WP145 | How EOS Brings Stability and Purpose to Your Business with Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC
Are you tired of holding your entire group practice together with grit, late-night Google searches, and sheer willpower? 😵💫 You are so not alone.
Whitney Owens sits down with group practice owner and EOS expert Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC, to talk about what happens when you finally stop white-knuckling your business and implement structure that actually works. Tara went from chaotic growth and burnout to clarity, calm, and a team that’s rowing in the same direction—and she’s sharing exactly how she did it using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).
✨ You’ll learn:
What EOS is (and why it’s not just for giant corporations)
How structure creates freedom (and less stress)
Why Visionaries need Integrators (aka, your sanity-saver)
How clarity invites the right team members and gently releases the wrong ones
What a Level 10 (L10) meeting looks like—and why it’s a game-changer
Plus, Whitney gets real about how God has used her business to do some deep, refining work in her own heart.
Whether you’re brand new to group practice or knee-deep in leadership, this episode is for you. Get ready for lightbulb moments, honest laughs, and practical takeaways you can use this week.
What Exactly Is EOS?
EOS is an operating system designed for businesses to gain clarity, organization, and traction. It revolves around six core components:
Vision – Where are you going, and how will you get there?
People – Do you have the right people in the right seats?
Data – Metrics that tell the real story (not just gut feelings).
Issues – Identifying problems and solving them permanently.
Process – Documented systems that everyone follows.
Traction – Rhythms and routines to keep everyone aligned.
Tara puts it perfectly: “EOS is like the picture on the puzzle box. You already have the pieces—EOS shows you what the final image looks like and how to put it together.”
Life Before EOS: The Chaos
Before implementing EOS, Tara described her group practice as a “burning ball of energy”—exciting but unsustainable. She was doing all the things: hiring, delegating tasks, reading every business book imaginable (The Advantage, Extreme Ownership, Measure What Matters), yet still lacking a cohesive structure.
Sound familiar? Many owners juggle strategy, culture, hiring, and growth without a clear framework. The result? Overwhelm, blurred boundaries, and a constant feeling of “I can’t hold all of this in my head.”
What Changed With EOS?
Once Tara fully implemented EOS (after a false start where she admits she jumped in too fast), everything shifted:
Clarity: Everyone knows the vision and their role in it.
Accountability: No more vague expectations. Clear roles + clear outcomes = better results.
Ownership: Problems don’t all land on Tara’s desk. Team members own their seats.
Calm: No more frantic problem-solving. Issues live on an “Issues List” and get addressed in structured weekly meetings.
As Tara says, “The energy now is funneled into the right places. It’s just… healthier.”
When Should You Start Using EOS?
Tara’s advice? As soon as you have even one or two employees. EOS isn’t just for massive teams; it works for any business that wants to grow with intention. The earlier you implement it, the easier it is to build strong habits from the start.
That said, timing matters for you, too. Whitney admitted she wasn’t ready when she first read Traction—but after her practice matured and she hired a fractional integrator, EOS became a game-changer.
Practical First Steps
Read Traction (and maybe the fable-style Get a Grip).
Identify your Visionary and Integrator roles (Rocket Fuel explains this dynamic).
Start small: Even implementing Level 10 meetings—structured weekly meetings for your leadership team—can create massive change.
Why EOS Works for Group Practices
Therapists often struggle with accountability and structure because, well, we’re wired for empathy, not enforcement. EOS bridges that gap by creating systems that aren’t punitive—they’re clear. Employees know expectations and can choose to opt in (or out). That transparency builds trust and keeps everyone rowing in the same direction.
Want Help Implementing EOS?
Tara runs a bi-annual EOS Mastermind for group practice owners. It’s designed to take you from “I have the book, now what?” to confidently implementing EOS with support and accountability.
She also hosts The Culture-Focused Practice Podcast, where she dives deeper into EOS strategies and leadership for group practice owners.
And if you’re EOS-curious but not ready to dive in yet, join her free Facebook group: The EOS Collective for Group Practices.
Show Sponsor My Best Practice
Therapists love My Best Practice—because it makes evidence-based care easy.
You get:
- AI SOAP and Progress Notes
- Telehealth and Group Appointments
- 2-Way Google Calendar Sync
- A Mobile App for phones
- Group Notes and Payroll Reports
- Customizable Forms, Notes, and Treatment Plans
- A simple, one-click notes system for CBT, ACT, DBT, EMDR, TF-CBT, and more
Plus, MBP handles your routine outcome measures automatically—with scheduling, autoscoring, and auto-charting.
It’s no wonder MBP was the first EHR ever awarded 5 out of 5 stars by Choosing Therapy and won Best Overall EHR in Mental Health for 2025.
Need to switch from another system? MBP offers standard onboarding support free for all customers, and now offers White Glove Migration to handle the entire transfer for you.
Get 3 months free through my link:
https://referral.mbpractice.com/ref/wisepractice
Tara Vossenkemper’s Resources
Culture Focused Practice Podcast
EOS Collective for Group Practices
Links and Resources
Looking for support and connection: Join the Wise Practice Community
Learn More about Wise Practice Consulting
Connect with Wise Practice on Instagram
-
[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: Therapists love my best practice 'cause it makes evidence-based care easy. With this EHR you'll get ai, soap and progress notes, telehealth and group appointments. Two-way Google calendar syncing a mobile app for phones, group notes and payroll reports, customizable forms, notes, and treatment plans. And a simple one click note system for C-B-T-A-C-T-D-B-T-E-M-D-R and trauma-focused CBT and more.
Plus my best practice handles your routine outcome measures automatically with scheduling, auto scoring, and auto charting. It's no wonder my best practice was the best EHR awarded five out of five by choosing therapy and best overall EHR in mental health for 2025. Need to switch from another system. My best practice offers standard onboarding support free for all customers, and now offers the white glove migration to handle the entire transfer process just for you.
To get three months free to try it out, just use my link. You can either get it in the show notes or head to wise practice consulting.com. Check out the practice resources and click on my best practice. Hi, I'm Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant, and I'm here to tell you that you can have it all.
Wanna grow your practice, wanna grow your faith? Wanna enjoy your life outside of work, you've come to the right place. Each week on the Wise Practice Podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith-based practice while also having a good time. Now, let's get started.
[00:01:37] Jingle: Wish grows you a pr.
She don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owen and the Wise Practice Podcast. Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:01:56] Whitney Owens: Welcome back to the Wise Practice Podcast. I wanna start out this episode today. By sharing something that's been kinda weighing on my heart. But you know, it's in a good way.
I love talking about the deep, authentic things and how God works within us and through us and in our businesses. 'cause God doesn't waste anything, right? I mean, especially our work as practice owners, we often step into leadership thinking about strategy and structure and success and profit and all these business things.
But what I have found. And what I keep finding, it's the important work, is that God is using our practice as a way to mold us to become more fully like him. Now, this process is not easy, whew. In fact, it's often super painful, but it's holy and it's sacred. Our businesses are the ground where God refines us.
He's teaching us and he's drawing us closer to him. And I am sensing this even within me now. So you're gonna hear more about EOS, which is an entrepreneur operating system and fractional integrators in our episode today. Yes, it's a funny word, it sounds a little mathematical, but you're gonna learn about it in the episode today.
But this is where it all comes together for me in this moment right now. I've had to confront some hard truths about myself ever since I hired a fractional integrator and started implementing EOS in my practice. And this is a slow process, but a good process as God is changing me. It's brought up some old wounds that I've had around control, trust, and disappointment in other people in my life.
It's brought up incredible healing too. God is using this season to surround me with people who care about me, who support me, and who reflect grace. This has been a different experience for me, and I am learning slowly to release my grip. And lean into the beauty of authentic, trusting relationships, even when it's hard.
But I know God is with me each step of the way and giving me all the support I need to move forward. One of my favorite parts about owning a group practice is that it consistently calls me to deeper relationship with God and a deeper dependency on him. He uses it to purify me and reminds me that I don't have to do it all on my own.
Literally, thank God. It's truly like the Bible says beauty from ashes. And so in today's episode, you're gonna hear from someone who knows the journey. That's Tara Sen Kemper. She's a group practice owner, a consultant, and an EOS follower where she has implemented this in her group practice and she teaches others to do the same.
She helps people find clarity, freedom, and build a strong team that they can trust. So whether you're new to EOS or maybe you're like, what the heck does that mean? This conversation is for you, so let's dive in.
Today on the podcast I have Tara Sen, Kepper, PhD, LPC, group, practice consultant, group practice owner and speaker. She helps leadership. Teams build thriving teams and culture without losing their minds in the process. Known for blending humor with actionable insights. Tara leverages her own experience running a successful mid-size group practice to help other leaders tackle hiring challenges, streamline their systems using EOS, and create workplace people genuinely love.
Well, girl, I've been looking forward to this interview for weeks. Yay. I'm excited. Yeah, same. Wonderful. Okay, so people probably heard all that and they're like, wait, what is EOS? So we're definitely gonna talk about what that is. Before we get into that, can you just share a little bit about your practice, you know, where you're at, what's your, what's your dynamic like?
And then let's go into what EOS is.
[00:06:11] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: Cool. So I have a two location practice in Missouri. We're in mid-Missouri, so for anybody who knows Columbia, you're into football. Mizzou, that's like that city, you know, and Jefferson City, which is the state capital. Fun fact for those who might not know. And let's see.
I started the group practice with like intentionality. I like shifted into group practice mode and I think 2018. Scaled and grew pretty quick, and so it scaled and grew pretty quick from there. And then we went through hiccups and bumps. Of course, I feel like, like any group practice does implemented EOS, which we'll talk about effectively and accurately in 2021.
And yeah, I think I have 20 employees we're hiring or the process of hiring a few more right now, a few more clinicians. My goal is probably not to be above 40 employees ever. Something like that. And yeah, that's a sort of a lame answer, but I think that's it. Great. Unless there's more that I should say.
Yes, it's a lovely answer. Wonder. Okay.
[00:07:15] Whitney Owens: All right. All right. So tell us what is
[00:07:19] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: EOS? Okay, so EOS is the entrepreneurial operating system developed by Gina Wickman, and I think it was popularized by his book. Traction. That's where he gets into the, I have, I literally keep it with me. I di not even on purpose.
This was not planned. I just have it right next to me. You have it too. I know you're digging. Yeah. You get it. It's right there. Yeah. Perfect. This is, so if you wanna know about e os, read the book, traction by Gino Wickman. But it is a, and actually there's a Fable version called Get A Grip that I really highly recommend because it's, it's like a storied version of a.
A fake company implementing EOS. And so when I started it all, I, I bounced back and forth between traction and get a grip. I mean, multiple times I was listening to get a grip on audio, I would go back and reference a section in traction, you know, to say like, okay, let me look at rocks again and read about it and all the different places.
And so EOS is like effectively an operating system for your business. It's comprised of six key components, so vision, data, people, process issues. My favorite. Splice of that pie. It is. And then traction itself, which is like a cadence, rhythm, meeting, pulse, accountability, et cetera. So I, I was just talking with somebody the other day.
I, I feel like a lot of us, by us, I mean group practice owners, you know, we start, we're basically building our bridge as we cross it. I felt that way the entire time. Or I'm like building this thing out. I don't know what the hell I'm doing, so I'm just sort of like. Like putting a, you know, a, a board of wood in front of me as I'm like going across this giant ravine trying to figure out like, okay, I, I need to get there.
Like next step, next step, next step. And so that's great. And ultimately from that, what we get is like a bunch of systems and processes and we get workflows and we hire people and we, you know, offload what we need to, we learn how to delegate tasks, maybe not. You know, projects and like ownership. You know, we've learned that later on, I think.
But at least initially we know how to, we learn how to delegate tasks. And so group practice owners, I think, know what they are doing to an extent. But then it's like there's no system in place to keep everything organized and also with a clear view of why you're doing what you're doing and where you're actually going, and then how to like contain.
It's just how to contain it all. When I think about EOS, like it's, it's like, it's like taking all of the pieces and actually, like it's the picture on the puzzle box is what it is. It's where you're able to, like, you hold up, you know, you put the picture on the puzzle box, you set it up, then you flip all of your pieces over and then you like look at this picture and you're like, oh, that's what it like, that's what it's supposed to look like.
Oh, okay. And you start like putting this thing together and then you. It's yours. You did it. You know, you have the pieces, you put it together, you did all, you bought the puzzle, whatever, but the organization for hand, conceptually, how do I do all of this stuff? How do I keep track of everything? How do I make sure that we're tending to like the vision and ensuring that everyone knows where we're going and people who join, or the right cultural fit.
You know, there's a lot of things that have to be done. I'm saying this, I'm not, I don't mean to, like, I'm not preaching to you, but it's like, no, you know, there's a lot of things that have to be done and then the ability to hold them all. Inside of our head, I think is, I would say for me that's impossible.
So having the structure in place, always running in the background, I know exactly. Like if something pops in my mind, I'm like, oh, okay, cool. Let me put that over here. And I just place it where it needs to go because based on our rhythm, I know we're gonna visit that in a, in the next quarter. I know here's an issue, not immediate time sensitive, pressing.
It's gonna go on the issues list of our weekly meeting and we'll get to it this next week probably. So it, like, for me, EOS now I'm like getting into like, it's so great, you know, like on a soapbox or something. But it, it really does answer a lot of the, it answers all the questions. It, for me, it's like, oh no, this, this answers all the questions.
[00:11:37] Whitney Owens: Yeah,
[00:11:38] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: there's space for everything. There's a place for everything.
[00:11:42] Whitney Owens: Yes, you have explained it very well. I enjoy Oh, thank you. Thank you for your analogies. I'm kind of laughing 'cause I can, I can really understand that for myself. And then, yeah, so, all right, so let's kind of, let's go back a little and kind of talk about what was your practice like?
I love your coffee Cup World's best boss. Mm-hmm. Okay. So what your practice was like before EOS and why you felt like it was important to make the change.
[00:12:14] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: Yeah, it's hard to go back there entirely 'cause it's been, it's just been a few years and it's been honestly a few years and two extra kids and like EMDR and neurofeedback.
Like, there's been so much that's happened in between, you know, so. Here is the, when I like think back and it sort of feels like I'm an outsider now looking back, you know, 'cause like it's hard to get back in my, like, into the felt sense of that state. 'cause it was so long ago. I, I think it just was a really intense ball of energy.
And so this thing is like burning hot. It's growing fast. People, like, you know, people are drawn to it. It's exciting, it's intense. I have a lot of, I don't know if it comes across right now, but broadly speaking, I have a lot of, like, I can be very intense and like excitable, you know, so I can come across as pushy.
So that's a lovely trait about me. But my point is that like was all in the beginning, I sort of felt like, I feel like when I look back, I was, I was this juggernaut. I was just like. You know, blasting through life and like building this thing big. And I were, I know I consistently felt like I don't, I'm not, I don't get it, like I'm doing these things, but I never could find something that helped me ground myself.
I never could find like a large framework that helped me round the, all of the pieces of business and how they all talked. So I could talk to you about all the pieces of business if you were like, Hey, here's a problem. I'd be able to say, oh, okay, cool. Well, you know, what's your data look like and what's this look like?
And you know, of course data and tracking. And then like, is there a person that does this thing for you? And okay, the quadrant of what do you like and what are you good at? And try to offload these things first. And so I, you know, I was reading the Lencioni books that I love and I was reading Revisited, which I don't love as much, but is very popular and I was reading.
Measure what matters. And I was reading Extreme Ownership, which I really love, and I'm like reading all these books and I just can't figure out. And it's also one of those things like I didn't know what I needed. I couldn't say what it was that I needed. So I knew I needed something, but I couldn't tell you what, and I kept trying to do all of this stuff to figure out how do I like keep this all, how do I make sense of all this stuff?
How do I make sense of all of this? And so. Let's just say, let me shrink this down before EOS, when we implemented it effectively the second time, 'cause I tried it once and it did not, I didn't do it the right way. I, I got impulsive and I just started without actually looking into the order in which you're supposed to do it.
So before any EOS it was just, it was, I was just like going hard and. I felt like I was, the energy and the pulse behind the entire thing and my team was great, but so it, you know, they were great. And I have some people who are still with me, which is wild to think about, like from the inception all the way to this point.
And it like was not sustainable. It's like burning hot and then burning out. And then there was COVID and then there was my second born, and then, oh, I finished a dissertation. I forgot about that. Then I just like met some guy randomly who was doing a bid and he mentioned traction. And so that's how I stumbled into traction.
And I remember reading it and immediately I felt like I had, like, I had come home where I was like, oh, oh my God. Like this is the, this is the thing. Like this is exactly what it is that I have wanted and needed, and I don't, I have not had any language to even explain what it was that I was missing. For people who grew up, like my background is not business.
I have no family in business, I, none of it. I, there's no experience. So doing something, being the first to do something, you know, even surrounded by people that I admire and adore, you know, I mean, I met all these incredible people at masterminds and group practice conferences and, and whatnot. I still didn't feel like I had a thing that helped me really see all of it in, in full scope.
So that was pre EOS. So much talking. I talk a lot. I'm gonna try to keep myself shorter. Sorry. And then you're doing
[00:16:34] Whitney Owens: great
[00:16:35] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: post EOS, just none of that, honestly. It's like all the energy is, I don't know, it's like, yeah, it's just like the opposite of that. Like all the energy is funneled into the right places.
I have checks and balances in place. I don't do things that I'm not good at. But those things live in roles and seats that actually make sense for the entire structure. So it's like there's so much more calm, but things still happen. There's so much more clarity. But it's not rigid and it's not so restrictive that employees feel like they have no autonomy.
There's so much more, it's just so much healthier. Like it's hard to even. It's just way healthier. People own what they're supposed to do. It's not me doing everything. You know, beginning stages is you literally wearing all the hats, hiring out one role and, and then figuring out how to train them, but then you're still solving all the problems that come up for them.
No, none of that. I don't do that anymore.
[00:17:39] Whitney Owens: Mm.
[00:17:40] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: It's not, it doesn't exist. Yeah. And I mean, because of having the right people, but also because of helping people learn how to own problems and learning how to push back, like. Hmm. What do you think? Tell me what you would do. Like, I don't, you're coming to me with a question.
Fine. You know, but also like, you know, we this role better than I do. You're in it, so tell me what you think you should do or what you're thinking. And usually I'm just like, yeah, I'm gonna just do that. That sounds great.
[00:18:08] Whitney Owens: So, yeah. Well, you've touched on a lot of really important points, and I think that even what you just said about.
Holding people accountable. I mean, people who own group practices, therapists. We didn't learn all that stuff. And we tend to be therapists, you know, think the best of people, be kind. We don't wanna set the boundary, they might leave blah, blah, blah. Mm-hmm. But COS allows you to create that structure.
Everyone knows what they're accountable for and the hope is that they're gonna step up to it and not, you know, struggle. But the organization's never gonna move forward. If we're not holding our employees accountable, you know, and then you're able to do that through this structured system. I love that and I, I love that you spoke to the team building part of it.
You know that you're not, I, I don't know if this is an EOS language or not, but like, not rowing the boat by yourself. You're rowing it with your team. Mm-hmm. And everybody knows the boat's going. I think so many practice owners, they're at the front of that boat. Everybody's kind of in the back. Sometimes people rowing, they're playing, they're pulling things out, putting things in, like what's going on with this boat?
You know, EOS puts everyone in the boat in the same direction. Yes, yes it does. Yeah.
[00:19:19] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: Yeah. You know, there's the, you were saying the accountability piece. I think something else that I really love about this is. Once you clarify, you're, you're touching on vision. I don't know if you're doing it on purpose, but in two different ways.
It's the, the boat rowing in the same direction piece. Yeah. Fantastic analogy. Imagine like a bunch of, it's like having a bunch of literally like a, a team of rowers, rowers on board versus a bunch of like puppies and kittens playing. You know, it's like, no, nobody's actually helping and you're just trying to row at the front and you're desperately doing it because the boat's not moving without realizing nobody behind you is.
Nobody's helping you at all. But there's something about vision in here, which is when you get really clear on your vision and an important component to EOS is making sure that whatever it is that's going on is communicated. It's, it's followed by all, they call it FBA, followed by all. And so I'm, I'm very communicative, like we're very transparent.
Everybody knows about EOS. I did a whole ass rollout meeting. That was a mandatory full day meeting where they, we went through this together because I wanted them to know this is how we operate on the backend. So any decision coming like to, at this point, the point at which we're saying, Hey, we're gonna do this thing.
It's gone through this rigorous process. And so none of it is, none of it is without he heavy like intentionality. But the the second piece division, which I freaking love and they feel safe in, it's like, oh, cool, thank you. Like this. They have high levels of trust and there's safety and you know. The second piece of vision is this, oh shoot, what was it?
The, oh, the accountability piece. The more clear you can get on what you're doing and why you're doing it, the more clear you can build out the seats that you need to do that thing, and the responsibilities that need to go with each seat. And when that's communicated to everybody, the right people wanna be there and the wrong people wanna leave.
Yes. And so I am not into coercive. I can't, I can, I just can't, I don't have it in me. I'm not a coercive type person. I'm not a, I'm not a stick type person. I'm like a, a carrot, but also just a, you know, we, oh, I, that's awesome over there. Like, well, I'm going that way. If you guys wanna come with me and then I'm gonna take off and if they wanna come with me, they're gonna come with me.
You know? But when you have that clear vision, you get both the rowing in the same direction. And the accountability piece, it's like people self wean almost where they leave when they realize. After I did that full day rollout meeting, I had people leave and it was like, and one, you know, one, I mean, it was a, it was a good goodbye.
You know, she'd been with me for five years and she was like, I love what you're doing, but I don't think I wanna be a part of it. Like, well, you do you. Yeah. Thanks. You know, thank you for being here and also Sure. Like, that makes sense to me. This is what I want. I want people who wanna be here. Mm-hmm. So in, in like, yeah, I think just adding on that accountability piece isn't like.
It doesn't, it doesn't mean more, you did not say this, but I'm, I wanna like, also, I just wanna further like, expand on it. Accountability does not mean more punitive or like more disciplinary action. It means being very clear about expectations and letting people opt in and if they opt in, trusting them to do it.
And if they don't, circling back and saying, Hey, yeah, that's, you know, that's when we do that. Accountability more the boundary holding piece. So I think I cut you off Whitney, though. I'm sorry.
[00:22:46] Whitney Owens: No, this is, it's such a good conversation and you're absolutely right. Like we give people the expectations and they either choose to follow or choose to do what they want.
And it's okay either way, you know? You know, if you wanna go get in another boat and go in a different direction, go at it, you know? Mm-hmm. We're gonna have
[00:23:01] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: a party on this boat. Yeah, we're gonna party. It's gonna be awesome. Yeah. Be cool or not, but it's cool. We're gonna be fine regardless.
[00:23:08] Whitney Owens: So I'm gonna guess people are listening, thinking, okay.
That that sounds great. Because I would love some more structure and accountability and things to run smoother. I mean, I even heard you say you're not working as hard, like it's not as stressful, like everyone wants this. Right. But at what point in your, and I'm assuming group practice, you know, it sounds like a group kind of thing.
It's like, at what point should you consider implementing EOS?
[00:23:32] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: Well, I would do it right away. The minute you have. An employee or two, boom, get on it. Okay. Us is not like the, the people who, this is from Traction, so this is not Tara talking, I mean it is Tara talking, but it's me remembering what I read in Traction.
It's up to, you know, it's effective up to like a 250 person ish company, but really it's like the spirit of BOS is growth oriented, interested in evolving, self-reflective like. It's that it's people who are entrepreneurial and want to do something. So if you have something set and you love it and you don't wanna change anything, EOS is not for you.
Like, that's not what this is for. It's for groups and companies that want to grow and evolve and scale and whatever that scaling looks like, maybe it's, you know, horizontal or maybe it's vertical, it sort of doesn't matter. But that's the intention. So if you have an employee or two, I would, I would start doing it.
I will say, and this is a me thing because I work best, I get the most clarity and I am most effective when I have somebody with me that I can interface with. So like I, I needed a, I, it would be very hard to do EOS if I was doing it by myself. So having even one person on my leadership team, for example, where I, I knew this person.
Their client care or they're client liaison, you want them to intake coordinator and you think they are so great, I really wanna move them up into like an office manager position. When we get to the right size, that's, I'm gonna put that person immediately on my leadership team. Like they're gonna be with me and they're gonna help me build us out.
And they're gonna take full ownership of whatever seat that is developed is, you know, that's needed. And that's, that's it. I, so I would need a person with me. Because I need the back and forth. That helps me make sense of, you know, it helps me like, see, I don't sort of like echolocation, like I'm a bat in that way.
I need to like send something out and get a message back, and I honestly, I like to be pushed back on. So like, as pushy as I am, I want somebody to push back because then I can really get a sense for like where the boundary is. Like what's the, oh there's the form. Like this is the shape it's taking, you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, so you can though, you can do it with minimal people. Like you don't need to be a 15 person or a 50 or a hundred person company. No, start it now. You have two people in your group. Start it.
[00:26:03] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yes. I love that you take the structure and you allow it to work for what you need it to do. You know? And, and I think people can get religious about things and we, and we don't wanna be that either.
It's how can this work for what I'm doing, but also take me to the next level. It, it's funny because, you know, this book got really popular. I don't really remember exactly when I read it, but I'm gonna guess we probably read it around the same time. So it was a moment in time that. A lot of group practice owners were reading it.
It had been rolled out. I like was sitting on the beach, you know, feet in the sand reading traction. Mm-hmm. Look at me working on my vacation. I know, right? Uhhuh. But this isn't real work. Uhhuh. I'm reading Traction and I was rolling my eyes. That's so funny. That is so funny. It's very interesting because we, hearing you talk today, I mean I haven't like commented on everything, but you and I have very kindred spirit.
I mean, I'm intense. Yeah. Yeah. I, I see it. I see you. Yeah. And I end up in rolling it out maybe too fast. I'm still trying to figure out, out. But anyway, so, so I'm like on the beach and I'm just like, this thing is too much. Like this is too intense. I don't wanna do that. Like, why are people so obsessed with this?
And so I like got over it. I was like, that's ridiculous. You know, whatever. Yeah. And then I read Rocket Fuel.
[00:27:22] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: Mm. Yeah.
[00:27:23] Whitney Owens: Girl. Oh
[00:27:23] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: man.
[00:27:24] Whitney Owens: Maybe. And Uriah Guilford, my man. Yeah, he's always, yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. He was like, Whitney, you're the visionary. You need an integrator. Read rocket fuel. And I was like, yeah, okay.
But that's associated with that traction thing. Yeah. Yeah. So I read it and it's so resonated like in this really deep, deep way. And then I picked up traction again and I was like, oh my gosh, this is exactly what I need, you know? And. And there's something about the timing of it at least. Well, that's what it's been for me.
I don't think my practice was outta place, even though I hear you saying you can definitely implement it sooner. But financially and just the structure of the practice, I wasn't ready for it. Hmm. And now I'm like, you know, kicking and screaming, when are we getting this thing done? Yeah.
[00:28:10] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: Yep. I'm ready. Like it needs to be done today.
[00:28:13] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. So I'm curious about your seats on your leadership team, if you don't mind sharing about that. Oh yeah, sure.
[00:28:23] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: That's, it's so funny, I was talking with my, my, I have, you know, a group of people and, um, I have gone through, let's see, since 2022. I don't know if that's when we like put the accountability chart on.
Paper or something. I don't exactly know, but like the iterations of my accountability chart. So for anybody who doesn't know, accountability chart is not an org chart. It's literally a, it looks similar, but it, it highlights a seat and the five up to five main responsibilities for that seat. They're more global and thematic.
For the visionary, one of my visionary is the seat. One of the responsibilities for visionary is being the culture czar. That's me. I belong in that seat. So I am the visionary at my practice. And so when I referenc, I just wanted to give you context. When I reference accountability, you know, accountability chart.
So when I look back at my accountability chart over the course of like the past three years since we've had it in writing, you know, I just eat all these like little iterations and it's so. Weird and funny to see it sort of evolve over time and come to life. But in that process, what has remained relatively stable are the seats on leadership.
And so the seat names have changed though. So initially I was not full visionary. I did not, that seat was not appropriate for where we were at the practice. It was like, Nope, there's a, we need a managing director. Effectively an integrator, visionary combo, but the language was managing director. Initially we had a director of ops and then a clinical director, and that has sort of MO morphed over time, so you know, the language changes.
Of course, we get the director of ops is now integrator visionaries drawn out as a separate thing. We have a director of clinical operations and then we have a marketing director. And so these are the. Seats that we need for this to run well, like these are the seats in place. So that's my leadership team.
There's four of us in total. And I, the only change I might make, it's funny too 'cause it's like your accountability chart. And again, I'm referencing that because your leadership team is gonna be highlighted on your accountability chart. It evolves as you go. Like it's not, nothing in EOS has said it and forget it.
Give yourself an outline. Give yourself sort of like rules and structure and then go, and every time you go, this thing gets to like pulse and grow with you. And it's sort of changing, you know, changing shape and taking shape as you're doing it. And so on a quarterly basis, for example, depending on the level with which you're scaling or growing or the clarity that you're getting within each quarter between these full day meetings, you might realize that.
You're either hitting a ceiling or you need to make changes on your accountability chart. Cool. Then at that quarterly meeting, accountability chart is an item on your issues list, which is a, you know, it's a very structured component of the meeting, and so you revisit it, and so even as I'm talking about who's on leadership right now, there's something in the back of my brain.
That's telling, talking to me that I've, I've been like voicing this and sort of it, it's like it's percolating for me. It's not enough that it's taking full form, but it's, it lives here. I think something's gonna happen, but there's something around, I don't think A CFO, but something like billing, something billing related, like something about billing or billing management or something like that.
I keep wondering, does, do I need that on leadership? Or do I need, you know, do I need a CFO type? Do I need somebody to help with forecasting and budgeting? And so it's never, whatever is done is never, it's never really done. It's done for right now and for the next like six months. Like when you set something like an accountability chart, you know, you're asking yourself what's the structure of the business needs right now and into the next six to 12 months.
For me, I always think the next like level, the next leg of the business. Yeah. And so, yeah, I think I'm, I think I just started rambling. You asked about leadership and I started waxing and waning about the accountability.
[00:32:49] Whitney Owens: It's great. And I, and I love you sharing how, hey, I don't have this all figured out.
Here's what I'm thinking about, but we'll see how this goes. And you've got a leadership team to review this with and make changes with, and it's, it's really great. So, yeah. Yeah, so you reached out to me about coming on the podcast, talk about EOS. I was like, huh, I'm reading Rocket Field. This is interesting.
And I'd seen some of your posts on social media about the group you're doing for group practice owners, which is so cool, helping them to implement EOS. So I'd seen some of that and I was like, this is great timing. So I ended up actually hiring a fractional integrator. Yeah. Good for you. Yeah. Yes, super. A company called Catalyst I, I looked at a couple of different things, so yeah, so that's really exciting.
I'm actually having my first L 10 meeting on Monday.
[00:33:35] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: Yes. Oh, L 10 meetings. Yeah,
[00:33:39] Whitney Owens: it's like a, I cannot say enough good things. I think traction's funny 'cause it's like a whole verbiage. So it's like I can say that to you and you, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah. Someone else is going, what the heck?
What the, yeah. Yeah. That's also mental health. Like we have so much verbiage in mental health. It's like so much language as therapists. Well, us traction lovers have our own like Yeah, it is a
[00:34:00] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: language.
[00:34:01] Whitney Owens: It's very interesting 'cause I scheduled the L 10 meeting and I was like, okay, we're doing these at this time.
Alright, I gotta get my quarterlies. I schedule my quarter and I go to the integrator and I'm like, by the way, this is the fractional integrator. I was like, by the way, I've done all this. He goes. Wait, slow down. It's okay. He is like, when's your L 10 meeting? And I was like, Monday. And he was like, I lead that meeting.
I was like, what? You lead the meeting? Oh, he was like, I come perfect. I, I come to the quarterly meetings. I was like, wait, you're coming to Savannah Uhhuh? I was like, he was like, you were just running, and I hadn't even told you to do that yet. And I was like, I know. I'm too intense. Mm-hmm. So, anyways, uh, I'm excited and I, I do have a leadership team and I've got this guy that's just perfect to be my integrator for the practice.
You know, this guy, the Al Integrator will help us with implementation, but. Yeah. Anyway, so it'll be interesting to see goes along the way, but I, I think it's great and I love what you're sharing, and I'm seeing all that stuff starting to happen. Oh my gosh,
[00:35:00] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny too, that's El Elton meetings, so they're level 10 for people who are listening.
L 10 is level 10 meetings, and they call them that because you want to rate it at 10 for every meeting. They want it to be rated at a 10, so at the end of each meeting, you have to rate it. A very structured agenda. You know, you've got five minutes for a few key things like a segue and a to-do list, and a score or a segue scorecard.
Gosh, I always forget the order Rock reviewing quarterly rocks, whether they're on or off track, doing client team headlines, reviewing your to-do list, and then spending 60 minutes on issues and not issues where you get to follow your rabbit trails wherever you go. But if we put. The minor intake forms on the issues list, and we start talking about this thing and then all of a sudden somebody talks about billing related to minors and then all of a sudden somebody talks about the service code related to billing for minors.
Nope. No, and no, we're not talking about those. So if we have issues with billing or the service codes, guess where they go on the issues list? And then when we finish what we're talking about, you know, you pick three from your issues list to work through. You only work on those three until you come up with a solution for what the problem is.
Then you pick three more from your issues list. That's what that 60 minutes is about. And so your time in these L 10 and then you recap to do the final five minutes is recapping the to-dos and reading the meeting. Ideally 10 out of 10, you know, and so that's, that's an L 10. It's a 90 minute weekly meeting with your leadership team.
Different from the quarterlies and different from the two day annuals, the two day annual singular, not plural. I, the Elton meetings are, that is, that is where traction takes hold. You can't do, you cannot do this without having a regular cadence and rhythm with key people to move things forward. Period.
It's not gonna happen. I will die on that hill. It will not happen. Yeah. I love that. I'm very pumped. I'm very pumped for you. That's cool. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Also hilarious. Yeah. You running like I got everything scheduled. Your integrator's like, wait, I need to know about this.
[00:37:15] Whitney Owens: He was like, I gotta meet with your team.
And then he was like, in fact, I meet with your team every week one-on-one. I was like, what? It's so
[00:37:21] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: funny. Yeah. That's awesome actually. Yeah. That's really cool.
[00:37:25] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, you and I will have to talk again three months, six months, a year from now, and I can tell you what, how it's going, but Yeah. Yeah. I wanna know.
Keep me posted. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So tell us, so people that are listening are maybe thinking, wow, that sounds really cool. Like, how do I implement EOS? How can I get some help from Tara? Can you talk a little bit about that?
[00:37:45] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: Yeah, so, well, if you want something for free, I don't. If there, if you are interested in free resources, I wouldn't say this is like really highly resource based, but I have a free Facebook group and it's EOS, the EOS collective for group practices.
So you can search that out and join. I am so much more responsive to questions, so if there's ever questions I'm, I'm like. Again, that's like that echolocation piece. I could talk about anything for a long time, but if you say, well just start talking, I'm gonna be like, I don't even, I don't know. Like, what do you wanna know?
I'm, it's hard for me to do that. So I'm saying that to say in the Facebook group, I'm not gonna be a person who posts that much, but I'm gonna be a person that is very responsive and the group is really nice. So far it's small and it's, it's very nice of people in their, yeah, and everybody in there is at least.
Using or interested in using EOS. So it's a shared, not shared value system, but I mean like a shared framework, you know? So that's one thing. What else I do actually, I do a twice year EOS Mastermind. And so this is for people who are, I mean a lot of people have tried to implement EOS and it has felt like what you said the first time it's felt really overwhelming or they.
In my case, read the book and do it wrong. 'cause I'm too freaking impulsive for my own good. Or in other people's cases, they read the book and they set it down. 'cause it's like, no, I'm not doing this, this, it's way too much. Or I don't have the mental space, or I just want somebody to help. Like I can't even organize how to start this thing or get this going.
That's really where the Mastermind is helpful. So it is me literally breaking down each component. You know, it's a twice, twice meeting. Twice, monthly meetings for six months. Obviously a portal recorded stuff, access to re any resources. I'll do extra trainings, like I'll do extra trainings in there. I'm thinking about what did I do once that was really helpful.
Oh, I recorded one of our L 10 meetings and I shared it for the group because some people had started implementing L 10 meetings and they were like, we get, we sort of like stay, we get off base or we follow these trails. And I was like. I'll just record one. My leadership team, of course, they're incredible.
So they were all like, yeah, that's fine. So we recorded this meeting and like shared it so everybody could see. 'cause reading it is so much different than, you know, bringing something to life. Yeah, very different. So I'm talking too much free Facebook group Free space. Does anybody pay for Facebook group?
You can't even, you can't do that. Of course. It's a free Facebook group. Don't do that anymore. Yeah, no. So it's a free group on Facebook. EOS. The EOS collective for group practices. And then also. A six month bi-annual. I only do it twice a year. Like I said, mastermind for implementing EOS or integrating EOS into your practice with twice monthly meetings, resources, all the, all the goods.
Not hot seat style. That's not the point of this. It's really like me teaching about the various components and then providing a lot of feedback as you're doing it to, to help.
[00:40:47] Whitney Owens: Yeah, so like
[00:40:48] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: one of the first things we do is the accountability chart, and I remember working with. Somebody, she came, we, we sometimes do working meetings as well.
And so she came to one of the working meetings and I think she had like, uh, I mean a lot of roles, a lot of seats in her accountability chart and a lot of stuff where that could have just been combined where I was like, girl, you, we took her, let's say we took it down from like 10 to four and it like, it made sense at four.
You know, so that's the, that's what I want. I want to help people do this and make sense of it. Do it effectively for their business. 'cause it's not, it's not, you have to do it this way. It's like, no, here's the structure, but you get to do it for you. That's the beauty in it. Yeah. It's there. There's the structure, but also the freedom within the structure.
Definitely. So again, I'm like waxing and waning. I'm sorry. Okay. You know what's Mastermind, that's the other thing. Thanks.
[00:41:42] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Okay. And if somebody just wants maybe some coaching consulting from you, EUS or otherwise, how do they get in touch with you?
[00:41:50] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: Go to my website, go to tara boston kiper.com, that would be it.
And just contact form, reach out to me that way. Goodness. I usually set up calls with people to figure out what would be most effective for them. And so it's like, you know, book a little, we'll book a little discovery call or something and then chat. And then if I say, oh yeah, I could do this. Or like, no, you probably actually wanna go over here.
That's really what it's about is trying to figure out if I do have something that makes sense. In terms of working with a person or if I think they should work with someone else.
[00:42:19] Whitney Owens: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Well, Tara, this has been so much fun. Yeah, thank Agreed. Thank you for taking the time to be on the show, and we'll just have to podcast again down the way and talk about how we're implementing EOS some more.
Yes.
[00:42:31] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: Yeah. Oh, can I say, can I mention my own podcast? Oh, yes, yes, please. I'm so sorry. No, that's okay. 'cause I wanna have you on, actually, so I also have a podcast if you wanna hear me talk. If you want to know more about EOS. Go find the Culture Focused Practice podcast, and I have a bunch of EOS specific episodes on there.
And so that's another thing is if you're interested in just hearing more about EOS from a group practice owner who's actively doing it, go that direction. Right. That's awesome. Yeah, because that's also free and I, I try to really, you know. I'm talkie talkie, so I try to condense information for people as much as I can and make it, you know, usable.
But also what I wanna say, Whitney, is I'll, I do an owner's room episode. I do an owner's room type episode where I bring on group practice owners and we just riff on questions related to like a key concept.
[00:43:27] Whitney Owens: Yeah. So
[00:43:27] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: something like, you know, something like slowing down. How's it feel to slow down? Like what comes up for you when you slow down?
You know, things like that. So I wouldn't anything about that one. I'm just kidding. Oh yeah, no, no, same. It's like it's excruciating to slow down. That's the answer.
[00:43:41] Whitney Owens: Like,
[00:43:42] Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC: yeah. So
[00:43:43] Whitney Owens: anyway. Well great. Well I am following your podcast. I just looked, some of my friends come on there, so that's awesome. Yeah. Cool.
And then I did just join your group, so I'm looking forward to conversations about us. Thank, and it's just been such a pleasure. Thank you. Yeah, same. Whitney. Thanks for having me on. Yeah.
[00:44:02] Jingle: So click on follow and leave a review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:44:20] Whitney Owens: Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Site Craft Podcast Network. A collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives.
To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to site craft network.com. The Wise Practice podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.
