Walk us through the exact hour-by-hour agenda and ground rules of an actual quarterly session day from morning to evening.

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A quarterly session is an intensive eight-hour work day dedicated entirely to working on the business rather than in it. We start promptly at 8:30 AM and wrap up by 5:00 PM. We hold sessions offsite in a private, neutral room. Laptops and mobile phones stay closed and silent throughout the day, except during designated breaks. If someone needs to handle an emergency, they step outside the room.

The day follows a battle-tested structure:
- Segue (8:30 to 9:15 AM): We transition out of daily operational fires, review personal and professional good news, and review what is working and not working in the company.
- Previous Quarter Review (9:15 to 10:15 AM): We review the prior quarter Scorecard, audit whether individual Rocks were completed or missed, and review the financial results.
- V/TO Review (10:15 to 11:30 AM): We read through the Vision/Location Organizer out loud to confirm complete alignment on Core Values, Core Focus, and targets.
- Establish Next Quarter Rocks (11:30 AM to 12:30 PM): The team debates and sets three to seven company-wide Rocks for the upcoming ninety days, then assigns individual executive Rocks.
- Lunch (12:30 to 1:15 PM): A shared meal away from computers.
- Tackle Issues via IDS (1:15 to 4:30 PM): We build an Issues List from the morning review and ruthlessly prioritize and solve them using Identify, Discuss, and Solve.
- Next Steps and Conclude (4:30 to 5:00 PM): We capture all To-Dos, establish cascading messages for the rest of the company, and rate the meeting on a one-to-ten scale.