How to Begin Self-Implementing EOS® with Ninety
Self-implementing means your leadership team runs EOS® (the Entrepreneurial Operating System®) on its own, without a Professional EOS Implementer®. In Ninety, you start by holding your first Level 10 Meeting® (L10®) and then add one tool at a time, between meetings.
This guide covers the first three steps of the Ninety Proven Process: your first meeting, a weekly habit with To-Dos, Headlines, and Rocks (your 90-day priorities), and a weekly Scorecard (your weekly metrics dashboard). For the full five-step path, see Welcome to Ninety: Everything You Need to Know.
Step 1: Hold your first Level 10 Meeting®
Watch the video below for a walkthrough of a Level 10 Meeting in Ninety, from scheduling it to rating it at the end.
The video covers:
Scheduling a recurring meeting at a consistent time, with a facilitator and a scribe.
Each section of the agenda: Segue, Scorecard, Rock Review, Headlines, To-Dos, IDS® (Identify, Discuss, and Solve), and Conclude.
Working Issues in IDS, including prioritizing and voting, taking notes, creating To-Dos, and sending Issues to other teams.
Concluding the meeting with a recap, ratings, and the recap email.
The video walks through the full agenda. Your first meeting needs only three sections of it: Segue, IDS, and Conclude.
You've finished Step 1 when three or more leaders meet in Ninety and solve at least one Issue. To get there, invite your leadership team, add a few Issues, schedule your weekly meeting, and run it.
If your leadership team wants to learn the model first, What the Heck Is EOS? by Gino Wickman and Tom Bouwer and Traction® by Gino Wickman explain how EOS works. Find both in the EOS Worldwide Traction Library.
Invite your leadership team
Your leadership team is the small group accountable for running the whole company. It usually includes the person who runs the business day-to-day and the leaders of sales and marketing, operations, and finance. Aim for at least three leaders in Ninety, since a weekly meeting needs a team to meet with. One person can hold two seats, so a three-person leadership team is common.
Owners, Admins, Implementers, and Managers can invite users. Managers can invite only into licenses your account already has. To invite your leaders:
Click Add Teammates in the left navigation.
Choose a licensed role for each leader (Owner, Admin, Manager, or Team Member, also called Managee) so they can own Rocks, Issues, and To-Dos.
Enter the email address and choose Leadership Team in the Team(s) dropdown.
Click Add another user for the next leader, then click Add teammates.
Ask each leader to accept the invitation email from helpful@ninety.io.
Tip: Give anyone outside the leadership team their own team first. If you invite someone who isn't a leader, create a team for them before you send the invitation so they don't land in the leadership meeting.
Add the rest of your company as Inactive users for now. Inactive users can't log in to Ninety and don't use a license, and you can still place them in a seat when you build The Accountability Chart® (your org structure in EOS) later. Owners and Admins can add everyone at once:
Click Directory, then click Import users via CSV.
Download the template.
Enter Inactive in the Role column for everyone who isn't on the leadership team.
Upload the file in Company Settings > Data Import.
Important: Fill in the Role column for every row. Anyone left blank is imported as a Managee, which uses a paid license.
For the full steps, see Adding and Inviting Users to Your Account and Importing a Bulk Set of Users.
Add your first Issues
Issues are the problems, obstacles, ideas, and opportunities your team needs to solve, and solving them takes up most of a Level 10 Meeting. Before your first meeting, ask every leader what's working and what's not. Whatever isn't working becomes an Issue. Have each leader add at least two. What's working makes good material for your Segue.
Click Issues in the left navigation and choose the Leadership Team.
Open the Short-Term tab.
Click + Add Issue, type a short title, and press Enter.
Click the Issue's row to add an owner and a sentence of context.
A short-term Issue is anything your leadership team should resolve in the next 90 days, and it doesn't need a solution attached. Anything that can wait longer, like a new location or a future product line, goes on the Long-Term tab for quarterly planning. For more options, see Creating Issues.
Schedule your weekly meeting
Your weekly Level 10 Meeting works best on the same day, at the same time, every week. Block 90 minutes, the standard length of a leadership team Level 10 Meeting, so your team has room to solve Issues. Owners, Admins, Implementers, and Managers can schedule meetings.
Click Meetings in the left navigation and choose the Leadership Team from the Team dropdown.
Click Schedule a Meeting and choose Level 10 Meeting from the Agenda dropdown.
Pick the date and time, then choose a weekly option from the Repeating Meeting Cadence dropdown.
Choose a facilitator and a scribe. The facilitator keeps the meeting on the agenda, and the scribe runs Ninety during the meeting.
Click Schedule, then add the meeting to your work calendar from the popup.
Note: Calendar invitations don't sync with Ninety. If you move the meeting, update it in Ninety and in your calendar.
For calendar options and editing a schedule, see Scheduling Meetings.
Run your first meeting
Your first Level 10 Meeting only needs three sections of the agenda: Segue, IDS, and Conclude. Skip the Scorecard, Rock Review, Headlines, and To-Do List sections for now. Your team adds those in Steps 2 and 3.
The person starting the meeting works from the Upcoming Meetings page. It lists each scheduled meeting with its date, time, agenda, scribe, and facilitator. A meeting's Start button turns on the day of the meeting.
Click Meetings, choose the Leadership Team, and click Start on your scheduled meeting.
Have teammates click Join Meeting to follow along on their own screens.
In Segue, each person shares a piece of good news, one personal and one professional.
In IDS, work your Issues most important first. Identify the real issue, discuss it, and solve it, then capture next steps as To-Dos with one owner each.
In Conclude, recap the To-Dos and have everyone rate the meeting from 1 to 10. A blank rating marks that person absent.
Click Finish to end the meeting and send the recap email.
Once the meeting starts, everyone else on the team who opens Meetings sees the meeting in progress, the section it's on, and a Join Meeting button.
A first meeting might spend five minutes on Segue, 60 minutes on IDS, and five minutes on Conclude. Once your leadership team has solved at least one Issue, you've finished Step 1. For more on each section, see Level 10 Meetings, Powered by Ninety.
Step 2: Make the meeting a habit
Step 2 turns one good Level 10 Meeting into a weekly habit and adds three tools that build accountability: To-Dos, Headlines, and your first Rocks. You've finished Step 2 when your leadership team has held three Level 10 Meetings, in three different weeks, in your regular time slot.
Watch the video below for how to set Rocks in Ninety that get done.
The video covers:
Making Rocks SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound), with milestones you can assign to other people.
Choosing one due date for every Rock, lined up with your next quarterly planning meeting.
Linking Rocks to your 1-year goals and to each other.
Company and departmental Rocks, and who can see each Rock.
Drafting SMART Rocks with Maz, Ninety's AI companion.
Hold meetings two and three in the same slot
The second and third meetings are where the habit forms, because your team learns that an Issue raised this week gets handled next week. Run your Level 10 Meeting in the same weekly slot for the next two weeks, even when the week gets busy.
The Start button on the Upcoming Meetings page turns on the day of the meeting and stays active for 48 hours. If your team has to miss, move the meeting within the same week. A skipped week makes the next one easier to skip. To change a date or time, click the ellipsis on the meeting and choose Edit Schedule, then update your calendar invitation too.
Review To-Dos every week
To-Dos are how a solved Issue turns into action. Each To-Do is a specific action with one owner, due within about seven days. Starting with your second meeting, review last week's To-Dos in the To-Do List section and mark each one done or not done.
During a meeting or anywhere in Ninety, click Create and choose To-Do.
Pick the Leadership Team, an owner, and a due date about seven days out.
In the meeting's To-Do List section, mark each To-Do done or not done.
Aim for 90% or more done each week. If your team falls short, make the To-Dos smaller and keep reviewing them. Each person sees their own To-Dos on their My 90 page.
A good To-Do: "Maria: call Acme's controller about the late invoices, due Tuesday." A To-Do that's too big: "Fix our collections process." That belongs on the Issues list or becomes a Rock, since it won't fit in seven days. For help sorting work, see Choosing Between Rocks, Milestones, To-Dos, and Issues and Creating To-Dos.
Share Headlines
Headlines are one-line updates about customers and employees, good news or bad, shared in the meeting without discussion. They make sure important news reaches the whole leadership team.
Click Create and choose Headline.
Pick the Leadership Team and write the update in one line.
In the meeting's Headlines section, read each Headline. Right-click a Headline that needs discussion to turn it into an Issue.
Examples: "Summit Dental renewed for two more years" and "Jake starts parental leave next Friday." For more, see Introduction to Headlines.
Set your first Rocks
Your first Rocks are the most important things to get done between now and the end of this quarter. Each leader sets one to three, each with one owner. Most teams already have Rock-sized work underway, like a key hire or a process they keep meaning to fix. First Rocks give that work an owner and a deadline.
Owners, Admins, Managers, and Team Members can create Rocks and Issues on their teams. Set your first Rocks as a team, across two Level 10 Meetings:
This meeting, add the Issue. Put "What does winning the quarter look like?" on the Leadership Team's Issues list and discuss it in IDS.
This meeting, take a To-Do. Each leader drafts one to three proposed Rocks from work already in progress.
Before the next meeting, add Rock Candidates. Each leader adds their proposals on the Long-Term tab of the Issues list, titled "Rock Candidate:" followed by the Rock, and ranks them with Issue priority. Put the details in each Issue's description, since that's what carries over to the Rock.
Next meeting, agree and create. Your team chooses its Rocks. For each one, right-click the Rock Candidate and click Create Linked Rock. Everything in the Issue's description box carries over to the new Rock. Set one owner and a due date on the last day of the quarter.
After the meeting, each owner opens their Rock to add a SMART description and two or three dated milestones. Rock Candidates that don't make the cut stay on the long-term list for next quarter.
From now on, your Rock Review section marks each Rock on track or off track every week. An off-track Rock becomes an Issue for IDS.
If your team already set Rocks at a Focus Day®, a planning session, or because you already run EOS, skip the two-meeting process and enter your Rocks as agreed.
Expect about half of your first Rocks to get done by the end of the quarter. That's normal, and strong teams reach 80% or more within a few quarters. For the steps, see Creating and Setting Up Rocks, Adding Milestones to Your Rocks, Making Rocks SMART, and Creating and Refining Rocks with AI Assistance from Maz.
After Step 2, your Level 10 agenda runs Segue, Rock Review, Headlines, To-Do List, IDS, and Conclude.
Step 3: Track your numbers every week
Step 3 adds the Scorecard: 5–15 weekly numbers that show how the business is doing, each with one owner and a weekly goal. You've finished Step 3 when every number has been entered before every meeting for four weeks in a row.
Watch the video below for how to build a leadership Scorecard in Ninety.
The video covers:
What a Scorecard is for: 5–15 leading indicators that help your team spot Issues early.
Choosing what to measure using your Accountability Chart, vision, and core processes.
Creating a Measurable, including its owner, units, goal, and goal ranges.
Entering and backfilling numbers, sharing a Measurable across teams, and viewing trends.
Turning a run of off-track numbers into an Issue.
Tell your company what's changing
Before you build the Scorecard, your CEO gives the company a short heads-up that the leadership team has started a new way of running the business. People notice when leaders start meeting differently, and hearing it from them first prevents rumors. Nothing changes for anyone else's role yet, and no one new needs access to Ninety.
Share it at an all-hands meeting, by email, or in team chat. For example: "Our leadership team has started meeting every week using EOS, a system to get clearer on priorities and solve issues faster. Nothing changes for your role today. Over the next couple of months, we'll share more, including where we're headed as a company."
Build your first Scorecard
Build your first Scorecard as a team, across two Level 10 Meetings, so every leader owns at least one number and trusts what it shows. Owners, Admins, Implementers, and Managers can create Measurables.
This meeting, add the Issue. Put "Do we know our numbers?" on the Leadership Team's Issues list and discuss it in IDS. If you could see one page of numbers each week and know exactly how the business is doing, what would be on it?
This meeting, take a To-Do. Either every leader drafts the weekly numbers for their area, or one person drafts a list of 5–15.
Next meeting, review the list. Keep the weekly, activity-based numbers, and kill or combine the rest.
Next meeting, agree and build. Give each number one owner and a weekly goal (a best guess is fine to start). One person takes a To-Do to build the Scorecard in Ninety.
Pick numbers your team can influence this week, since activity numbers show trouble before it reaches your financials.
Seat | Example Measurables |
Sales and marketing | New leads, sales appointments held, proposals sent |
Operations | Jobs completed, on-time completion rate, callbacks or rework |
Finance and administration | Cash balance, receivables over 30 days, invoices sent |
To build it in Ninety:
Click Scorecard in the left navigation and choose the Leadership Team.
Add each agreed Measurable with a name, owner, unit, and weekly goal.
To bring in numbers you already track in a spreadsheet, paste them with bulk actions.
Note: Your weekly Scorecard starts blank. The Leadership Team's quarterly Scorecard comes with 17 default Measurables. See Ninety's Default Measurables.
Your first Scorecard won't be perfect, and it doesn't need to be. Expect it to improve over one to three months of weekly use. For the steps, see Introduction to Scorecards, Creating and Updating Measurables, and Performing Bulk Actions in the Scorecard Tool.
Enter your numbers every week
Each Measurable's owner enters its number before every Level 10 Meeting. A Scorecard is only useful when it's complete, because one missing number hides the trend your team needs to see. A simple routine works: every owner updates their numbers by the end of the day before the meeting.
You can type each week's value into its column, paste numbers from a spreadsheet with bulk actions, or fill them in automatically. To connect other tools, see Using Zapier to Update Your Scorecard in Ninety and Connecting Other Tools to Ninety.
Add the Scorecard review to your meeting
Review your Scorecard for about five minutes near the start of each Level 10 Meeting. On-track numbers get a nod. Off-track numbers become Issues, and your team discusses them in IDS.
Run the Scorecard section of your Level 10 agenda instead of skipping it.
Click an off-track Measurable to create an Issue from it.
Work that Issue in IDS like any other.
For example, if "Proposals sent" has a goal of 12 and the actual number is 7, it becomes the Issue "Proposal volume is down for the second week." With the Scorecard added, your Level 10 agenda runs every section: Segue, Scorecard, Rock Review, Headlines, To-Do List, IDS, and Conclude.
If you've already held a Focus Day®
If your leadership team already held a Focus Day, on its own or with an Implementer, you already have the tools Steps 1 and 2 build. Bring your Accountability Chart, Rocks, Scorecard, and Issues into Ninety, run your weekly Level 10 Meeting with the full agenda, and pick up at Step 3 by entering your numbers every week. To move your tools over, see Transferring and Uploading Your Existing Data to Ninety. To run a Focus Day in Ninety with its built-in agenda, see Preparing for and Running Your Focus Day® on Ninety.
What happens after Step 3
After Step 3, your leadership team turns to structure and vision, and then brings the rest of the company in. In Step 4, you build The Accountability Chart, draft your Vision/Traction Organizer® (V/TO®), choose a Rollout Champion, hold a State of the Company Meeting, start department Level 10 Meetings, and hold your first Quarterly Planning Meeting. In Step 5, you plan every quarter and bring each new team through the same steps.
For Step 4 and the company-wide rollout, see Expanding EOS® Beyond Your Leadership Team: A Company-Wide Rollout Guide.
For the V/TO, see Introduction to the V/TO.
For quarterly planning, see Quarterly Meetings on Ninety.
For self-implementation resources from EOS Worldwide, see EOS Academy®.
We're here to help
Ninety offers free live webinars, workshops, and office hours with our software and client success experts. If you need help right away, click the chat icon in the bottom-right corner of any Ninety page. For short videos on each tool, see the Setting Up Ninety videos in Welcome to Ninety: Everything You Need to Know.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a Focus Day to self-implement EOS in Ninety?
No. Ninety's path for self-implementers starts with a weekly Level 10 Meeting and adds Rocks and the Scorecard over the next few weeks. If your team already held a Focus Day, bring those tools into Ninety and pick up at Step 3.
How many Rocks should each leader set in the first quarter?
One to three first Rocks per leader, each with one owner and a due date on the last day of the current quarter. At your first Quarterly Planning Meeting, your team sets three to seven company Rocks and three to seven per leader.
What if we have to miss a week?
Move the meeting to another day in the same week. A skipped week makes the next one easier to skip, and the weekly habit is what Step 2 builds.
Our Scorecard isn't right yet. Should we wait to use it?
No. Start with your best guess at each goal and enter your numbers every week. Most first Scorecards take one to three months of weekly use to get right.
Can Maz help us self-implement?
Yes. Maz, Ninety's AI companion, answers questions about how EOS and Ninety work, drafts SMART Rocks, and suggests Measurables. Maz is available on any paid plan. See Introduction to Maz.