V2MOM in Action | eGuide Tech Allies
By Gregory Perrine - eGuide Founder
I was introduced to V2MOM while reading Trailblazer by Marc Benioff in 2019. The combination of how the methodology combines values and obstacles as filters to help realize intentions for the year made perfect sense. So we set out in 2020 to give the framework a try, not realizing there was a pandemic that was going to flip the world upside down right around the corner.
2020 was a bust, I won’t lie. There were too many changes, and too many unexpected turns to navigate, so all of the measures we had so meticulously laid out for the year were uprooted, put through a blender, and thrown in the compost bin.
As things stabilized in 2021, we set out again to drive the vision forward this time with much better success. The team was growing and as new members joined us we were able to introduce the concept and provide global context to what we're trying to achieve by the end of the year.
The real magic though started to happen when we set out for building our 2022 vision.
2022 The Vision
For starters, we had a larger, more solidified team, so which meant we could distribute goals into targeted focus areas. Following a full V2MOM strategy session at the end of 2021, this is how the vision broke down:
Sales / Business Development
Scale eGuide to 400K
Increase conference technology support work (35K)
End the year with a clear idea of how to double next year
Receive consistent referrals from our association and organization partners (ACN, ILEA, MPI)
Operations
Increase operational efficiency by niching down and standardizing the services we offer
Finish 2022 with autonomous teams
Empower the team to do great work with great people
Streamline tech stack and automation
Marketing
Increase content marketing output by sharing production of content (Blog posts, marketing materials, Proposify templates)
Execute 4 Paid Marketing Campaigns that result in tangible business
Business
Establish a 401K and Retirement option for all FTEs
Solidify an appealing benefits package for FTE, PTE, and 1099 employees.
Greg - work more “on the business” than “for the business”
I’m happy to report that the vision didn’t change. By mid-year, it was clear that we were going to surpass our target revenue for the year (Yay!), but instead of going back in and revising the vision to match the new projection, we left it as is.
Why?
What a great feeling to have at the end of the year that we blew our revenue goal out of the water, right?
Methods That Meant Something
Staying true to V2MOM, the ‘V’ is nothing without the ‘M-s’. So as we began to break down the path we needed to take to get to the reality of the vision. Utilizing the same business departments we started to work through the equation:
Vision = Method + Trackable Measures
This lead us to think through conversations that streamlined our operations through SOPs, reduced our technology, created a cohesive tech stack, and leveraged our partnership-first approach by activating our networking muscles.
Here are a few methods to give you a better idea:
Sales & Business Development: Network with event agencies and leverage event network to increase sales
Operations: Only sell 5 things
Business: Walk away from situations that don’t align with our values
Marketing: Invest in tools that will make things easier
Measures | The Big Wins
If the above examples seem a little vague, you are correct. Methods are not about the endpoints, they are about the journey we are taking to get there. If you are looking for calendar dates, you will find them in Measures.
Since this whole post is about being transparent, I’m here to say we didn’t execute our measures perfectly, and guess what? We still surpassed our visions. There were moved dates, added projects, and a few that had to trickle over to this year. However, by operationalizing our V2MOM by having monthly deep dives, and moving project plans into action by leveraging our project management software momentum was always moving forward, and there was always progress to report.
Some of our major success stories for the year include:
Attending 4 networking events per month
Create SOPs/Workflows for Accounting, Coaching, Systems, and Digital teams by the end of Q1
Draft firm job descriptions for all team members by the end of Q1
Develop the eGuide Intranet “The Hub” by the end of August
Obstacles That Stood in Our Way
Have you heard of New Shiny Object Syndrome? If you haven’t head over to the blog written by eGuide’s Clayton here. I am not immune to the syndrome that plagues so many self-funded organizations. Part of being small is being able to activate new ideas in rapid succession.
Reallocating your organization's resources can, unfortunately, suck your and your team’s bandwidth, taking your eye off all of the projects that should be moving forward, and causing a complete shift in the vision.
This almost (thankfully) happened to us. I got the idea to launch a digital community for small organization leaders. Don’t get me wrong, to this day I think it’s a great idea, but as we got into finalizing the design for the welcome gift that we were going to send out as the invitation. I had this realization that I was creating another business within my business.
FULL STOP. If I hadn’t taken the step back and had the vision for the year, this would have caused a new engine to start, sucking the limited resources our already taxed team had to bring this idea to life.
It’s one thing to brainstorm, it’s another to activate. So entrepreneurs take heed, finding a spot to put your “brilliant ideas” that aren’t into the laps of your team members should happen and happen often.
A New Value
As we began to brainstorm for our vision in 2023, it became clear that what our V2MOM did for us in 2022 was align our team, increase our collaboration, and create systems that worked with us, instead of against us. We also learned that we created some pretty incredible accountability measures, so much so, that as we were looking at our values it felt like something was missing.
We don’t take core values lightly. For some reason, I always think about the movie Inside Out, where our core values act as our core emotions. They are the lifeline that continues to drive everything that we do and the filter we pass every major decision through. So to consider adding a new character to the helm needed a few weeks of thought and deliberation.
Where did we land?
Adding to the solid suite of the core values listed below, we are happy to share that “Collaborate with kind accountability” has been added as our fifth core value. This speaks to the innate ability our team has to utilize candor to support and hold each other accountable. This is also illustrated in our ideal partner relationship by having an open and honest line of communication that helps drive our projects forward.
Our Core Values
Do something that helps someone.
Have fun. Be You.
Learn and Teach.
Finish what you start.
Collaborate with kind accountability.
Conclusion | V2MOM WORKS
This is just a glimpse of the work we put in over the course of last year, and I hope that with this transparency and a few illustrations you are able to better picture how the methodology would work for your organization.
While we learned that V2MOM works when executed properly, we also learned that it works best when it is visited on a weekly/monthly basis, and everyone understands the vision in the same way.
In an effort to practice what we preach, and to help other small organizations hit their goals, we are always here to chat and strategize alongside you.
Your success fulfills our core values and that is why we exist.
Help Someone. Have Fun, Be You. Learn & Teach. Finish What You Start.
