In Good to Great, Jim Collins shares, “The executives who ignited the transformations from good to great did not first figure out where to drive the bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it.”
Following this philosophy when implementing EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, I begin with two tools in the People Component™: the The Accountability Chart™ and The People Analyzer®. The first establishes the Right Seats, and the second applies your Core Values to identify the Right People to fill those seats.
In this article, I'll explore the EOS People Analyzer in detail, highlighting its benefits and its role in building a great organization by focusing on hiring, firing, reviewing, and rewarding the Right People in the Right Seats. We'll highlight how running EOS powered by Ninety accelerates your team to the desired outcomes.
Ready to build a great organization? Let's dive in.
Key Points:
- The People Analyzer tool focuses on Core Value alignment and GWC™ (Get it, Want it, and Capacity)
- The People Analyzer is a top 5 tool in the EOS Toolbox™
- Coaching people is a “forever” work, not just left to an annual review
What Is the People Analyzer Tool?
The People Analyzer is an essential practice from the EOS Toolbox. This tool strengthens your People Component — one of the Six Key Components™ of the EOS Model®. EOS abstracts all the variables a small or midsize business comprises into these six components: Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction®.
The People Component teaches you to identify, hire, and retain team members who mesh with your culture and fill the seats you need to achieve your vision. The first time you’ll use the People Analyzer tool will likely be when your EOS Implementer® or the self-implementer on your team holds your Vision Building® Day 1.
Image credit: EOS Worldwide, LLC
I wrote about Core Values previously in our V/TO® article, so I’ll summarize here. Core Values are the three to five guiding principles describing how we behave as individuals and as a whole. We ask the people in our organization to align, share, and embody these values daily. Doing so allows us to operate in a system of trust and accountability.
If you haven’t outlined your Core Values yet, remember they’re already a part of your organization. You won’t be inventing something out of thin air or researching the best PR move. Your Core Values are fundamental to the origin of the business and often originate with the founders. For example, Ninety’s Core Values are GSSD, Team, Resilience, Inquisitive, Better, and Extra Mile.
Read on to see how you’ll use your Core Values with the People Analyzer tool.
How Do You Use EOS’s People Analyzer?
The great news is you can use the People Analyzer anytime, especially if you are powering your EOS experience on Ninety.
One of the most impactful times to use the People Analyzer is during Quarterly Conversations. This is when we ask each party, leader, and team member to rate the team member across the organization’s Core Values and whether or not they GWC the roles of their seat.
You can use this simple tool through Ninety’s 1-on-1 feedback tool or on paper by creating a table displaying each Core Value and GWC across the columns. It’s so much faster than a formal review. You can complete the tool thoughtfully in under 10 minutes and then focus your time on the conversation with your team member.
The metrics you use with this tool can be as simple as these symbols:
- + (Exhibits this Core Value)
- - (Mostly does not embody this Core Value)
- +/- (Sometimes does, sometimes doesn’t)
- Y (or “Yes,” this person Gets it, Wants it, or has the Capacity to do it)
- N (or “No,” this person doesn’t Get it, Want it, or have the Capacity to do it)
Keep in mind that these conversations are just the beginning of the feedback loop. Leadership is ongoing. As I like to say, it’s forever work.
What Is GWC?
GWC is a straightforward framework for a team member to determine fitness for their seat. It stands for Gets it, Wants it, and has the Capacity to do it.
To “get” the roles associated with their seat, team members should have the innate or developed competencies to excel. I recently heard this described as “batteries included,” meaning it’s already there.
Wanting a seat can be described in a couple of ways. Essentially, the ideal team member genuinely wants the job, is passionate about the roles, and loves doing the work.
Assess a team member’s capacity through their intellectual, emotional, and physical capabilities for the time and energy requirement of each of the seat’s functions. This piece of the puzzle also considers their education, training, and experience. My experience has shown that this is an opportunity to identify growth areas for the person to improve.
The People Analyzer Is a Top 5 Tool in the EOS Toolbox
In Traction© by Gino Wickman, he states that the People Analyzer is in the top five tools all his clients use. Based on my coaching experience, I agree. So much of what we do as leaders is coaching people to be better versions of themselves professionally. In our IDS® (Identify, Discuss, Solve) work, many discussions reveal a people Issue behind the obstacles identified. This is where the People Analyzer is extremely valuable. It helps us quickly identify the true cause of many Issues.
The EOS People Analyzer and Cultural Fit
Culture is show, not tell. How well everyone embodies your Core Values determines your organization's culture.
Cultivating culture is one of the prominent five roles in the visionary seat (or, typically, whoever is at the top of your Accountability Chart). As suggested in Rocket Fuel, the visionary needs to be "the spark and energy for the culture."
You can enhance these intangibles of energy, honesty, and connection by your company’s leaders living out your Core Values day by day. Just as a simple act of kindness, like someone holding a door open or sharing a smile with a stranger, can spread and multiply kindness, your actions trickle down to the attitudes and actions of your team members.
Knowing this, when you agree and commit to your Core Values, understand those words aren’t just for decoration; they’re the behaviors of the leadership team at their best and the actions they want to see represented in team members all through the Accountability Chart.
Implementing the People Analyzer in Your Organization
In chapter 4 of EOS’s business fable, Get a Grip, EOS Implementer Alan explains to the leadership team of Swan Services, "If the people in your department don’t share the Core Values or don’t GWC the roles in their seat, they’re consuming precious time of yours each week."
This comment comes during Vision Building Day 2. The leadership team has made a lot of agreements on how they’ll operate. Now, they’re building out their Accountability Chart and determining whether or not their departmental team members fit their Core Values and GWC their seats.
They’ve established their "bar" for considering someone a Right Person by their Core Values to be "anyone receiving at least three pluses and two plus/minuses." Your bar may differ, but the process will look much the same.
After identifying the core functions of your business and creating an Accountability Chart, you’ll be able to have senior leaders identify anyone who they believe to be below the bar. Anyone listed is considered a people Issue and should be added to the Issues List.
Level Up Your People Analyzer Experience with Ninety
Running on EOS is the right decision for almost all companies between 10–250 employees. If you want to accelerate the outcomes of this decision and get more from your investment, then make it powered by Ninety. The hard work of leading and managing people becomes less about capturing the information and more about your actions.
Culture is activated through rituals and artifacts. Rituals are what you do, and artifacts are what you create to support those actions. Together, they remind us of the people we want to be. Ninety brings all this together.
Don’t let talent go unnoticed or misused. Start streamlining your processes, improving team efficiency, and finding the perfect cultural and job fit for your team.
Begin your free trial of Ninety today and unlock the full potential of the EOS People Analyzer for your organization!
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the EOS People Analyzer?
The EOS People Analyzer is a simple tool for determining if you have the Right People in the Right Seats of your Accountability Chart. - What is the GWC framework in the context of the EOS People Analyzer?
The GWC framework is one-half of what the People Analyzer assesses. GWC stands for Gets it, Wants it, and has the Capacity to do it. When using the People Analyzer, you’ll determine if a team member GWCs each role of their seat with a simple “Yes” or “No” response. - Can the EOS People Analyzer help determine job compatibility?
Yes, the EOS People Analyzer can help determine job compatibility. Someone is deemed to be the right person in the right seat when they embody your Core Values, fit your culture, and GWC each role of their seat — which are the criteria this tool uses. - What are some common challenges in implementing the EOS People Analyzer?
Some common challenges experienced when implementing the EOS People Analyzer are realizing you have a lot of team members in the wrong seats or too many people who don’t embody your Core Values. These are challenging Issues to solve. You may be able to find better seats for team members, but unless you need to update your Core Values, you’ll need to schedule one-on-one time with anyone below the bar and give them a chance to realign the company’s vision. - What impact can the EOS People Analyzer have on my organization?
Using the EOS People Analyzer to get the right people in the right seats can have a tremendous impact on your organization. You’ll fill the seats you’ve deemed necessary for your business to function with people who fit your culture, exhibit your Core Values, love the work they do, and are great at it.
An organization structured like that will be well on its way to reaching its goals. - Can the EOS People Analyzer be integrated with other tools in Ninety?
Yes, the EOS People Analyzer integrates with Ninety’s 1-on-1 feedback tool.
