Does your business have an operating system?

Have you ever stopped to think about how all the programs you use daily work together? For example, you likely run programs like email, web browsers, word processors, spreadsheets, and specific business applications, like the kind we build, support and maintain at Foxsoft.

The operating system (e.g. Windows or Mac OS) defines the concepts, conventions and commonalities. It lays a foundation for applications to build on to provide their specific functionality.

Imagine what it might be like if universal copy/paste and a shared file system weren’t available.

Imagine if every application you use had no familiar menu or navigation system, each looking and acting differently.

The overhead of learning each application and making the cognitive shifts between them would be enormous and drain your mental capacity.

Can you say the same about your organisation? Do you have a defined set of processes, guidelines and a culture that enables everyone to work together efficiently and effectively, making progress on the things that matter?

In other words, does your business have an operating system?

At Foxsoft, we use EOS as our operating system. EOS stands for Entrepreneurial Operating System. It’s a set of principles, practices and tools that work together to provide a foundation and cadence that everyone works with across the business.

It has six components * Vision – helps everyone align and focus on the company’s goals and purpose * People – ensures that we have the right people in the right seats * Process – how we document and standardise the way we work * Data – to effectively measure our performance and track our pulse * Issues – how we identify and resolve issues in the business * Traction – is how we run internal meetings and create a cadence for achieving goals

In future editions, I’ll cover more about the ideas and practices in each of these and how we utilise them at Foxsoft.

For now, consider your organisation and how it runs. Is it efficient and effective, or do gaps need to be filled?

EOS has an organisational checkup to help evaluate where you are. If you’re a leader in your business, I highly recommend checking it out. In the three years since starting our EOS journey, we have been using it to grow effectively while improving our culture with significant effect.

​Take the Organisational Checkup and find out where you can improve.

⚡️ Thinking Time ⚡️

In your Thinking Time this week, you might consider taking the checkup or, more generally, consider your organisation’s operating system. Here are some ideas to think about.

• How do you ensure everyone knows and understands the business’s purpose?
• Does everyone know their role and how it contributes to the business objectives?
• Do you have transparent, documented processes for how work gets done that everyone follows?
• How are you measuring progress, and are you on track?
• What are the most important projects which should be executed to achieve the company’s vision?