Glossary
Core Processes
Core processes are the handful of things a company does over and over that decide whether customers stay happy, usually six to ten of them. They run across sales, operations and finance, and each gets written down at the level people will actually read, meaning the major steps rather than every keystroke, and then everybody works the same way.
01
How EOS® uses core processes
EOS makes process one of the six components and asks for two things: documented and followed by all. The documentation is done with the three-step process documenter, and the following is owned by whoever holds the seat. A leadership team can name its processes in a single session, but writing them usually takes a quarter or two.
Most owners can describe how the company works, and most of their staff are doing it three different ways. The gap turns up as inconsistent quality and as a business nobody can sell or leave alone for a fortnight. Writing the processes down is also the only reliable way to train a new hire in weeks instead of months.
Worked example: A veterinary group named eight processes and found that intake existed in four versions across three clinics. The version producing the fewest complaints belonged to the smallest clinic. Writing it down took an afternoon. Getting the other two clinics onto it took a quarter and one difficult conversation with a nurse who had been there sixteen years.
Sources: Traction, Gino Wickman, chapter on Process; eosworldwide.com/eos-tools
Followed By All
Followed by all is the second half of the process component: once the core processes are written down, everybody in the company has to work the same way.
02Three-Step Process Documenter™
The Three-Step Process Documenter is the method EOS gives for writing down a core process: identify it, break it into major steps, then describe each step.
03Proven Process
A proven process is your way of serving a customer drawn as three to seven named steps on a single page, with a guarantee at the end.
Start with a real question
Not sure which of these you actually need?
Tell us what the leadership team is arguing about. A person replies within one business day with a straight answer, whether that is a book, a tool or an implementer.
A person reads every one.