Rocks for All

Here’s a great way to have a strong year: Rocks for All.

There’s no denying the incredible impact of a company and its leadership team having quarterly Rocks. The focus, accountability, clarity, and results this discipline creates are invaluable. In every case with all of our clients, 100% of the leadership teams we work with have Rocks. Rocks are defined as the 3 to 7 most important things that must get done in the next 90 days.

With that said, unfortunately not every EOS client rolls out Rock setting to every single person in the company. While that is the ultimate objective for which we EOS Implementers push, for some reason there’s often resistance. Sometimes it’s simply a lack of belief or understanding of the value and the importance of everyone having Rocks.

Regardless of the reason, my goal in writing this Clarity Break is to remove whatever might be holding you back from having everyone in your organization set Rocks every 90 days. Mike Paton, our company Visionary and Certified EOS Implementer, shared a great question with me that he asks his clients who say they don’t see value in their electricians or machinists having Rocks. It helps cut through all of the resistance and excuses for not doing it. That question is as follows:

“Who is more valuable: a truck driver with a 90-day priority, or a truck driver who doesn’t have a 90-day priority?”

Now replace the title “truck driver” with any or all of the roles and titles in your organization—a receptionist, a tech, a rep, a bookkeeper, a salesperson, a CSR, etc.

Rob Dube of Image One, a client of mine, illustrated the impact best with the following story: “One year during our annual all-company meeting, I had an idea to go around the room and ask every team member to tell us a few of the Rocks they accomplished during the year. While each person was talking, I was writing the Rock on the whiteboard. By the end, I was off the whiteboard and onto many pieces of paper from the flip chart! When you have a team of 35 people like we do, take that number and multiply it by two Rocks per person for a quarter, you get 70. Then multiply that by the number of quarters in a year, and you get 280! We took 280 steps in the right direction toward our goals over the past 12 months. Amazing!”

I urge you to do the math and think about the value of all of your people having Rocks every quarter this year, even if it were just one each. What would the impact be on your organization at the end of the year with everyone laser-focused on what is most important?

Assuming I’ve convinced you, a rule of thumb is that everyone outside of the leadership team should have only 1 to 3 Rocks. Utopia is that each person has only one Rock. Less is more. Imagine the power of all of your people focused on their most important priority every 90 days.

The process is simple for setting Rocks with your people.

Step 1: Sit with your direct report, either one-on-one or as a department, and determine the 1 to 3 most important things your direct report must get done in the next 90 days.

Step 2: Document them and review them every week.

Step 3: Review for completion at the end of the quarter.

Step 4: Repeat every quarter.

To help your employees better understand EOS, get engaged, and see the value of Rocks, order them a copy of What the Heck Is EOS? I’m also excited to announce the launch of the Traction Library. You can access it here.

As always, we are grateful for your continued support of the EOS cause and wish you an incredible 2018!

Stay focused,
Gino