Trust is the foundation for every relationship, and it has been a very important ingredient in our journey with EOS® for the last two years and in our last 10 years in business in general. Building trust is a 24/7 opportunity. And part of building that trust is to have some form of planning.
If you make this a commitment for your leadership team, you will grow together as a team and be able to practice vulnerability—a muscle that you have to learn to use continually. This is a great time for everyone in the leadership to receive feedback and be vulnerable and kind.
Building the foundation
One of my favorite books is a little fable by Patrick Lin called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. If you've never read this book, I would encourage you to pick it up and read it.
In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Partick shows the different stages of dysfunction. At the base of this pyramid is trust. Trust is the foundation for every relationship.
The five dysfunctions on the pyramid are:
- Result
- Accountability
- Commitment
- Conflict
- Trust
Quarterly and annual planning
Every business should be doing some form of annual or quarterly planning. In our business, our pulse is three quarterly meetings and one annual meeting. With EOS®, they give you an agenda, which is great because you have that framework.
We spend a lot of time on trust-building activities. So, when we showed up for our annual planning session in 2021, we were introduced to the “one thing commitment” exercise.
One thing commitment
The one thing commitment is an exercise that you do during your annual planning that gives you clarity on what you should really focus on in the upcoming year. It helps you craft what your focus should be based on the feedback given to you by your team members.
We started this with our leadership team in 2021.
Starting one thing commitments
Start by taking one person from your team and putting them in the hot seat. Everyone else on the team takes a moment and writes down the most admirable trait of that team member and the one thing that they would like for them to start or stop doing in the next year.
When you’re finished writing your feedback for each team member, you’ll begin going around the room and telling the person in the hot seat what their most admirable trait is. You will then go back around the room and begin telling them what you want them to start or stop doing in the next year. You’ll do this for each team member, one at a time.
Example: Sally, your most admirable trait is your ability to teach others. Sally, in 2023, I need you to start delegating tasks so you can focus more on doing what you love.
Deciding on your one thing commitment
Now that your team has given you feedback on your one thing commitment, you will take some time to absorb what they’ve shared with you and start working on writing down your commitment for the next year.
Each of you will share your commitment with the team and start working towards making that commitment real. Growing together with your team is important.
Being honest, vulnerable and doing what’s right for the greater good
Receiving feedback is a muscle that you have to learn to use continually in order to receive it graciously. You learn along the way that being kind is really about being honest, and you can be honest without being vulnerable. There's an element to honesty that requires vulnerability, and vulnerability requires risk.
Just saying the honest thing, like just putting it out there matter-of-factly, really doesn't take much risk, but it just takes a commitment to being like, I'm going to be kind by being honest, but I'm also going to be vulnerable. And that's why it feels very risky. You're trying to own all the emotions of everyone, how they're going to take it, and how they're going to feel about it.
EOS® is all about chasing the greater good. Do what’s right for the greater good of the company and for your relationships.
Following up on your commitment
Each quarter, check in with your team to see how they are doing with their commitment. So you will be checking in and giving an update on it every quarter, when you come together again for your planning.
And it doesn't need to be in depth, and they don't ask you to do an in depth update. It can be as simple as stating “same,” “better,” or “worse” after you read your one thing commitment.
Then, at your annual planning meeting, you’ll revisit your commitment and give an update to the team.
If you want to learn more about crafting one-thing commitments for growth in 2023, check out Episode 111: Annual Planning 2022: Crafting One-Thing Commitments For Growth In 2023.
