New Perspective

A couple of years ago, Weston was sailing along doing business as usual. We had a decent year with a good occupancy rate, an acceptable NOI, and a good family of customers. We had just incorporated the philosophy from the book, Good to Great, and had rolled out our new strategy to our team members on our BHAG, our core values, and our corporate philosophy. We had bumps in the road of course; however all in all things were going smoothly.

But something was missing.

Then, Ed Asher, president of Weston Residences, met a consultant that taught the methods from the book, What The Heck is EOS. It’s not a new book, but it was a brand new concept for us. So the team signed on to make some adjustments.

It wasn’t a quick fix and there was significant work involved, but what a change it made to our corporate structure.

According to Michelle English, Controller for Weston, “An EOS principle is that, If everything is important, than nothing is important.  By setting weekly to do items, we narrow the focus of importance, hold each other accountable & accomplish more.  It sounds too simple to work but it does.” And it shows.

Firstly, the team that we now have in place are rock stars. We hate to brag about our employees, but EVERYONE is now operating from the same playbook, and what a difference it has made. Right people in the right seats as they say.

Secondly, all of our meetings are L-10 meetings which are designed to identify the important issues that the department needs to work on and make decisions on how to solve them. Each participant walks away with a clear objective of what needs to get accomplished and within what parameters. Not to mention the efficiency of starting a meeting on time and ending it on time.

Lastly, it provides a means for the entire company to work on the same objectives. With the Vision/Traction Organizer, everyone knows what the next guy is doing and working on, what the company rocks or goals are, and where it is headed in the next 3 months – 3 years. Imagine that – a well-organized work place without any duplication!

I am by no means claiming that this has solved all our problems by any stretch, and I don’t mean to sound like a paid advertisement because we’re not. But it has certainly taken us to the next level. If you get the chance, read the book, and maybe it will shift your course of action, too.