The Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO)

Welcome back to the Business Builder newsletter. We're continuing the EOS series, and in today's issue, I'll share my experience with implementing the V/TO tool, in my business.

Estimated read time: 3 minutes.

What is the Vision/Traction Organizer?

The Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO) is probably the most important document you’ll complete if you run your business with the EOS.

Here’s the origin story straight from Gino Wickman’s “Traction”

“I first learned the power of simplicity in planning from my previous business partner, Ed Escobar. Along with my dad, Ed and I used to co-own and run a real estate sales training company. Once, Ed told me about the time prior to my joining the organization, when he had presented a quite lengthy business plan to my dad.

After the first look, my dad said, “Can you condense it to 10 pages?” A little frustrated, Ed replied, “Sure.” After some work he came back with a 10-page business plan. My dad liked it, but wondered aloud, “Could you condense it to two?” A little more perturbed, Ed complied once again. After some more work, the two-page business plan was created. When my dad’s request to condense it to one page proved impossible, the idea of a two-page business plan was born."

Creating a Vision Everyone Buys Into

The simplified approach to strategic planning is usually the best approach.

What is vision? It’s clearly defining who and what your organization is, where it’s going, and how it’ll get there.

Unfortunately, it’s common for different leaders to have different variations of the company vision.

The goal is to get the team on the same page, and by answering the following eight questions and filling out the V/TO, you will clarify exactly what your company vision is.

Page 1: Your Vision.

1. What are your core values?

This is all about “who” the company is and its culture. It is essential to define who fits the organization and who doesn’t.

2. What is your core focus?

Frequently referred to as ‘mission,’ ‘vision,’ or ‘voice,’ it's all about defining why the company exists and identifying your superior skill.

Once defined, the combination of these two things will help you to stay focused.

3. What is your 10-year target?

Businesses can select the time horizon – five to 25 years. However, typically, clients want a horizon of 10 years.

Once your 10-year target is defined, everyone will see the organization's big picture – where it’s going.

4. What is your marketing strategy?

This sets out how you sell your product or service and involves four simple steps:

• Identifying the target market – your ideal list of customers (also known as “The List”).

• Defining the most attractive message for that target market.

• Capturing your proven process which is the way you provide your service or product to your customers.

• Coming up with a guarantee where you pinpoint an industry-wide problem and solve it.

5. What is your three-year picture?

Here you paint a picture of what the company will look like within three years. This helps everyone to see where the business will be and how they are part of it.

Once you have a detailed, compelling 3-Year Picture, you move onto the second page of your V/TO – Traction.

Page 2: Traction.

The Traction page consists of three divided sections that help you execute the vision you have created.

6. What is your one-year plan?

Once you have a compelling 3-Year Picture, you take one-third of that picture to create your 1-Year Plan.

7. What are your quarterly Rocks?

Here you set three to seven priorities for the business for the next 90 days.

8. What are your issues?

The final component of the Traction page is a list of all the issues the business is facing that need to be addressed.

I’ll keep sharing the EOS method as we continue the series. Next week’s focus will be on the Three-Step Process Documenter.