Are your Rocks on track?
There’s a common tendency in Rock reporting that can mask a serious problem, even among well-intended team members. It might be happening right under your nose.
We’ll get to that in a minute, but let’s back up a bit first.
What Are Rocks in EOS?
Rocks are simply the most important things to be executed in the next 90 days, and we set them for the company as a whole, for departments, and for individuals. Rocks are an essential way to cut through endless to-do lists and focus on the most important, impactful elements of your business.
One critical aspect of Rocks is that their status is reported on weekly at a Level 10 Meeting. Every Rock owner reports two words for each Rock they own: “on track” or “off track.”
Simple, right?
Are Your Rocks Really “On Track”?
In truth, we’ve found that a report of “on track” can actually mean one of two things:
- “On track,” meaning “Actively on track.” When your Rock is actively on track, it means:
- I’m aware of exactly what has happened
- I’m aware of exactly what needs to happen
- I have the timelines figured out
- I’m on top of this Rock, and I have every reason to believe it can be completed on time
- “On track,” meaning “Passively on track” or “No one can prove that I’m not on track.”
Often, someone will report a Rock being “on track” week after week. And everything seems fine; there isn’t any evidence that things have gone awry, and there’s nothing tangible or quantifiable that anyone else can point to that demonstrates that the Rock is off track, so it’s reported to be “on track” every week.
So, the second version is far more common than you might think. Even well-meaning, committed leaders can get bogged down in their daily work and assume that they’ll eventually figure out how to get their Rocks done, but you can only get away with that for so long. Toward the end of the quarter, when the final deadline looms (often around week ten), people start to admit to themselves and to their team that the Rock isn’t really on track after all. And not only is it off track, but it’s been misreported for so long that, at this point, it’s nearly impossible to get the Rock done on time.
It’s important to get your Rock actively on track starting early in the quarter, because it’s far easier to stay actively on track than to have to catch up and get back to being actively on track.
How Do You Stay Actively on Track?
One easy solution to stay on track with your Rocks is to set a handful of milestones for the Rock with clear deadlines along the way to hold yourself accountable and not procrastinate. But whatever your methodology is, the most important takeaway is to get clear with your team on what it means to truly be on track. Nobody likes hearing a sheepish “off track” on week ten after a Rock’s been reported on track every week!
Chat with an EOS Implementer
If you’re not seeing real progress on your Rocks until the last few weeks, or you’re not sure what “on track” should really look like, it may be time for a reset. Connect with a Professional EOS Implementer to bring clarity, structure, and stronger accountability to your Level 10 Meetings and quarterly planning.
