Third Time's a Charm: Lessons from Implementing a New BOS

Skyrocket Digital is, like many agencies, prone to chaos.

It shows up in our processes, people and even in our culture. Every once in a while, in the midst of a crisis, someone has taken it upon themselves to calm the storm. In my case, that meant implementing a new operating system that would get us on track with our goals, streamline our processes and make people accountable. Sounds great, right? Well, it is, in theory. But implementing a new system company-wide takes more than just a “want”. Dedication, reprioritization, failing and overcoming resistance are part of the process.

What is EOS?

For those not familiar with EOS, it is a comprehensive Entrepreneurial Operating System that provides sets of tools and concepts to help teams get on the same page. It consists of 6 components - Vision, Data, Process, Traction, Issues and People. Each of the components has its own set of exercises and tools. If you want to learn more, I would recommend starting by reading Traction. That’s how we got started.

So what did we learn by implementing the EOS and failing?

What have we learned?

There are a lot of reasons why a business would decide to implement something like EOS: misalignment of the team, unclear vision or values, unmotivated employees, and stalled growth. EOS is not some magical tool that will solve all your issues, but it can provide a direction and keep you focused on what’s important - especially in a world where you can get lost in an “everything is urgent” mindset.

This is not a deep dive into why we have decided to try it, but rather what we have learned by trying to implement it a couple of times unsuccessfully and finally sticking it the third time.

Dedicated implementor

This was probably the hardest lesson to learn. A lot of great leaders have good intentions and want to take it upon themselves to bring structure and direction to their team. Good intentions, as we know, are often just that - intentions. Implementing a new operating system takes a lot of dedication, time and passion - qualities that are common to a lot of visionary leaders.

But here’s the thing: visionaries are not always known for their organizational skills or structure. They are big-picture thinkers - a necessity in building a successful business but a disadvantage in implementing a structured operating system that, to succeed, needs to have some consistent guardrails.

EOS needs a dedicated implementor — someone who is solely accountable to the process. So when picking a dedication implementor, find someone who is self-driven but thrives in structure and order. They will be able to stand by the process and see it through, motivating the team and visionaries to enjoy the ride.

Right time & mindset

EOS can benefit all businesses, its standardized set of practices ensures that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to handle the basics if you decide to implement it yourself (without a certified EOS professional), making sure the company is ready for a transformation. There will be a lot of challenges that you will face as an implementor. When the company is struggling, talking about a 10-year vision and company values can look like a waste of time - and it might be. If you operate from a place of fear, you will abandon the system on the first occasion when something else looks more urgent. And let’s face it, in the agency world, more often than not, many things are urgent. We’re always juggling priorities.

A big part of the role of an implementor is to maintain a tunnel vision of what’s important. You can’t take a break or pivot every week when seemingly more important issues arise. The core of EOS is to systematically get you into a place where fluctuations don’t immediately threaten your business. Rather, you will see risks from a distance and have the discipline and accountability you need to handle them. And that’s why, you can’t abandon EOS if and when there is a crisis - which we had to learn the hard way. Twice.

Engagement and accountability

Transparency is key. The role of an implementor is to motivate people to care. Why should your employees care about the company vision in 10 years, or even in a year? How does it affect them? They are here to do a job. We, as leaders know, that getting everyone truly passionate about the company is not an easy task and you can’t achieve it if your team doesn’t feel they are part of something bigger.

In reality, if the company is doing well, the employees thrive — and vice versa. From my experience, even small steps in transparency, are not taken for granted.

The biggest impact when implementing EOS for the third time was made by getting the team involved from the beginning. Yes, the leadership team is the decision-maker, but sharing how we came up with a vision, revenue goals, and what it will mean for the team when we achieve them, was the key element to get everyone on board.

We changed our 1:1s (one-on-ones) to follow a similar format as the Level 10 meeting in EOS - having a scorecard and ROCKS for the quarter for each team member, IDS - identifying, discussing and solving their blockers and having a personal growth goal included in their own vision. In the philosophy of EOS - everyone has a KPI, and everything that gets measured can be improved. This creates accountability in a team - demonstrating that no one is a single player, they are part of a living organism where their actions affect other people's performance. If your team doesn’t understand that, you might need to consider if you have the right people in the right seats, which is also part of the EOS process.

And there’s another side of the coin. Being specific about the incentive if you reach the company goals. You don’t want to create an environment where you want everyone to work hard to make the company more successful without linking that back to their personal growth. Make sure every team member realizes their performance is tied to the company's success, regardless of whether you are an intern or executive. Everyone makes an impact.

Choose progress over perfection

If you recall my description of a good implementor — organized, self-driven, and passionate — you may already have a person in mind who would be ideal for this role in your organization. Speaking from personal experience, the necessary skills are often correlated with perfectionism and maintaining order. Does that track?

The big trap of implementing anything new in your life doesn’t matter if it’s a new exercise routine or a new operating system, is that an “all or nothing” mentality often comes into play. Resist the trap. Prepare yourself that, as with everything new, you will make mistakes. You don’t have to abandon the progress or start from the beginning if you do. Learn from the imperfections, but keep going. One huge advantage of EOS is the planning in 90-day periods. So, if you still need to appease your inner perfectionist, every quarter you get an opportunity for a new start.

You have to find the right balance between following the rules and pivoting to make it work for you. Especially in the first phase of implementation, there will be a huge learning curve. EOS is simple, but it’s not easy. You have to choose what to fight for and where to compromise. For example, I wouldn’t recommend changing the measurables after a few weeks just because it’s not going exactly the way you anticipated. However, if you truly believe the goal you established for yourself in the 8-hour-long exercise doesn’t seem right in the first couple of weeks - do yourself a favour and trust your instincts. There is a thin line between thoughtfully changing a goal and recklessly switching focus every few weeks. If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. But give yourself and your team some grace in learning what that “best” means for you and don’t be afraid to bend the rules a little bit.

Cultivating change

We, as a company, are still in the thick of learning how to fully take advantage of EOS. The journey was marked by unexpected challenges but it taught us that success lies not in perfection, but in the resilience to learn, adapt, and persist.

The EOS became more than a tool—it became a metaphorical compass, guiding us through the storms of chaos toward a future of clarity, alignment, and collective achievement.