We have been discussing how truly smart and healthy organizations have leadership teams that are 100% on the Same Page with regard to the answers to Eight Key Questions. Previous posts covered the first six questions, and today we are talking about question #7: “What are our rocks?”
“Rocks” is the term we use for the key priorities you and your colleagues will focus on for the next 90 days. Instead of being overwhelmed with how to accomplish the “big stuff” (the goals associated with the 1-Year Plan), we live in a “90-Day World”, meaning that we focus each quarter on what we can get done in the next 90 days. This helps goals and priorities become much more manageable.
(Incidentally, if you’d like a refresher on why we call these “rocks”, watch this video demonstration on Franklin Covey’s YouTube channel.)
The first step in setting quarterly rocks is identifying between three and seven “company rocks” that have to be accomplished if we are to remain on target for the 1-Year Plan, and assigning each rock to an owner who is responsible for making sure it gets accomplished. Once the company rocks are identified, we take the rock-setting process all the way down through the organization so that every employee is responsible for at least one rock that is supportive of the company’s goals.
Here are seven reasons why using quarterly rocks is the healthiest and most effective way to reach the short-term goals that will lead to achieving your long-term goals:
- Since every rock has an owner, rocks help ensure we are all on the same page with regard to what our priorities are and who is responsible for each of them.
___ - Great Rock setting processes ensure that we are all on the same page with regard to what’s urgent, what’s important, and what can wait until the next quarter.
___ - People are more inclined to embrace and own a “rock” than a goal or objective. “Rocks”, oddly enough, actually seem more personable and less intimidating than “goals” or “quotas”.
___ - We can track rocks at our weekly meetings by asking whether they are “on-track” or “off-track”. We add the off-track rocks to our Weekly Issues List (which we’ll discuss in a future post), then we can have a constructive conversation regarding why it is off-track and what we need to do to get it back on-track.
___ - We can measure our rock completion percentages by person, by department, and by level to get objective data that helps us identify what’s working, what’s not working, and who may need some help. A completion rate of less than 80% is usually a sign of trouble.
___ - Good rock-setting is a team effort done at a peer group level. Many of us are prone to over-committing, but peer involvement helps prevent any one person from taking on too much or signing up for priorities that are misaligned with the bigger company rocks.
___ - It’s easy to make rocks fun! Try this: set two clear bowls in your office or in some other visible place, and give everyone on the team his/her own uniquely colored rocks with a word or two describing the specific priority. Put the new quarterly rocks in one bowl, and then celebrate transferring the done rocks to another bowl as they are completed.
That’s my pitch for rocks.
Until next time, may you build with passion and confidence.
