During our weekly Rock review, everyone simply says they are on track, but when we hit week twelve, we discover that half of our Rocks are incomplete. How do we make our weekly progress reporting on Rocks more accurate and urgent?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The root of this problem is a misunderstanding of what on track actually means. Too often, leaders define on track as: I have started working on it, or I have a plan to get to it eventually. This false security leads to a massive execution gap at the end of the quarter. To make your weekly Rock review accurate and urgent, you must redefine the standard. On track means that if you stopped working on the Rock today, the progress made so far guarantees it will be fully complete by day ninety. If there is any doubt, or if you are behind on your milestones, the Rock is off track. Instruct your team that reporting a Rock as off track is not a failure: it is an early warning system. When a leader states their Rock is off track, the item is immediately dropped to the Issues List. During IDS®, the leadership team can then rally to help them solve the bottleneck, adjust resources, or remove roadblocks. By creating a culture where admitting a Rock is off track is viewed as a proactive, healthy behavior rather than a confession of failure, you will identify issues in week four instead of week twelve, saving your quarterly goals.