THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF STRUCTURE

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the negligent, alcoholic Farmer Jones is overthrown by his animals, who vow to create a society devoid of structure and rules where all animals can be free and equal. What they fail to consider is that society needs structure to function, and if its leaders fail to intentionally install the right amount of structure, people will make it up as they go. And like an annoying vine, excess structure will creep in until it chokes out society and its members. In the words of Aristotle, “nature abhors a vacuum.” It’s on us leaders to fill that vacuum in an organized manner before nature turns it into a chaotic mess.

Animal Farm is about politics, which I don’t care about. What I do care about is you getting what you want from your business, and I understand why you might throw out the org charts, procedures, meetings, and other stuff that bogged you down when you were in the big-company world. But you can’t stop there. You have to fill the resulting vacuum with the right amount of structure, or your business will slowly grind to a halt as people build multiple, conflicting systems to help them do their jobs. This is where EOS® comes in. EOS®, contrary to popular belief, is not a system to scientifically manage and control a business and its employees. EOS® done properly is the 20% of structure that takes 80% of the noise out of your organization. It doesn’t control employees; it equips them to be their best, so the employees, not the system, are the stars.

My assumption is you want great people to drive your success. If, on the other hand, you want to get by with mediocre employees and let your system drive your success (a perfectly reasonable strategy), you should try something other than EOS®. But be careful who you hire, or you might end up like the farm animals – serving dictatorial pigs.