Eagle has distilled the business ownership journey into what we call our 6 A’s:
Assessment, Advancement, Action, Avoidance, Achievement, and After. Each of these is shorthand for a necessary process on the way to Performing Higher.
These key words describe what we focus on at each stage of our relationship with a business owner. The first two, Assessment and Advancement, provide a starting point and a strategy to reach your goals. Once we know where we are, and where we want to go, we can start rowing all together.
Let’s look at what’s involved in these first two steps of our 6 A’s process.
How does Eagle use Assessment and Advancement, the first of the 6 A’s?
Assessment should be the first part of any process. It provides a reference point to look back at once the work is underway. For many owners, finding out the real metrics on their business is an essential wake-up call and motivation to change their approach.
We offer an initial sample of this type of information to anyone who takes our free online assessments: our Altitude Assessment, which provides feedback on where your business stands today, and our Beyond Soaring Index, which examines your own personal readiness across six indicators. For business owners who commit to working with us, we go much further than these two 15-minute questionnaires.
We begin with a look at the individual team members and the team dynamics, the company as a whole, and the owner’s personal emotional and financial readiness. This process not only provides us with necessary data, it also helps establish trust, respect and confidence in the relationship we are embarking on together.
Our first assessments involve personality profiles as well as one-on-one interviews and observations of team dynamics. Everyone’s outlook will be different, and it’s imperative we gain the trust of each individual so we can get honest and forthright input from them. How a team works together is key to how the company functions, and improving that dynamic leads to improved value and greater freedom for the owner. Sometimes a clear issue surfaces during this phase, where we identify an alignment mismatch and can begin alleviating the situation right away.
The personal assessment will involve finding out the owner’s financial and emotional readiness to transition away from the business. What is your burn rate — that is, how much money are you spending with your current lifestyle? This determines what you need to live the next phase of your life comfortably. What are your goals and ambitions, and what kind of legacy do you want to leave?
We then assess all aspects of the company to gauge how attractive it appears to the outside world and how ready the entire operation is for any transitions. This involves qualitative and quantitative assessments to gather the data we need for a full breakdown.
Once assessments are complete, we move to Advancement, where strategic planning can begin. Every business owner wants their business to advance, yet few have put much thought into what, specifically, that advancement should look like. A good portion of the businesses we work with have never set aside time to describe, clarify, or document their values, mission, and vision, let alone any real, objective goals.
Owners often know what they want, generally speaking, however they have trouble boiling it down to what they need to do today to make it all happen. Delving into your business’s values, mission, and vision will help determine your next logical step upward and separate that from attractive ideas that are really just needless distractions.
Performing a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats can pinpoint areas that need to be improved in order to bridge gaps or take advantage of prospective new business. Once all this is accomplished, Action begins — in our next Navigator, we’ll explain what that means and how Eagle helps businesses through that process.
As a business owner, you want the value of your business to grow so it can provide you and your family with stability and freedom. Figuring out a roadmap to get from point A to point B can be complicated, which is why we’ve boiled things down to a series of steps we call our 6 A’s.
Your journey is unique, yet all owners start out in the same place and face some of the same challenges. Assessment is that first step, and you can begin now with a visit to our online assessments. Then give us a call to discuss your results and see what your path to advancement looks like.