Eight To Great, The DNA of Thriving Businesses

THE WHAT

What is Eight to Great?  Maybe we should start with what it isn’t first, this might help you understand what we didn’t want to create.  First, it is not a self-help leadership model with some personal ways to be your best. Those are great, but it’s not the purpose of this model. Second, it is not a “how to”, a written out plan describing exactly how to create a spreadsheet that will help you track everything in your company.  Third, this is not quantitative research showing a culmination of companies through multi-decades of data. Those are awesome and important, but just like quantitative research, qualitative observations have a place in the business market. But only as long as you, the reader, can find the same parallels to your own personal observations and can use it to apply in your business. So back to the original question, what is Eight to Great?  In general, it is eight key areas that every company should not only pay attention to but be very intentional with so that they can create their own success and culture that is sustainable and thrives in any market or industry.  It is a framework that defines eight components that are important to master in the daily and monthly rhythm of your company.  

THE MODEL

The Eight to Great is like the DNA of your business. Reading the model from left to right, you will see the first four components; Healthy Leadership, Compelling Vision, Purpose Driven, and Values Centric. We call these the “Foundational Four”, because the rest of the model can not survive without these four being integrated into the fabric of who you are as an organization. To integrate these four components well, you have to first believe that your organization is a breathing live organism that is constantly in need like any human being. Starving the organization of these first four will inevitably choke the rest of the company. The second four are Winning Strategy, Outcomes Continuum, Systems, and Core Promises. These next four are strengthened upon the first four. It’s as if life is given to them by the first four components, but only when the leadership team of your company is healthy and permeates that health to all. 

CULTIVATING CULTURE

There’s a vital part of the Eight to Great that can be easy to overlook, the culture piece. Though it’s not one of the eight components, it’s actually the by-product of how you integrate the eight components of this model. Culture is not hard to see, but yet can be hard to define. Most leadership teams that we run across will define it differently. Why is that? Each organization will have a slightly unique culture due to the people in which they employ or better said, allow on the team. What is culture? The word culture originates from the Latin word cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate". You can research for yourself what business culture is, but simply put it is how your company thinks and acts as a majority. What you cultivate, cause, or allow in your company, you will create your culture. It is the way your employees think about work, it’s how they behave, what they value, how they respond and talk about their jobs to those inside and outside of your organization. Culture is not explicitly named as a component because if the components of the Eight to Great are implemented intentionally, your culture will be defined for you. 

You might be asking if this is for you?  Maybe you’re a small business that only has a few employees or maybe you’re a large company that has over 500 employees.  Either way, this framework is a principle-driven model that gives you the key areas to apply small or large.  It is so simple, but yet hard because like many things, it is a journey of mastery not an overnight success.  Through our years of observations and experience, we would even say that many companies have gone decades without applying these basic principles because they weren’t taught them, maybe they weren’t exposed to them or worse, they didn’t believe in them.  Whatever side of the fence you stand on, it should be comforting to know that it doesn’t matter. This book can be applied right now to any business, 

the ones who “don’t know what they don’t know”

the ones who “know they don’t know”

the ones who just got away from the basics

the ones who want to bring up leaders to the next level

the ones who are in the infancy of their journey and to many more

No matter where you are, this framework can be applied to your business so that you can stop treading water and start getting the ship steered in the right direction. Every company is continually in need to steer the ship consistently and intentionally to create the success they define and desire.