Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)

When a teenager goes off to college or gets his first job, it can be a shock. Suddenly "the real world" is evaluating him and what he can produce. The professors or employers are unlikely to be interested in why work doesn't get done on time or why the definition of the paper or project changed halfway through the process.

Scriptura's version of going off to college is the decision to implement EOS, the "Entrepreneurial Operating System," which claims to be a complete set of simple concepts and practical tools to help people get what they want from their businesses. It claims to get everyone on the same page, to enable a more cohesive, functional, and healthy leadership team. It claims to instill focus, discipline, and accountability.

All that sounds great! And it comes at a cost. The cost is ceasing to take the perspective of the doting parent, who endlessly extends grace to a child, and choosing instead to take the perspective of the college professor who recognizes that it matters if we did what we said we were going to do. A goal was 95% met? That means the plan was not followed exactly. It means the team does not yet know how to predict accurately.

To a tired soul, worn out from striving to get as close as possible to the finish line, this is devastating. What's needed there is Theodore Roosevelt's words about the man in the arena. But to the team who wants to learn how to predict and grow and no longer need to scramble to meet deadlines, this exactitude can be life-giving. We at Scriptura are learning what we need to grow, and it includes courage to demand clarity. What exactly are we trying to do? Who exactly is responsible for what? When exactly must it be done?

Until now, our culture has been to strive, to push ourselves to do the impossible: make Psalms so accessible that the translators not only understand the text but can actually see God in the Psalms. Now that it's been proven possible, we need a new stride: to manage a growing team (25 people!) to all head in the same direction, with clarity, accountability, and orderliness. For this new stride we're turning to EOS, guided by our new COO (Derek) whose twin loves are:

1. Helping people understand Scripture
2. Running business well (using EOS)

We have a solid start with #1. Thanks to Derek, we're now on track to do #2 as well. Next week is our Focus Day as a Leadership Team, when we remove all confusion about who's responsible for what and what the priorities really are. We'll implement ways to track our progress and track issues that need resolving. And we'll eat chocolate and cheesecake as we remind ourselves of Proverbs 14:4, which I'll here paraphrase: Where there is no dream, there is no business mess, but with the strength of a dream God accomplishes mighty things. 

We're a bit nervous, like kids headed off to college, about to be scrutinized and evaluated by the real world. We're excited to learn tools to take the vision God has entrusted to us and make it go from dream to reality: Translation teams all over the world delighting in the Psalms, because the text has finally come alive for them and, in it, the teams see their God.

They see the God who pours out anger on the wicked but is loyal and tender toward his afflicted. They see the God who loves them, and they're able to translate that love into their own language, so yet another generation can praise him and say, "He has done it!"