(EOS Episode 24) From Vision To Traction: Building Olympic-Level Execution In Your Company

This time on EOS Traction for Your Workplace Goals, Certified EOS Implementer Michele Mollard challenges the myth that great outcomes just happen and show how Olympic-style preparation, clear structure, and a healthy team create real traction. 

We map vision to execution with EOS tools, accountability, and peer support so leaders can trade overwhelm for momentum.

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EOS-Traction for Your Workplace Goals is a Livemic Communications production.

Transcript

Why Outcomes Aren’t Accidents

Richard Piet 0:01

I'm Richard Piet. Welcome back to EOS. Traction for your workplace goals. Are you achieving your workplace goals? I would venture to say that if you click the play button on this, there's a chance maybe you're not. And that's why Michele Millard is here, certified EOS implementer, talking about traction for your workplace goals. Hi, Michele.

Michele Mollard 0:27

Hey, Richard.

Richard Piet 0:28

All right. So think about this. And if you're not an athlete, then maybe it isn't something you've thought about recently or ever, but the Olympics happen and Olympians show up and they just play, right? No. That's not the way it works. There is a system, there's a strategy, and there's accountability and the people involved in all of that, and that's what we're talking about today. Help us understand that analogy, Michele.

The Olympian Analogy Explained

Michele Mollard 1:00

Yeah. So, Richard, thank you very much for uh joining me today in this. Uh I'm actually calling from uh Montana in this uh series that we're talking about. So it also gets you in that kind of Olympian winter sports uh world in my brain. Uh and so this is where it sparked from is yeah, you hit it nail on the head, right? That the Olympians do not just show up, right? There is, if you've heard me talk about a 10-year target, there's 10 years, 20 years, 30 years in the playing, right, or in the making, excuse me, in the planning, that, you know, you're thinking about it as a six-year-old kid on a race course or on a soccer field or wherever. And, you know, you hear these kids that they'll be playing basketball and they'll shoot the final game, right? They'll shoot the final hoop. And they're like, three, two, one, and they shoot it, right? And they're like, oh, the crowd goes wild. I mean, somebody's playing these series in their heads, right? And so we'll get into a lot more detail, but from that point, they're looking at the final result, and that's great, but so much has to go into preparation of that way beforehand. And that's what I want to talk about today, that it's not just show up and play, or even at six years old, playing out the scenario of success. Neither one of those just work, right?

Richard Piet 2:13

Yeah.

Michele Mollard 2:14

They don't work that way.

Richard Piet 2:15

And and that is often what happens, isn't it? We uh see the final result, or uh, I don't know, I'm thinking about law and order or something, and we see a case get solved in 50 minutes or however long that is. Uh there's a lot that goes on in real life to get to that point. And I think that's true here too, right? We have a goal we have to get to. And maybe we even think we're on our way and we're working at it. But there are steps and planning and and key things that have to take place to get there. And maybe we don't always realize that.

Seeing The Finish, Planning Backward

Michele Mollard 2:57

Yeah, I think that when we're looking from the outside, we don't always realize that. Like I think about um if you've ever watched a duck, right? It's on the water and it's just smooth sailing, but its feet underneath are going like this, right? And so that might be a little bit more spastic than we want it to necessarily be in our lives, in our business, but at the same time, on the surface, we just see smooth, right? And so to wrap our heads around this as business owners or leaders in in organizations, there's a lot of things going on in the background that have to go on in the background to make it look smooth, right? And so there's a lot of planning, there's a lot of training, uh, right. So these athletes aren't just training physically, they're eating well. They're eating from the very beginning, their mental health. Uh, I met a gentleman the other day that is a or an athlete's mental coach. That's all he does, is just the mental side of the game. Um, and just really, really impressive. And I don't think we think about all the moving parts that need to go into making something as grand as an Olympian, right? Uh, or as grand as a fantastically run organization. Uh and so that's kind of what we're talking about here is what is all that planning and and that you need to have certain things along the way. Uh, and I'm I'm excited to share that with everybody today.

Richard Piet 4:10

Yeah. So if you're a duck, you need some strong webbed feet to be paddling away underneath. So what's the equivalent of that in EOS?

From Vision To Structure With EOS

Michele Mollard 4:22

Yeah, the yeah, definitely. And and it's in every business, right? It it starts with a strategic plan, right? It starts with where we're going. Um, and I think that uh in some of these podcasts we even shared, like if I'm trying to go from Michigan to LA, I could just get in a car and drive, but I don't have a plan. And sometimes it takes me a little longer, right? We've talked about that. And so it's really is about that plan, but it's about uh seeing the end result to plan it backwards, right? And so what do we want to dream? What do we want to be? What do we want to feel like in 10 years from now, right? And so think about this Olympian, right? Like, okay, so now they're in their uh 15. Well, I don't even know because you have Olympians that are 15, 16. So play with me in the story. You have a 15-year-old that's thinking about it and they want to go to the Olympics when they're 25, or that's when the next one would be when they might be eligible. Maybe it's 20, but they're working on this 10-year goal uh and all the things that they need to do. And so we can again say, here's the end result, but we have to break that down into much smaller chunks, right? We have to break that down into um, you know, what does year nine look like, or does year eight as we count down uh to that? And I think that's where it matters um from a vision standpoint of what that looks like, right? And so there's many aspects, and I'm excited to get into those too. Uh, but we need to have that vision potentially first to be able to see it, but then we have to put some foundation behind it as we go.

Richard Piet 5:41

And I think that's part of the reason you do what you do, because so many of us, we have the vision, but we don't necessarily have the structure, the strategy, all of that in place, do we?

Building The Right Team And Roles

Michele Mollard 5:57

Yeah, I think that in many companies' instances at a period of time we might. So for the first million, we might, because we can visualize that. Uh, but that might be just in the gate, keeping in the sports analogy, that might just get you to a college athlete, right? It doesn't get you to the Olympic level. And so then when you want to go to the Olympic level, that maybe that's five million, right? So relative terms to these big milestones. Uh, you and I talked about it. I was a high school all American and pretty good at my game when I was a high school American. Then I walked into college and I was one of six other all-Americans on that freshman year. And so that was a whole different game, right? And so then getting back to you, what do we really need? We need to also change who we need on our team, right? And that system that needs to go along with it. And so, uh, again, with the world of EOS, we we need to have accountability. Uh, and we have what's called an accountability chart, uh, which is an org chart on steroids, but it's all about the accountability because I need other people to help me get there, right? So now I'm a college athlete, I have a personal trainer, I have a mental health coach, I have my teammates, I have my parents, right? There's a whole lot of support structures that need to go in there. And so if you take that into a business, many owners think that I've got my vision and I'll just row this boat and I'll just keep rowing harder and rowing harder. And and ultimately, yeah, that'll help. But I want to put a lot more people on this boat. So if my 100% effort and it's it's piled on with even another 20 by three other people, I've got 60% three times two, six, right, three, sixty percent more. So now I'm not rowing right at 100%. I've got 160%, but I'm not doing the effort myself. And so that's what it really is about. It's about uh duplicating and and communicating and bringing a team alongside you uh that is not necessarily the same as you, right? That could be very different in saying, yeah, Michele, you've got the soccer skills to go do that, right? But you don't have the eating skills. I didn't. I was yuck lucky enough for a young athlete to be very, very fit and I could have eaten anything. I got to college and that fitness level goes here. Uh, but that eating had to change, right? And I had to do some different things uh in that. And so there was a nutritionist, right? That would help you figure that piece out.

Richard Piet 8:08

Yeah, I remember those days when you could eat anything.

Michele Mollard 8:11

Yes.

Richard Piet 8:12

Burn it right up. Yeah.

Michele Mollard 8:15

You would. Not so much now.

Richard Piet 8:17

Not so much now. You've talked about the notion of accountability too. What does that really mean? The people rowing behind us, somebody might have an oar out of the water or that there's something not synced up.

Michele Mollard 8:32

Yeah, for sure.

Richard Piet 8:33

Um maybe, maybe.

Michele Mollard 8:35

No, it definitely could, right? I mean, it uh I would say it's often, right? And so sometimes we don't, right? So if you think of a crewing team, right, there it's like synchronized swimming, it's in the same time. Um, and so sometimes it's not. And and even if we work really hard, sometimes it's just not, right? So uh humans are humans and they're having a bad day, they're having a bad quarter, you know, they're going through something personal, right? And so you can't always just think about, I have my team and then they're perfect once. Like it's just an evolution, right? And so the accountability is really about clear expectations, right? And so here's the journey that we're going on, right? The clear vision and then the clear expectations. And then literally saying, here you go. I trust you, I empower you, I believe in you. Um, you know, little nudges, little coaching, little leadership, little management, all of those things have to go into there. I would say that my mindset coach uh when I got to college didn't know me really well yet, right? And so it was like, oh, how do I speak to Michele differently than I speak to we had a college player called Smitty, S-M-I-T-T-Y. And so Smitty was like just wired really, really strong. And I'm a freshman, I'm not wired that strong yet. And so just again, understanding how we at the play that game and understand how our humans operate and how we communicate with them, hold them accountable, keep the circles connected, right, engaged and things of that sort.

Richard Piet 9:53

Some of what you're talking about there is uh I venture to say psychology. Uh I mean, knowing how to talk to Michele versus how to talk to Smitty, this may not be ingrained in the leadership of this organization, right? So EOS has to bring that out, true?

What Accountability Really Looks Like

Michele Mollard 10:14

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's really about team health, uh, right. And so it it it again, there's many sayings like you're only as strong as the weakest link, right? Um and and uh as a team sport for sure, that was the case, business gets a little bit that that analogy breaks down a little bit, but um, in all in all, it's it's still there. And so how do we make sure that we do have that? And so really, you know, EOS is a great place to have tools and strategies and things of that sort. But the underlying meaning of it is if I don't have a healthy, open, honest, cohesive team, that I'm not gonna be able to get there, right? And so Richard and I, you and I know each other very well, and I could share something that'd say, hey, you've got a little hair out of place, you've got something in your teeth, and you'll just relax and and fix it, if you will, right? As opposed to like, who does she think she is, right? Um, and so I think there's part of that that's you know, that's not part of that, that is definitely a part of team health that will be able to get us there. And so we have to build that. And and uh Patrick Lancioni talks about the pyramid of five dysfunctions of a team, right? And he talks about this vulnerability-based trust. And again, I trusted, you know, my weightlifting coach, I can tell you they were um very much in my face. I'll leave it at that. I'm trying to think of the proper word, very much in my face, uh, and just come on, go, go, go, go, right. And if you didn't react to that very well, but vulnerability-based trust. Like I knew that when he literally, I'm not kidding you, he threw 300 pounds on as a squat. And I thought, there's no way I'm gonna be able to do this. You just had to do it once as a max. And I trusted him that he's not gonna hurt me, right? He's not gonna do something I can't do. And so, right. And so it's this vulnerability, this I implicitly put my life, arguably, my body, because I could have broken a lot of things, uh, in your hands because you know and you're expert at what you do, right? And so I think there's part of that is saying, like, sales guy, you're expert at what you do, operations girl, you're excellent at what you do, marketing professional, right? And so we can build this team coming back to your accountability that will help us be able to row that. And I don't have to look back or kind of change those things. And so it's really about all the preparation that we need to do individually, but then how do we guide, lead, and everybody that's on our team mentally, physically? Um, you know, we're not necessarily worried about squatting so much weight, but um, how much are we able to do right as that goes?

Richard Piet 12:29

So someone pushed the play button on this, and maybe that's exactly what they're feeling. They're not sure how to get to this Olympic mode, and it seems overwhelming to them listening to this. Man, I gotta have a system, I gotta have a strategy, I gotta have the right people, and then we gotta have accountability. I don't feel like I'm anywhere close to that. Talk to them for a second and make it clearer.

Trust, Psychology, And Team Health

Michele Mollard 12:57

First of all, I want to say progress over perfection. And so so many of us, even as athletes, uh so many of us, even as first chair violinists, I don't, right? Progress over perfection. How do I just keep getting better one notch at a time? So that is if you do this on the own, just take things in small increments and celebrate the heck out of it. There is a great book out there called The Gap and the Gain. And so as leaders, we're often in the gap. We're often saying, oh, we didn't do this, we didn't do this, but we did all this. Stay in the gain. Uh so a great book in there. Uh selfishly is a plug-along, right? EOS will help you. And so, EOS, you can do this journey on your own. Um, I I could have potentially got to where I got as an athlete on my own. Uh actually, I'll I'll be full fashion, no way in heck I could have. Um, and so you need a coach, you need somebody else to come alongside you. And so, if it's not an EOS implementer, of course I would love that, uh, but find a peer group, find other people that have done it. Uh, don't reinvent the wheel, don't do it alone, right? All of these things that I would just employ on you as a leader of the organization is surround you around people that can help you get there and do not feel like you can do it on your own. The best athletes, the best people in the world have coaches, the best coaches have coaches, right? Tiger Woods, right? These guys are, I mean, a little bit dating myself, but top of their game, right? We look about these Super Bowl champions, these, right? We're in this fall season right now and playoff season right now, as Richard and I are recording this. Just amazing athletes. They still have coaches, they still have people to get there. Uh, so for us as I would say, regular humans to think that we can build a business from five million to 10 million on our own, not talking about your employees, but talking about uh other people from the outside. So I would love you to get in touch with me and I'm happy to help. Like I just love talking to people and getting them better.

Richard Piet 14:44

And there's uh, I guess, power in numbers, as they say, but uh support in numbers too. And some of the examples you referenced are peer groups, right? People who are going through the same journey that you are, and we certainly know that that's helpful and maybe even helpful to Olympians too.

Michele Mollard 15:06

Yeah. I mean, Richard, think about how you and I knew each other how many years ago and then reconnected on a peer group, right? Of we were starting up our businesses, right? And we just reconnected and we're like, oh, let's do this journey together. And it's turned into a flourishing relationship, business-wise, but friendship, right? And so I like I will call Richard and be like, help, right? And he does, and it's just the way it is, right? And so we we feel like we have to do this on our own. And I think we feel like, oh, we can't show weakness. Richard knows all of my weaknesses, people, knows every single one of them. Um, and so we that that's that vulnerability, right? That we got to share as leaders, or we're never gonna get there.

Progress Over Perfection And Coaching

Richard Piet 15:41

That's a two-way call, by the way. Not not just you calling me saying help. It goes the other way too. Well, there you are. So hopefully we gave you something to think about as you're thinking about the vision that you have for your business. And maybe you sit back and imagine what it'll be like in five years. But what is that strategy? How will you get there? And what can you do now to help line up those things and make that vision a reality? Reach out, as Michele said, and ask her about it. The contact information is in the show notes for this episode, and she's ready to uh take your email, your call, whatever it might be, and get the conversation started. And sometimes that's all it is, right? Just an introduction and uh something to give someone an idea about EOS and let them think about it. Other times it may have more momentum than that, but it doesn't necessarily have to. Of course, it could. So lots of options there. We're going to continue with EOS Traction for Your Workplace Goals, and we invite you along as well. Subscribe where you get podcasts and have a listen or a view. And there are certainly other episodes of these too that you can peruse if you haven't done it already. Michele Millard, certified EOS Implementer on EOS Traction for Your Workplace Goals. We'll be back soon. Take care.