Debra Chantry-Taylor: Why Visionaries Blow Up Their Own Businesses & How EOS Stops it!

Debra Chantry-Taylor  00:00

Here's the really uncomfortable truth, some visionaries are actually blowing up their own businesses. Many business leaders feel like their days are eight hours of work and eight hours of worry. It's often because you don't have the right measurables, the right numbers let you sleep knowing the pulse of the business is healthy. Slowing your Chaos doesn't slow your growth. It actually fuels it.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  00:29

Hello and welcome to another episode of Better Business, Better Life. I'm your host, Debra Chantry-Taylor, and I'm passionate about helping entrepreneurs live their ideal life through creating a better business. Today I am in studio on my own, and I'm going to be talking about something that might actually sting a little bit if you're a bit of a visionary. And yes, you know who you are, you're one of us. So you're the big ideas person, you're the Rainmaker, you're the dreamer. You can see opportunities that no one else even notices but and that's your superpower. But here's the really uncomfortable truth, some visionaries are actually blowing up their own businesses, and not because they're bad leaders, not because they don't care, but because that same energy and constant stream of ideas, the things that built the business, can actually stall it or even start to break it. So let's start by explaining what's a visionary in EOS language, the visionary is the person who has 20 ideas before breakfast. Can sell almost anything to almost anyone, and they spot trends way before they hit the mainstream. But visionaries can also create chaos, because when there's no filter, every idea feels urgent. Every week becomes a new project, every month a new pivot, and your team doesn't know what's priority one, because there are five of them, and they change constantly. And look, I'm speaking from a place of experience with other businesses and seeing this happen, but also I'm a visionary myself. I'm very fortunate I can also be an integrator, but it's very rare that somebody can do both. And my natural tendency is towards being a visionary. And it means that I have lots of ideas, lots and lots of ideas, and I think they're all fabulous, and sometimes they are, but more often than not, they aren't. So the visionary trap. What is the visionary trap? Here's what I see often in myself and in my clients. Visionaries launch initiatives before finishing the last one. I'm a classic one for this. I'm Mike Colby. I'm a nine Quick Start, which means I tend to get, I love getting involved in starting an initiative. Not so great at follow through. And so we're launching initiatives before finishing the last one. We actually create a whiplash culture. That means some people are running hard in one direction and then swerving because of a new idea, the team's energy gets drained fixing yesterday's half baked ideas, while tonight, today's Next Big Thing rolls in. It's like driving down the motorway with your toddler grabbing the steering wheel every time they see a cool billboard. Fun. Maybe sustainable, definitely not. So I want you to just have a cause and think, in the last 90 days, how many new initiatives did you start, and how many of them actually got finished? So here's the thing, data equals freedom and confidence. This is where the new EOS book, which is called EOS data, really nails it. So for those of you that don't know, EOS have actually started writing a book that is much more practical and pragmatic for each of the six key components. And the new book is called data. So in this data book, it talks about the fact that for visionaries, data equals freedom and confidence. So when you've got great data, and you've got a really clear scorecard. You don't have to micromanage or constantly meddle. You can stop living with that nagging fear of I have to keep track of everything myself, or it will all go sideways. So it gives you confidence, because you know your team is accountable and trustworthy, and it gives you freedom, because you can finally think big picture, explore new ideas at the right time and even take a proper holiday without worrying that the wheels will fall off. And this, in itself, is a huge mindset, mindset shift. So if you think about it, data equals freedom and confidence, and this is where the EOS data book really nails it. It says that for visionaries, data equals freedom and confidence. And this is the latest EOS book. It is called data, harness your numbers to go from uncertain to unstoppable. It's part of the traction library, and it's part of the series that EOS is doing around each of the six key components in EOS and really deep diving into EOS mastery. So what The Book says is, it says that, hey, when you've got great data and a really clear scorecard, you don't have to micromanage or constantly meddle. You can stop living with that nagging fear of, I have to keep track of everything myself, or it will all go sideways. And it gives you confidence and freedom. By confidence you know that your team is accountable and trustworthy. So. Freedom means you can finally think big picture, explore the new ideas at the right time, and even take a proper holiday without worrying that the wheels will fall off. And this, for us visionaries, is a huge mindset shift, because most visionaries don't realise they're clinging to control because they don't trust their data. I have a bit of a story here the Monday I've been thinking guy. So I had a client whose team dreaded Mondays because the visionary would start every week with I've been thinking translation of that means I've got a whole new project, usually replacing something half finished. When we introduce a scorecard and disciplined rocks. Those random Monday ideas went into a into a future parking lot, the issues list on the VTO, and they focused on five key measurables and three company rocks. After 90 days of focus, the revenue jumped by 20% and the turnover had halved. And it really was just about having that laser sharp focus, the vision. We admitted I didn't realise how much chaos I was causing, and so by that laser sharp focus on those rocks and those five key measurables, the team was actually able to really focus, but also the visionary could see where things were going. They could see the accountability. Could see exactly what people were achieving. Another line from the data book really hit me as well. Many business leaders feel like their days are eight hours of work and eight hours of worry. So if that's you, and you're lying awake at 2am thinking about sales calls, late jobs or that marketing spend, it's often because you don't have the right measurables, and that's why data is your anxiety reducer. The right numbers let you sleep knowing the pulse of the business is healthy. The right numbers free you from micromanaging or constantly firefighting. So another little thing to think about here, what's the one thing that keeps you up at 2am is it on your scorecard as a measurable and if not, why not? Imagine having that number on your scorecard and knowing that you can actually check in with that know exactly what's going on. That is the confidence that creates the freedom. Here's the fix, harnessing visionary energy. Here's how to stop blowing up your business and start really scaling it. So number one, commit to rocks. Choose those three to seven priorities every quarter, and stick to them. No more shiny object pivots mid quarter. This is really important, not only for you, but also for the team. If the team is laser sharp, focused, less is more, three to seven maximum things, they know what they have to focus on, but they have to know that you're not going to change in that 90 days or something else. Number two is to get an integrator, or someone who can play that role.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  07:53

So the person that is the integrator, their idea is to the idea of this person, I should say, is to be the steady hand, who says, Yeah, great idea, but let's park it until next quarter. So they're ultimately responsible for the business plan, for the profit and loss, and they're looking at it and saying, Hey, look, we've already got our three to seven rocks of the quarter. We don't need to add something else. And they're not there to stop those ideas, but they're there to filter them and say, Hey, let's park that on the parking lot, in the VTO, in the the the issues section, and then let's have a look at it next 90 days and see if we can actually focus on that really, really important role. And I cannot stress enough how important it is to have somebody who acts as that filter between the visionary and the rest of the team. Number three is to build a scorecard that predicts, not just reports. So often I find dashboards, they are looking in the rear view mirror. They're looking at things that have already happened. They're just reporting on them. We want to have five to 15 measurables that give you early warning signs. They should be leading indicators, things that you know if you're not hitting those right now. What is that going to look like in the future. There's a skill involved in doing this. But the great thing about the data book is it talks about the things you could potentially look at, and again, if you think about it, what are the things that keeping you awake at night? What are the things that would really tell you that something bad is going to happen if we don't do something about this? Now, it's a bit like the dashboard on a car. Number four is use clarity breaks. So I highly recommend these step out of the whirlwind, give yourself space to think, filter your ideas and bring only the best ones forward at the right time. So a clarity break is where you take yourself away from the business, away from all the distractions, away from the fighting fires, away from your team, and you are sitting there in complete silence in an environment that you enjoy. So for some of us, it's sitting on a beach, it's sitting in nature, it's complete silence. It's away from all the distractions. For others, it will be a busy cafe and you enjoy having the noise around you, but it's not your normal environment, and you do not have any of the technology or people distractions. Dollars that you're getting at work. The idea is that you're then sitting there in that complete silence, or in that environment where you've got no other distractions, and you're thinking very clearly about what the business actually needs. I was actually just with a client today, and we talked about the fact that they get triggered. And when they get triggered, like myself, they go off the handle, and so they tend to react and come from a space of firefighting rather than a space of clarity. And we talked about the way that I deal with this now, when I recognise it is to go right, I know that I'm triggered. I know that I am elevated. I know something's going on. I need to take myself away, and I need to spend some quiet time really processing what is going on, and then thinking about what needs to be done, rather than just blasting things at the team. Number five is an idea filter. And so, you know, use a simple matrix. You've got things like the Eisenhower matrix that talk about, you know, Is it urgent and important? Is it important but not urgent? But also, is it high impact, low effort, if it's, you know, if it's high impact, low effort, yes, absolutely, it's worthwhile doing. If it's low impact, high effort, then drop it. And the idea is that before you even bring those ideas into the team, into the integrator, you've already, in your own mind, decided whether or not it meets the criteria for even being considered. So another little story. I had another visionary who was an amazing lady full of fantastic ideas, really changing the industry that she actually worked in. But again, she was one of those people who had a million ideas. And when I actually spoke with her leadership team, it was quite a large leadership team, way bigger than I would normally suggest. They were all working 50, 6070, some 80 hour weeks trying to keep up with everything. And it's like, why? What is going on? Why is this taking so long for you to do the work that shouldn't take this long? And what we discovered was the visionary was coming in with these great ideas every week, into their weekly leadership team meeting. And of course, everybody took these ideas as being gospel, if so and so says we must do them. We must do them. So they're running around trying to bring all these things together, trying to get all these projects done, and as I said earlier, what happens is they haven't even finished one project yet, and they're onto the next project. And for some of them, they're managing 34567, projects. That's impossible. As a human being, we can only handle two or three things at one time. So as a company, we may have three to seven rocks, three to seven priorities, but each individual really shouldn't have more than two or three things they're actually focusing on. And so with this particular visionary, we bought an integrator into the business, somebody who only worked part time they were doing one day a week, really just acting as that filter between the visionary and the team and meeting with the leadership team on a regular basis to hold them accountable make sure they were doing the right things. But the most important role for this particular visionary was somebody who was not afraid to kind of push back and go. Great idea. Why not go and do some more research on that? Well, that's a great idea. Let's park it and come back to in a couple of weeks time. And the idea was that the integrator was working with the visionary not to dismiss those ideas, but to really flesh them out and make sure they were truly priorities before they got to the next quarterly so they could then introduce in the next 90 days again, because some of these ideas will be genius. They will absolutely change the world, but not all of them. And if we try to do all of them, we'll end up doing a whole bunch of half baked things. We'll miss out on that one thing that really makes a difference. Another visionary that I worked with went on what we called an idea diet. They limited themselves to one new initiative per quarter, and everything else went onto the parking lot or the issues list in the long in the video. And guess what happened? They doubled the revenue in a year. The team stopped burning out, and the visionary finally took a three week overseas holiday without checking emails every two hours. So again, ask yourself this, if you cut half your new ideas for the next 90 days. What could your team achieve with that focus? It really comes back to the less is more or less, but obsess. This was actually given to us as a saying by Sam Keats, one of our EOS implementers, based over in Perth, and we've always talked about less is more in Eos, but the less. But obsess means your team knows exactly what to focus on, they can truly obsess about getting those three things done, and then when they do that, they're going to really unlock the gold that comes from those ideas. The next question is around, when to let go? You know, some visionaries secretly love the chaos because it makes them feel needed. And again, I can speak from experience, you know, it's easy to be the one person everybody comes to, because they need your advice, and it does make you feel a little bit sort of, you know, special. However, you've got to let go of control to actually unlock that growth. So when you embrace data and scorecards, you get the freedom to do what you do. Best you give your team the real clarity around what they are accountable for. So your rocks gives them the clarity in terms of the projects. The scorecards helps to keep them accountable. And I always say that, you know, scorecards shouldn't be set in stone. They should be looked at every 90 days. We should be saying, is this now the right scorecard for a finger on the pulse for me as the visionary in terms of what the business is doing. And so there's business as usual things on there that are the scorecard measurables that come from the accountability chart. But then there's also the scorecard measurables that are tied into our rocks as well. If you do this and you have the right data and the right scorecards, you can reduce your eight hours of worry at night to almost zero. So lots of things in there around scorecards and data, but it really is data gives the visionary confidence and the freedom, but it also gives your integrator the same thing as well. The integrator can keep the team accountable for achieving what they need to achieve. So if you nail your rocks, your three to seven priorities for the quarter, you nail your scorecard to drive business as usual, and the rocks, then that integrator has something that they can actually use to hold the team accountable to actually achieving that. So ask yourself two questions, are you driving growth, or are you driving your team mad? Are you creating vision or chaos? Whichever it is, the good news is you can change this. So here are my three key takeaways. I always ask my guests for three things they can actually take away with them. So number one is to use that data for freedom. Build a scorecard that tells you what's really happening, so you can really let go. Number two, focus. Commit to rocks, 90 day pieces of work, and really commit to three to seven, no more than one or two or three for one person. And say not now to those shiny distractions, pop them onto the VTO long term issues list. Pop them onto the parking lot. Don't get distracted by them, and number three, delegate and elevate. So work with an integrator or someone who can really filter and execute your best ideas. They're not going to stop you from having the great ideas. What they will do is they'll take them, they'll make sure that they're actually fully baked and ready to come into the business so the team can focus on them at the right time. So if you're a visionary, and this has hit a nerve, and let's remember that I'm a visionary too, all this stuff has happened to me still does happen to me. I'm not perfect, and I make the same mistakes, but if it's hit a nerve, then please feel free to email me. My email address is Debra, debra@businessaction.com.au.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  17:42

I'd love to hear your stories, and maybe I can share some practical tips. And remember, slowing your Chaos doesn't slow your growth. It actually fuels it. If you want to get hold of a copy of the data book from EOS worldwide, then by all means, also drop me an email. We'll make sure you get hold of a copy of it. I hope that's been helpful. I'm going to share a few of these things from the various EOS books that we've got around. The mastery series, the scorecard is one of my favourite tools. I have to say, when I first saw the title data for the book, I thought, really a whole book on data that will be boring as batshit. But it hasn't been. It's been absolutely fantastic. It's really practical. It's really pragmatic. And the great thing is, it's gonna sound silly. You won't be to see this unless you're watching on video, but it's full of lots it's full of lots of pictures, and it's really easy to read, so you can literally read this in a couple of days and just absorb all that gold. You can give it to your integrator, ask them to adopt it into the business, but really remember that your data is going to give you the freedom and the confidence for your visionary and for your integrator to really accelerate that growth in your business. Hope you've enjoyed the episode. Look forward to seeing you again next week. Thank you.