Additional Tool: Assistant Track

EOS Assistance Track

Overview:

The EOS Assistance Track is a five-step process designed to improve time management and free up leaders to focus on their "highest and best work" (tasks that create the most value for the business). It addresses the issue of leaders spending time on low-value tasks ( "$25/hour work"). The core principle is to leverage assistance from others to delegate and offload tasks that do not require the leader's direct attention or specialized skills. It's a tool taught during the IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) portion of a Quarterly Pulsing session, triggered when a team member needs help with organization, detail, or letting go of tactical responsibilities.

Key Themes and Ideas:

• Time Management and Delegation: The track is fundamentally about effective time management and ensuring leaders are not bogged down in tasks that can be handled by others. It emphasizes the importance of delegating lower-value tasks. As stated in the sources, "If anyone on the leadership team finds themselves doing $25/ hour work, that’s a mistake. We’ve got to free you up to do the stuff that creates the most value in the business."
• Leveraging Assistance (Not Just Assistants): The program is designed to be accessible to everyone, not just those with dedicated personal assistants. It focuses on utilizing existing resources and support within the organization. The video transcript states, "This is about how you leverage assistance from someone around you, be it someone dedicated to you or someone who supports multiple people to help free you up."
• The Five Steps of the Assistance Track:

1. Delegate and Elevate®: This initial step involves identifying and delegating tasks that fall into the bottom two quadrants of the "Delegate and Elevate" exercise. It builds upon concepts taught in Vision Building Day 2. "The Assistance Track helps you make sure you are delegating everything in those bottom two quadrants so you can free yourself up to do work you love and are great at."
2. The Stack: This step is about processing tasks efficiently by only touching them once. Anything that can be delegated is placed in a "stack" for the assistant to handle. "When something comes to you, you can be most efficient if you only touch it once."
3. Daily Meeting: A brief (15-minute) daily meeting between the leader and the assistant to hand off "The Stack", answer questions, and provide necessary information. "You and the person providing assistance to you simply meets with you for 15 minutes and you make sure to deliver everything from the stack to that person."
4. Email System: This involves entrusting email management to the assistant, who filters, prioritizes, and even responds to emails on the leader's behalf. Emails are categorized as Junk, Informational, or Requiring a Response. "The email system simply works like this. When you get an email, it's going to fall into one of three categories. The first category is junk. And junk mail is something your assistant is going to just delete for you." The goal is for the assistant to eventually handle 50-60% of email responses.
5. Your Schedule: This entails delegating calendar management, appointment scheduling, and travel booking to the assistant. It's emphasized that this must be a complete handover for it to be effective.

• Time Savings: The Assistance Track is estimated to save a significant amount of time each week. The documents provide minimum estimates for each step, suggesting a potential savings of several hours per week.
• Email System Details:
• Junk: The assistant deletes these immediately.
• Informational: The assistant filters and delivers these to the leader at a predetermined frequency (e.g., twice a month).
• Requires Response: The assistant either responds on behalf of the leader (ideally 50-60% of the time) or presents the email to the leader in a preferred format (e.g., starred in the inbox, read via voicemail).
• Flexibility within Structure: While encouraging implementation of all five steps, it's acknowledged that clients might only adopt two or three. The emphasis remains on driving adoption where it's most impactful.
• When to Teach: The Assistance Track is taught when the implementer sees a need for it, such as when a client isn't delegating, doing low value work, or struggling with the tactical. The goal is to teach it as part of the 20 tools in the toolbox.

Potential Challenges and Considerations:

• Letting Go of Control: The email system and schedule delegation steps can be challenging for leaders who are accustomed to having direct control over these areas.
• Finding the Right Assistant: The success of the Assistance Track depends on having a trustworthy and competent person in the assistant role.
• Implementation isn't always Linear: It's okay if the client picks and chooses from the five steps, but the implementer should encourage the client to use all five steps.

Conclusion:

The EOS Assistance Track provides a structured approach to time management and delegation, aiming to free up leaders to focus on high-value activities. By implementing the five steps, leaders can potentially reclaim significant time and improve their overall effectiveness.

RYT Podcast is a passion product of Tyler Smith, an EOS Implementer (more at IssueSolving.com). All Podcasts are derivative works created by AI from publicly available sources. Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved.