EOS Implementers are critical to EOS Implementations. The Implementer’s role is that of teacher, coach, and facilitator to help the company understand “how” to properly implement EOS. By working with an EOS Implementer, as opposed to doing it on your own, your company will understand the tools and their value at a much deeper level, build the right habits, and be more successful. Period.
The Implementer works on the business, and the Integrator works both on and in the business, to make the implementation easier by holding people accountable, acting as project manager, and being attentive to the details. The Integrator manages the implementation day to day, week to week, and works with the EOS Implementer to course correct where appropriate.
I’m often asked by Visionaries if they should hire a full time Integrator. I always say that if you can afford one, it is the best money you can spend, if you find the right one. Being the Visionary is hard and having a full time Integrator in your corner helps in so many ways.
The ideal situation is that every company has a full time Integrator, however, for a lot of companies, that is not financially viable. So, a Fractional Integrator can bridge the implementation until the company can afford it. The company can assign the role of Fractional Integrator to someone else on the Leadership Team who is ideally suited to it (gets it, wants it, and has the capacity to do it).
However, there may be no one on the Leadership Team who can fill the seat. In that case, the company can hire an outside person to fulfill the role of Fractional Integrator, either for a defined period of time until they train an inside resource, or open-ended if that makes the most sense.
Are there compromises with a Fractional Integrator? Yes there are. Not having someone dedicated in the role slows down the work. Same as any other role in the company. Having one person sit in two seats is never optimal.
The biggest challenge is that the Integrator owns the P&L, and the Leadership Team reports to the Integrator, including the Visionary. Where there is one person sitting in the Integrator seat who is also sitting in a seat on the Leadership Team, or the Integrator is an outside contractor only fractionally reporting to the company, the direct accountability becomes harder to manage. In that case, the Fractional Integrator takes more of an advisor role, working directly with the Visionary on key financial decisions. In my experience working with smaller companies, the Visionary is very involved in financial decisions, and it is not a problem.
The reality for most small and medium-sized companies is that Leadership Teams are already a compromise. The Visionary is likely sitting in multiple seats, because the company is still growing. The reason the company is the size it is, is because it can’t afford everything it wants. Every Visionary knows that a trade off analysis is made every day between what they want, and what they can afford.
But here is the thing: waiting until you can afford everything you want, the way you want it, simply means progress never happens. My experience with companies that can’t afford a full time Integrator is that the benefits on Running on EOS out-weigh the compromises of having an incomplete Leadership Team, or having people sitting in two seats. All my relationships with the Visionaries I have worked with are very personal, and I know they see value in having someone helping them, in the business every day, holding everyone including themselves accountable, ensuring the implementation is going well. A good Integrator can support a Visionary even if they are fractional.
To be clear, Implementers and Integrators are different roles, require different skill sets, and complement one another. The EOS Implementer teaches the tools and the process, the Integrator runs the process. Both need the other to do their job to ensure the company gets the benefits EOS delivers. It’s not a trade-off. Not having both reduces the success of the implementation.
Starting a business is hard; growing and running a business is harder. For a Visionary, having someone in your corner to be a partner in the implementation, in the business every day, makes all the difference. For the EOS Implementer, being able to work with the Integrator helps keep the implementation on track. And for the Integrator, being able to rely on and consult an EOS Implementer, to address the issues that can’t wait for a Quarterly, ensures challenges get discussed and addressed in real time.
It would be great if every company considering Running on EOS had a complete Leadership Team. However, my experience has been that Visionaries and companies get great benefit from implementing EOS with either a full time or fractional integrator. The process is self-correcting, creates Transparency and Accountability, and fosters Team Health. If I were to identify the roles that I play that are most valuable to the Visionaries I work for, they would be: confidante, partner, sober second thought, and helping them get what they want from their business.
I accept that a Fractional Integrator is a compromise. So do my Visionaries. So do my EOS Implementers. But the benefits of implementing EOS for those types of companies far out-weigh the costs of not having a full-time Integrator. I encourage all Visionaries considering implementing EOS to find an EOS Implementer to do the work. Then worry about whether they can afford a full-time Integrator. Waiting for both accomplishes neither.