How to Implement EOS® Rocks for Business Success

Navigating the business landscape can be challenging, with priorities getting lost in the daily hustle. The trick is tackling the work you do “in” the business while finding time to work “on” the business. This allows you to give attention to important (but less urgent) opportunities.

That’s why Rocks – the most critical objectives of a quarter – are an integral element of the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS). Rocks support annual goals or fix processes and help us gain traction on your vision.

Understanding Rocks

Breaking down large goals into Rocks offers many advantages. First, day-to-day tasks and decisions are easier when they’re aligned with a compelling set of long-term goals. Rocks are projects that take between two weeks and 90 days to complete. This time frame creates an easily digestible scope, especially when they’re split apart into milestones or steps.

Sharing our Rocks and milestones with colleagues creates a healthy level of alignment. The goal is to ensure the team makes progress so that, by the end of the quarter, we have given everyone the support needed to say: “This Rock is done!”

The Importance of Rocks

Each Rock has a specific owner who’s accountable to drive its success. Regular check-ins during Level 10 Meetings™ promote this accountability and allow team members the chance to call the Rock off track and drop it into the Issues List.

Nobody should be surprised at the end of the quarter by whether a Rock is completed. Completing 80% or more of your overall Rocks as a team is the right target.

Building and Prioritizing Rocks

There are eight steps to building Rocks:

1. Pulling from new ideas and long-term Issues, build a list of 10–20 items to be accomplished in the next 90 days.
2. Discuss, debate, and determine the 3–7 company Rocks.
3. Set due dates, define clear objectives, and make the Rocks specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). (In the Ninety software, it’s as simple as clicking a button to turn the Issue into a Rock.)
4. Designate an owner for the company Rocks.
5. Once the company Rocks are set, senior leadership team members assume accountability for individual Rocks.
6. Create a Rocks Sheet containing all company and senior leadership team individual Rocks. (In the Ninety software, these long-term Issues can be identified with a priority function that simplifies the process.)
7. Share the company Rocks you’ve committed to at the State of the Company quarterly meeting. (In the Ninety software, all users have the ability to view the Vision/Traction Organizer®, which includes company Rocks.)
8. Each department sets its Rocks as a team in the same fashion as the senior leadership team.

The key to designing an attainable Rock is to make it SMART:

• Specific: A one-sentence description of what success looks like
• Measurable: The metrics used to determine success
• Achievable: An accounting of the existing capacity to achieve the Rock
• Relevant: The connection between this Rock and a longer-term goal
• Time-Bound: The Rock’s due date

Rocks: Traps and Pitfalls

Avoid these common mistakes to prevent overcommitting a team or person tasked with managing a Rock: 

• Don’t set too many Rocks: Keep it manageable (no more than three per person). 
• Don’t allow vagueness to creep in: Make each Rock SMART. 
• Don’t ignore capacity constraints: Account for the available resources and capacity to complete the work. 
• Don’t ignore dependencies and timelines: Understand dependencies and limitations to ensure there are no surprises.
• Don’t fail to adjust: Focus on “what,” not “how.” 

So, are you ready to gain traction and turn your business aspirations into reality? Mastering how to design and build Rocks is a great place to start.