devices would have 130 processes. And and what we're trying to say is no, you probably have 130 major steps that roll up into or maybe 250 major steps that roll up into five to 12 processes. And that's our 2080 approach or our high level approach to strengthening the process component. So we believe that if you can get the leadership team on the same page with everything related to attracting and retaining great people, let's call it the HR process, or the people process or the talent process are the three titles I've had. If you can get on the same page with the major steps in that as one core process that solves 80% of the problems, friction, misdirection, misalignment, frustration, lack of clarity that you're going to have on all people related man matters. Is there a lot more detail necessary to really do it exactly the right way every single time and your organization, of course. But let's start by getting the leaders 100% on the same page with that. And so that's how we get them to agree, hey, we got one process related to people. And it's everything from determining whether or not we have a need for an additional person to terminating someone who has proven that they're not a cultural fit, or they're not very good at their job.
Mark 18:07
If there's someone stuck, where would you send them into? Like, mentally? What what's the first work you have been doing? Look, we're stuck. We want to process eyes, our organization, where do we start?
Mike Paton 18:17
But yeah, it's it's exactly what I just said. And this is what the book is going to be about is get your leadership team in a room, discuss and debate and settle on five to 15 core processes that you think you want to document and simplify because those things done well, every time are going to eliminate all the issues, problems, challenges, obstacles, roadblocks, messes, unhappy customers and unhappy employees. That's where I tell them to start just agree on the table of contents for your very thin 20 page, maybe 30 page process, man.
Mark 19:06
When you start when you start to get antsy, and you start to get, you know, foul mouth. What are you seeing in those in those leadership teams, when he signs that you're that you're at the front of the room? And you're like, What is wrong with this leadership team? What are you seeing in them? And the reason I'm asking is I want people to look in the mirror a little bit like yeah,
Mike Paton 19:30
so a couple of things number one, perfectionism, right is number one, I you know, I see people who don't want to do this unless it's exactly right and completely comprehensive, right, until we've documented every last step and every one of our miniscule processes. There's no point to doing this work. And, you know, that's where I will use some analogies with them. I'll say let's listen bill lets you and I beyond honest with one another right? We could both stand to lose 20 or 30 pounds, you agree? And Bill nods at me and says Yep, especially you Peyton. And and I'm not sure 20 to 30 is the right numbers usually what I get back. And and I say so there's two ways we could approach this. One way is I could just decide that I'm going to enter every piece of food I eat into an app every day, that's step one of my major process, and I might eat less, because I so annoyed that I have to enter all the food into my app. Okay. And I could step on the scale once a week to see if I'm losing one pound, or at least staying even every week. Now, that's a pretty simple process and a decent way to start. You, you're a perfectionist bill. So what you want to do is you want to find exactly the right app for a person just like you. And then you want to hire the best nutritionist on the planet to build a diet for you. And then you want to find the best personal trainer here in the Twin Cities to work with you every single day. And yes, once you're done with all of that stuff, you're probably going to get to your wellness goal a lot faster than I am. But I'll tell you what, I'm going to start today. And you're going to start a year and a half from Now, which one of us is going to get there faster? That's kind of the mindset we're trying to help people understand is, let's just start with the basics, get everybody on the same page, and build everything we build beyond that from a firm foundation of clarity and alignment at the leadership level. Let's get going.
Mark 21:41
So yeah, I see that I see that a lot. What about companies who say not right, now we've got other fish to fry? And you're saying no, this is your fish? How What are the symptoms that they're experiencing?
Mike Paton 21:53
Yeah. And so what I'll do there is I'll I'll draw two buckets on the whiteboard, and I say, Okay, I want you to tell me all the other stuff you're working on now. And in one bucket, I'm going to call this reactive. And in the other bucket, I'm going to call this proactive, and we're going to put all the stuff you're working on in one of these two buckets. And what they see is 80% of the reactive stuff they're busy with right now would be prevented by core processes, documented, simplified, and followed by all is cleaning up messes, saving broken client relationships, because we didn't keep our promises to our clients, etc, etc, etc. So again, it's all mindset change. For me, Mark and I, you know, you're far enough in your implementer journey, you know this to the first couple of years, you're just, you're just maniacally focused on teaching the tools, right. And it's a very practical tactical implementation that we're doing. What you'll learn, after years and years of doing this is it's mostly psychology. Once the mindset is right, the steps are pretty straightforward and pretty easy. And so almost always I'm finding we're dealing with psychological barriers, not not logistical barriers.
Mark 23:10
Yeah, it's interesting what you say love the connection to the productivity. And so the lens you put out there was very clear that we're we are fighting the same battle, trying to win the same war. I would like you to get out of the business of reacting, I would like you to start thinking what are the things we could take proactive advantage of, and that is actually one of the five leadership abilities we teach. And that is the prediction concept. And I talked about at the the US conference a few weeks ago, and it was a great endeavor to really plug in those five leadership abilities, which of course, was simplify, delegate predict systemize and structure, but specifically thinking about prediction, how two types of prediction long term and short term and everything beyond 90 days is the long term. But But thinking very simply about prediction. And it is, is a very simple, it's very powerful when you think of strategy, and where are we going and all the long term things. And I think a lot of people, the visionaries love to plug into that part portion of prediction, which is really good. But there's a much more mundane portion of prediction that is every bit as powerful. And that is taking a minute and looking forward and seeing what problems might be coming. Are we going to maybe have to spend some money, or we may be going to have a slow period or a busy period? Are we maybe going to hire somebody who if we build a process now. We'll be happy on day one, right? And stay with us for years to come. So what can we do in the future now by thinking ahead,
Mike Paton 24:42
be at well, and in short term prediction, one of the things we're talking about is is getting right to the root of what's causing the issue rather than solving the symptom. What a great short term predicting team solves issues at the root and so you In many organizations, the root of all of their issues is a lack of process work, or a lack of clarity and alignment around what the core processes are, what the major steps are, whether or not we should. And so, so you know, it all comes full circle, it's those five leadership abilities are mind boggling, because I don't think you can be great at predicting if you're not great at systemising. And I think you're a lot better at systemising. When you're predicting and you realize one of the reasons you can't make as much progress as you want is your best and most experienced people get, keep getting sucked into the day to day remember, systemising is about getting the day to day stuff, done the right and best way every time without you having to be there to coach people, mentor people, nudge him back on the rails when you see him getting off track or clean up the messes that are made when the work isn't done, right. And so, you know, the number one problem we hear our clients complaining about in the early stages of the journey are we don't have enough time, we don't have enough time. I'm miserable, because I'm spending all my time on stuff I don't love and I'm not passionate about anymore, not enough time. Well there, let's redirect that time to the kind of work that is going to constantly drive your business forward. And if you feel like you're spending all your time just treading water, oh, nobody wants to do that. Unless, of course, the idea of working at the front desk of a bureau of Motor Vehicles appeals to you. In which case tread water all you want.
Mark 26:44
Well, you actually that was great. And you hit on some gold that I want to highlight again. And it is this idea of getting to the root. And the challenge I see. And there's two reasons that people don't get to the root two reasons people don't solve Well, one is because we don't have access to the right information, too much complexity, don't it? Maybe it's an intellectual problem that we're not able to see through it. The the other that's where people most often oftentimes think their issue solving is going wrong. The other way they're going wrong, is they're simply unwilling to go deeper, and look at the next level down. And a lot of that next level down lives in those leadership abilities. So are we are we not challenging the simplification, the simplicity of our marketing? Right? So we've got five target markets, and no one's willing to say, What if we had two or three or one? But systemization? The process? That's another blind spot. People just sit there in the meetings, and they're like, I don't know what's going on? What's wrong with Joey, and we hired five people in a row, and no one can do this work. We we gotta hire better? Yeah. Well, that's not the issue, if you can, if you can see that the systems and process were a root here, you could solve it proactively.
Mike Paton 27:55
Yeah, I think it's fear. Mark. I mean, I the what we're talking about as fear, we're talking about emotive responses to logical needs, that drive the logic out of the equation, right. And so So here's an example, my best salesperson is a cultural train wreck. But she's overperforming the rest of the sales team by a margin of two to one. So I can't fix that problem. The pain of fixing that problem is much greater than the pain of tolerating the problem. And you know, what's the quotation? The, the hell, you know, is always better than the hell you don't know. And that's what I see people choosing all the time, the only fix to that is reducing one's reliance on a high performing asset. By systemising, the organization make sure everybody's selling in the way that's most likely to get consistently exceptional results. And then that renders any one person far less vital to the future of the organization, your ability to grow and scale. And so, you know, we can have these logical conversations all day long. But at the end of the day, we've got to help our clients get over the fear of making important change to create a different future than the president that's driving them a little crazy right
29:19
now.
Mark 29:20
You're exactly right. The fear the fear aspect of that. And it's easy to point to the fear aspect when it comes to people. There's not a visionary on the planet. That's probably a couple but statistically speaking, most visionaries are willing to admit that when it comes to looking at people issues, they like to avoid that they would rather have an integrator who can do that. But still people issues are still avoided by many leadership teams, and the healthiest ones get right to it. And they ask those bold questions early in the process. All all of those tools need to be at your fingertips to get to the root. And this the, I guess the point and the takeaway from this conversation is huge. should make sure that you have process and systemization, as you have to have access to that as a possible root cause. And you have to be able to ask that question quickly. And it's probably ironically, I mean, most people wouldn't even think to associate fear and process but I think you're exactly right. People don't really know where to start to feel like it's going to change the bureaucracy and the culture, and it's so big, it's too much. They avoid it.
Mike Paton 30:23
Yeah, well, and it it. You know, it's, it's interesting, because I think a lack of clarity and alignment around process creates a lot of people problems, for sure. So you've got a mid manager who's got too much turnover in his or her team. And the immediate assumption the leadership team draws is that person must be a terrible manager. What may be the root cause is that team of people does work that spans three distinct core processes for the organization. And the leadership team isn't on the same page with the right and best way to train them all in. So if my direct reports comes to me, and asked me how to do the work, I tell them this way, but then if they happen to get in a conversation with the CFO in the lunch room, the CFO gives us different information. So all of a sudden, you've created this, you know, a, just wing it. And if you get the good result, we're good. And so I see that happen all the time, where weakness in one component that isn't people, drives a leadership team to the conclusion that it is a people problem. And that's why I say all six of the components are really vital. Skipping any of them is a terrible idea and skipping processes is, is profoundly not in your company's best interest, for sure.
Mark 31:49
But it has a tendency to be kind of the third quarter, like literally third quarter, oftentimes, but it's the third quarter initiative, because we're doing a lot of other things first, getting getting people figured out the structure figured out and a lot of the messaging and getting aligned on so many levels, that it's you know, it's it's kind of the next phase of that. And I think it creates some inertia like, Well, we've kicked it down the road, three quarters, let's kick it down the road. Three more. Right?
Mike Paton 32:11
Well, and this is this is another Jim Collins book and quotation good is the enemy of great, yeah. So if you've, if you've strengthened the people component, and you're clear on the vision, and you're looking at data that that is, is trending more positively than it was when you started implementing process seems like a lot of work. And not particularly necessary, because things are better. And so, again, that's the mission Lisa and I are on is to help entrepreneurs and leadership team members not give up at the end of the third quarter and, and finish the game strong, and live the play another day.
Mark 32:52
It's a lot of the things that a lot of the coaching and things that I consume, and they all consume and provide, they all kind of resonate on each other. It might be running coaching, it might be dog training, it might be parenting, as we know very well that parenting flows into our leadership approach. But as a running coach, the Nike Nike app I use for running, he talks about the third quarter of a run, that is it, that's whenever we get slow. That's when everybody gets slow. It's not the finish line. And it's you know, it's it's so close to the end. But it's it's kind of the dead spot. And I there is an arc to this. And I think the third quarter of our mindset is our opportunity to kind of feel like is this race over yet? We've been doing a lot of stuff kind of tired. I've been working pretty hard. And it's one of the more challenging mental pieces of the process to hit you at that spot. Yeah, so we're having to kind of get people excited about it at a time when they don't want to be excited about stuff.
Mike Paton 33:45
Yeah, and and you know, I sometimes will use a building a home analogy is you get your home, ready to move into. With the work we do and focused a vision building day one vision building day two, and you know, the teaching that happens in the first couple quarters after that the LMA work and, and that sort of thing. Doing the process work is kind of like get your certificate of occupancy. Right? If the government won't let you move into your house, all the work you did, up until now what is right, and then and then you can build. On top of that. That's why I say to grow and scale an organization you need process and an EOS implementation without the core process work brings you a lot of structure, discipline and accountability outside of process work. This just finishes it off it makes the house ready to live in day in and day out a brand new person to your organization is going to be clearer, more confident, get more consistent direction, more likely to stay and develop into a manager themselves and maybe a leader Someday, if you built your organization on a firm foundation of a strong process component, and so I like the analogy, I like the fourth quarter analogy, because I think that's exactly right. Let's win this game. And then let's move on and build on top of that.
Mark 35:17
It's, I think that's exactly right. And I, we say so many times 2828 2900 100. I don't know that that cuts through as much as it could, because many organizations in my organizations in the past like we are process driven, and we need to convert to a process driven culture. And that means we're going to create a process process, which is a flag, I realized, and that is, this is the way that anybody who has a process can get it started and documented and completed, which is well intended. But I think it creates the sense of overwhelm that every hundreds of processes spinning up at all kinds of places, and suddenly it's our it's our love languages process. But it's it becomes unwieldy as opposed to 20%. That's 1/5. There surface, the process we're intentionally putting aside so we can get our hands around what matters most
Mike Paton 36:10
well, and lets you know what, one other technique I'll use to break through any latent resistance in the process is I'll say, Listen, I appreciate that you feel like EOS has already brought structured discipline and accountability in the organization. However, what you need to know is all we did was implement a process for running an entrepreneurial company called Eos.
36:34
Yeah, yeah. So
Mike Paton 36:35
we it does. We don't it's just a framework. I mean, it's 2080. Right? We don't we don't prescribe what your goals ought to be. We don't get into the weeds on how to build your strategy. We just gave you a framework for meeting more efficiently and productively solving issues more efficiently and productively crafting and communicating a vision more efficiently and productively. That's all EOS is. So you're you're you've embraced, bringing structure discipline, clarity, alignment and accountability to the leadership team. Why don't you give the rest of the organization the same thing by documenting the rest of your core processes? There's an argument that may win the day.
Mark 37:17
As a way you said it sounded great, because what I say a lot is is it possible or is it impossible? Is it crazy to think that it might be too hard to work here for those people? And, and the piece you just gave me to add to that was, it was before EOS It was too hard to lead and run this company wasn't? And now it's manageable? Yeah, let's let's let's take those take it to everybody else. Yeah, that's what they need. So it's Yeah, work here. Bingo. Well, that's that I didn't I didn't want to cut us off. So Sue, but I felt like a guy so nice.
Mike Paton 37:51
Well, I know it's a it's a we could talk for two and a half hours about process, especially now that I'm deep in the creative. Yeah. journey. But But yeah, I you know, that's the one thing I want listeners to hear is, you know, you got two patented entrepreneurs geeking out about process, and we're doing it for a reason.
Mark 38:16
And we didn't originally like no, no, how many years ago like process? Oh, no. Listen, for
Mike Paton 38:24
my EOS journey has been self medicating 100% of the time I got just trying to fix every mistake I ever made. Right. Yeah. So So, you know, there's a reason we're so passionate about this, because we patently believe it's going to help people get what they want live better lives, be less frustrated, feel less stuck. When the talent war, you know, there's a million common problems that will be fixed. If you can really nail this.
Mark 38:55
And hopefully this, this conversation will get people off the fence who are on the fence, but there'll be people who want even more and maybe need even need more help. When can we look forward to seeing the book?
Mike Paton 39:05
Yeah, so the book is early stage we a manuscript is due at the end of 2021 anticipated publication date fall early fall of 2022 at this point, and and keep tuning into EOS worldwide.com for updates and public speaking events where Lisa and I will be sharing some of the stuff we're learning in advance of the publication but but the book comes out fall at 22.
Mark 39:34
credible man, I'm really looking forward to it for sure and continuing the conversations on this. So did we miss anything? Anything you want to drop into the mix that we forgot? No, I
Mike Paton 39:43
think that was a really fun conversation. So
Mark 39:46
I'm good. Thank you. Well, given all of what you know, and you experience your entire patent being what is your passionate plea to entrepreneurs right
39:55
now,
Mark 39:56
right this minute?
Mike Paton 39:57
Yeah, it's very simply if you're not getting everything thing you want from your business or your life, it's not your lot in life to live this way. make some changes to the way things are working. So you are getting what you want. Entrepreneurs invest too much time, money and energy to not feel that way. And that's what I want for you.
Mark 40:17
I love that the stakes are so high. Don't forget how Don't forget how much sacrifice has happened and how much is still coming. Make it pay off, get what you want out of your life. well paid, it's great. It's a, it's awesome. It's a privilege to spend time together and grateful for everything you shared. If someone wants to continue the conversation with you follow you know what's going on in your world. How do they find you?
Mike Paton 40:39
Yeah, so certainly post my email in your show notes. But EOS worldwide calm is a website where you can find me directly or a local EOS implementer. Or any more information about the stuff we've talked about today. Awesome stuff,
Mark 40:55
and I'm grateful as always. That's our time for today. Thanks so much for tuning in. And listen to this. If this was valuable, get in the hands of other people who you think also might find it valuable. It's no good if no one gets a chance to hear it. We love your feedback, all of it good and bad. Everything you can give us it's so valuable for us to be our best or grip for all of it. Until next time, we will see you on the next show. You're doing it wrong with me, Mark Anderson.
VO 41:22
This is you're doing it wrong with Mark Henderson Leary for more episodes and to subscribe, go to lyric.cc