Sarah stared at the 47-page strategic plan on her desk, a document that had consumed weeks of her leadership team’s time and thousands of dollars in consultant fees. Six months later, she couldn’t remember a single strategic initiative from it. Her managers couldn’t either. The beautifully bound document had become an expensive paperweight, gathering dust while her company drifted without clear direction.
Sound familiar? Most small business strategic plans fail not because they lack sophistication, but because they have too much of it. They’re filled with SWOT analyses, Porter’s Five Forces diagrams, and complex financial projections that impress in the boardroom but die in the real world. Meanwhile, your competitors are eating your lunch while you’re still wordsmithing mission statements.
Enter the Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO)—the cornerstone of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). This deceptively simple two-page document has helped thousands of small businesses create clarity, alignment, and traction. It strips strategic planning down to its essence: Where are you going, and how will you get there? No fluff, no consultant-speak, just the answers your team needs to move forward with confidence.
Why Traditional Strategic Planning Fails Small Businesses
Before diving into the V/TO, let’s understand why traditional strategic planning often fails in small business environments. First, complexity kills execution. When your strategic plan requires a PhD to understand, front-line employees won’t understand how their daily work connects to company strategy. As Patrick Lencioni notes in “The Advantage,” organizational health trumps everything else, and you can’t have health without clarity.
Second, small businesses change fast. That 5-year strategic plan becomes obsolete within months as market conditions shift, new opportunities emerge, and resources fluctuate. You need a planning tool that’s both stable enough to provide direction and flexible enough to adapt.
Third, most strategic plans are created in isolation by leadership and handed down like stone tablets. Without buy-in from the people who actually do the work, even brilliant strategies fail. The process matters as much as the output.
The V/TO solves these problems by being simple enough to understand, flexible enough to evolve, and collaborative enough to create buy-in. It’s not dumbed-down strategy—it’s strategy distilled to its essence.
Understanding the V/TO: Two Pages That Change Everything
The Vision/Traction Organizer consists of two pages. The first page (Vision) answers “Where are we going?” The second page (Traction) answers “How will we get there?” Together, they create what Jim Collins would call a “crystalized vision” that everyone in your organization can understand and execute.
Let’s break down each component, understanding not just what goes in each box, but why it matters and how to get it right.
Page 1: Vision – Where Are We Going?
Core Values: Your Cultural DNA
Core values aren’t aspirational posters on the wall—they’re the fundamental beliefs that drive behavior in your organization. They answer the question: “What are the rules we live by?”
Most companies get this wrong by either listing generic values (“integrity,” “excellence,” “teamwork”) or creating an exhaustive list that no one remembers. Effective core values are:
- Discovered, not created: They already exist in your best people
- Used for hiring and firing: You’d rather lose a high performer than violate them
- Memorable and actionable: 3-7 values that guide daily decisions
To discover your core values, identify your top performers—the people you’d clone if you could. What makes them special? What behaviors do they consistently demonstrate? Those patterns reveal your true core values.
For example, instead of “Customer Service,” a landscaping company might have “Make It Right” as a core value, reflecting their commitment to fixing any customer issue, no matter what. This specificity makes the value actionable and memorable.
Core Focus: Your Sweet Spot
Core Focus consists of two parts: your purpose/cause/passion (your “why”) and your niche (your “what”). Together, they define your company’s reason for being and where you excel.
Your purpose/cause/passion is your organization’s soul. It’s why you get up in the morning beyond making money. Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why” explores this concept in depth—people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
Your niche is what you do better than anyone else. It’s not everything you could do, but what you should do. As Michael Porter teaches, strategy is as much about what you won’t do as what you will do.
A financial advisory firm might define their Core Focus as:
- Purpose: “Helping families achieve financial freedom”
- Niche: “Comprehensive wealth management for small business owners”
This clarity helps them say no to opportunities that don’t align, maintaining focus on where they create the most value.
10-Year Target: Your BHAG
The 10-Year Target is your Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), a concept from Jim Collins’ “Built to Last.” It’s a long-range, measurable goal that creates excitement and alignment.
Effective 10-Year Targets are:
- Measurable: You know definitively when you’ve achieved it
- Aligned with Core Focus: It’s the ultimate expression of your purpose and niche
- Energizing: It gets people excited about the future
Examples might include: “500 locations nationwide,” “$100M in annual revenue,” or “10,000 families served.” The key is picking one clear metric that represents success for your organization.
Marketing Strategy: Your Ideal Customer
The Marketing Strategy section defines four crucial elements:
- Target Market (“The List”): Your ideal customers with demographic and psychographic details
- Three Uniques: What makes you different from competitors
- Proven Process: Your systematic approach to delivering value
- Guarantee: What you promise customers
This isn’t about listing every possible customer—it’s about defining who you serve best. As the saying goes, “If you’re marketing to everyone, you’re marketing to no one.”
Your Three Uniques work together to create a compelling value proposition. They should be specific benefits that your ideal customers care about and that competitors can’t easily copy.
Your Proven Process gives customers confidence. People trust systems more than promises. Whether it’s a “7-Step Financial Freedom Process” or “5-Phase Construction Method,” showing your systematic approach reduces perceived risk.
3-Year Picture: Your Achievable Vision
The 3-Year Picture paints a vivid image of what your organization looks like three years from now. It’s close enough to feel achievable but far enough to require significant growth.
This section includes:
- Revenue and profit targets
- Measurable operational goals
- Organizational structure and size
- Key milestones and achievements
Write this section in present tense, as if you’re already there. “We have 75 employees across three locations, generating $15M in revenue with 15% profit margins. We’re recognized as the premier provider in our region…”
This technique, borrowed from sports psychology and visualization practices, makes the future feel more concrete and achievable.
Page 2: Traction – How Will We Get There?
1-Year Plan: Breaking It Down
The 1-Year Plan bridges your 3-Year Picture to today’s reality. It answers: “What must we accomplish in the next 12 months to be on track for our 3-Year Picture?”
This section includes:
- Revenue and profit targets for the year
- 3-7 most important goals for the year
- Key metrics and milestones
The magic number is 3-7 goals. Fewer than three and you’re not pushing hard enough. More than seven and you lose focus. Each goal should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) and clearly connected to your 3-Year Picture.
Quarterly Rocks: Your 90-Day Priorities
Rocks are the 3-7 most important priorities for the next 90 days. The term comes from Stephen Covey’s famous demonstration: if you fill a jar with sand (daily tasks) first, the rocks (important priorities) won’t fit. But if you put the rocks in first, the sand fills the spaces between them.
Effective Rocks are:
- Specific and measurable: “Launch new product line with $50K in pre-orders”
- Owned by one person: Clear accountability drives results
- Connected to annual goals: Each Rock moves you closer to your 1-Year Plan
The 90-day timeframe isn’t arbitrary. It’s long enough to accomplish meaningful work but short enough to maintain urgency and adjust course if needed.
Issues List: Obstacles to Success
The Issues List captures all obstacles, challenges, and opportunities that need resolution. This isn’t a complaint list—it’s a parking lot for anything that could derail your vision.
Common categories include:
- People issues: Wrong person in a role, skill gaps, cultural misalignment
- Process problems: Inefficiencies, quality issues, customer complaints
- Market challenges: New competitors, changing customer needs, economic shifts
- Growth obstacles: Capital constraints, capacity limits, technology gaps
The key is getting issues out of people’s heads and onto paper where they can be prioritized and solved systematically. As David Allen teaches in “Getting Things Done,” your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.
Creating Your V/TO: A Practical Process
Step 1: Prepare Your Leadership Team
The V/TO works best when created collaboratively by your leadership team. This typically includes the owner/CEO and heads of major departments. Send them the book “Traction” by Gino Wickman to read beforehand, ensuring everyone understands the concepts.
Block two full days for the initial V/TO creation. Yes, two days away from daily operations feels expensive, but unclear direction costs far more. Choose an off-site location to minimize distractions and signal the importance of the work.
Step 2: Start with Core Values and Core Focus
Begin with discovery exercises for core values. Have each leader list the three employees they’d clone if they could, then identify common characteristics. Debate vigorously—core values should create some tension and require trade-offs.
For Core Focus, ask: “If we could only do one thing for one type of customer, what would it be?” This forcing function reveals your true sweet spot.
Step 3: Set Your 10-Year Target
Dream big but stay grounded. Your 10-Year Target should feel ambitious but possible. Test it against your Core Focus—does achieving this target represent the ultimate expression of your purpose and niche?
Step 4: Define Your Marketing Strategy
Start with your target market. Create detailed personas of your ideal customers. What keeps them awake at night? What solutions are they seeking? How do they make buying decisions?
For your Three Uniques, list everything that might differentiate you, then ruthlessly narrow to the three that matter most to your target market. Your Proven Process should reflect how you consistently deliver value. Give it a memorable name that reinforces your brand.
Step 5: Paint Your 3-Year Picture
Work backward from your 10-Year Target. What needs to be true in three years to be on track? Write in present tense, creating a vivid picture that excites your team. Include enough detail to make it real but not so much that it becomes restrictive.
Step 6: Build Your 1-Year Plan
Break down your 3-Year Picture into annual milestones. What absolutely must happen this year? Be realistic about capacity and resources while maintaining healthy pressure for growth.
Step 7: Set Quarterly Rocks
From your 1-Year Plan, identify the most important priorities for the next 90 days. Assign each Rock to one owner who commits to completion. Remember: fewer Rocks completed is better than many Rocks attempted.
Step 8: Capture All Issues
End by brainstorming every obstacle, challenge, and opportunity facing your organization. Don’t solve them now—just get them documented. You’ll prioritize and address them systematically in future meetings.
Making Your V/TO Live: From Document to Culture
Creating the V/TO is just the beginning. The magic happens when it becomes embedded in your organization’s daily life. Here’s how to make that happen:
Share It Widely
Unlike traditional strategic plans hidden in executive offices, share your V/TO with everyone. Hold all-hands meetings to explain each component. Create simplified versions for different audiences. The more people understand the vision, the more they can contribute to achieving it.
Reference It Constantly
Start every meeting with V/TO context. When making decisions, ask: “Does this align with our Core Focus?” When setting priorities, check against your Rocks. The V/TO should be a living document, not a filing cabinet resident.
Review and Update Quarterly
Every 90 days, review your V/TO. Celebrate completed Rocks, set new ones, and adjust course as needed. Annual planning sessions dive deeper, potentially adjusting your 3-Year Picture based on progress and market changes.
Use It for Accountability
The V/TO creates clear expectations and measurable outcomes. Use it in performance reviews, hiring decisions, and resource allocation. When everyone knows the plan and their role in it, accountability becomes natural rather than forced.
Enhancing V/TO Implementation with Technology
While the V/TO can certainly live in a simple document, modern technology offers significant advantages for implementation and accountability. Digital platforms solve common challenges like keeping the V/TO visible, tracking progress on Rocks, and ensuring the entire organization stays aligned with the vision.
The benefits of digital V/TO management include:
- Universal Access: Every team member can view the current V/TO from anywhere, ensuring alignment across locations and remote workers
- Real-Time Updates: As Rocks progress or priorities shift, everyone sees changes immediately
- Progress Tracking: Visual indicators show which Rocks are on track versus at risk
- Historical Context: Past V/TOs remain accessible, showing your journey and evolution
- Integration: Connect your V/TO to other business rhythms like weekly meetings and quarterly planning
For organizations implementing EOS, EOS One provides a purpose-built platform that brings the V/TO into the digital age. The software maintains the simplicity that makes the V/TO powerful while adding features that enhance execution. Your V/TO becomes the central hub from which all other EOS tools flow—Rocks link directly to the vision, Issues connect to obstacles preventing progress, and your Scorecard metrics show whether you’re on track to achieve your 1-Year Plan.
The platform particularly excels at maintaining visibility and accountability. Rather than updating a static document quarterly, your V/TO lives and breathes daily. Team members can see how their individual Rocks contribute to the bigger picture. Leaders get early warning when Rocks go off track. The quarterly planning process becomes more efficient with historical data and trends readily available.
Perhaps most importantly, EOS One preserves the collaborative spirit of V/TO creation. While technology handles the logistics, the human elements—debate, alignment, commitment—remain central. The tool enhances the methodology rather than replacing it, ensuring your V/TO remains a living strategy rather than a digital artifact.
Common V/TO Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Mistake 1: Creating It in Isolation
Some leaders try to create the V/TO alone, then present it to their team. This approach kills buy-in and misses valuable perspectives. Your leadership team must co-create the V/TO for it to succeed.
Mistake 2: Being Too Vague
Fuzzy language creates fuzzy results. “Improve customer satisfaction” isn’t a Rock. “Achieve 85+ Net Promoter Score by implementing weekly customer check-ins” is. Specificity drives clarity and action.
Mistake 3: Setting Unrealistic Targets
Stretch goals motivate; impossible goals demoralize. Your 3-Year Picture should require growth and effort but remain achievable. Use industry benchmarks and historical performance to ground your targets in reality.
Mistake 4: Ignoring Market Reality
Your V/TO exists in a competitive marketplace. Hoping competitors disappear or markets remain static leads to irrelevant strategies. Build competitive awareness into your planning without becoming paralyzed by it.
Mistake 5: Treating It as Sacred
While core values and purpose remain stable, other V/TO elements should evolve. Markets change, opportunities emerge, and lessons are learned. Quarterly reviews allow course corrections without losing long-term direction.
Practical Next Steps
Ready to implement the V/TO in your small business? Here’s your action plan:
- Read “Traction”: Ensure you fully understand the EOS methodology and V/TO framework
- Assess Your Leadership Team: Identify who should participate in V/TO creation (typically 3-7 people)
- Schedule Your Planning Session: Block two full days within the next 60 days. Book an off-site venue.
- Prepare Your Team: Share resources about EOS and the V/TO. Set expectations for the session.
- Gather Input: Survey employees and customers for perspectives on strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities
- Facilitate Effectively: Consider hiring an EOS Implementer for your first V/TO creation, or designate a strong facilitator
- Commit to the Process: Schedule quarterly reviews before leaving your planning session
- Communicate Broadly: Plan how you’ll share the completed V/TO with your entire organization
Conclusion: Simplicity on the Far Side of Complexity
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. once said, “I would not give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the far side of complexity.” The V/TO represents that far-side simplicity—a tool that distills complex strategic thinking into two pages anyone can understand and execute.
Remember Sarah from our opening, drowning in her 47-page strategic plan? Imagine her instead holding a two-page V/TO that her entire team understands, believes in, and executes daily. Picture quarterly meetings where progress is visible, accountability is clear, and adjustments are made based on real data rather than opinions.
This transformation isn’t fantasy—it’s the reality for thousands of small businesses using the V/TO. They’ve discovered that strategic planning doesn’t require complexity, consultants, or countless hours. It requires clarity about where you’re going, commitment to getting there, and discipline to stay on track.
The businesses that thrive aren’t necessarily those with the most sophisticated strategies or the largest planning budgets. They’re the ones with crystal-clear vision and relentless execution. The V/TO provides both, transforming strategic planning from an academic exercise into a practical tool for growth.
Your competition is probably still wordsmithing their mission statement or analyzing their SWOT matrix. Meanwhile, you could be executing on a clear vision, aligned around specific goals, and making measurable progress every 90 days. The choice is yours.
Start this week. Gather your leadership team. Block those two days. Create your V/TO. Because in the end, a simple plan executed beats a perfect plan postponed every single time. And in the fast-moving world of small business, execution isn’t just an advantage—it’s everything.
