As we turn the final corner of 2017, many family-owned businesses are preparing to become more profitable in 2018. When I took the helm of our third-generation family business several years ago, I was eager to boost our profitability. But what I found was that there are a lot of profit-eaters in a family-owned business. And they can be very difficult to get rid of without a robust and objective operating system in place.

Want to have a more profitable family-owned business in 2018? Watch out for these profit-eaters!

Bottleneck, logjam, impasse, run aground – there are lots of ways to say that things are not moving forward– you’re stuck. We’ve all been there, and once you realize it’s happened, you immediately start looking for ways to get UN-stuck.

While there are many ways that organizations get stuck, it is often the result of an organization outgrowing whatever systems, resources, or people that brought them to where they are. Implementing EOS^® helps you gain traction so you can begin moving forward again, allowing you to get what you want from your business.

At a recent gathering of the EOS Implementer Community™ one of my fellow Implementers shared this quote that may help you figure out where to start:

“Have you ever noticed that the bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle?”

I recently had a conversation with a friend who was struggling with managing a millennial. She asked me for thoughts on how to best manage her younger staff. As we talked, I realized that millennials take a bad rap for being needy for things that we as leaders and managers should be doing anyway.

I had an epiphany when my friend asked, “What have you seen or heard is the best way to motivate millennials?” Here’s what I told her.

In our first session with an EOS^® client, we help them implement an efficient, productive Meeting Pulse™ and weekly Level 10 Meeting™ that quickly improve the quality of the company’s meetings. One of the things we insist they do is rate each meeting – out loud– as it concludes.

“Rating your meetings” seems like such a simple concept that many fail to grasp its importance. Some even decide– early in the EOS journey– to make It optional or skip it altogether. If you’re one of those people – please read on. Because properly rating your meetings and using the feedback to make them better (and your team healthier) is a game changer.

It could be that one of the main reasons you are a successful business leader is that you really know how to talk. You’ve been rewarded in your career for being able to talk your way into (or out of) anything. You’ve been successful in convincing people, inspiring people, and getting your way because of your ability to talk. But, like most things in life, too much of a good thing can turn a strength into a weakness.