We struggle to stay focused on our 1-Year Plan because our quarterly Rocks seem to change direction every ninety days. How do we maintain the discipline of ninety-day execution cycles without constantly rewriting or abandoning our annual goals?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A change of direction in your quarterly Rocks should not mean a change in your 1-Year Plan. If your Rocks are constantly pulling you away from your annual goals, you are suffering from a lack of strategic alignment during your quarterly planning sessions. Your ninety-day Rocks must always be a direct subset of your 1-Year Plan.

When you sit down for your quarterly session, your 1-Year Plan must be on the wall or on the screen. It is your anchor. Before any leader proposes a new Rock, they must answer one simple question: How does this Rock help us achieve our 1-Year Plan? If a proposed Rock does not directly move the needle on one of your annual goals, it is a distraction and should not be approved.

There are rare occasions when an external market shift requires you to adjust your 1-Year Plan mid-year. However, this should be a deliberate, high-level decision made by the leadership team, not a passive consequence of poor Rock setting.

To maintain this discipline, make sure your quarterly Rocks are written with highly specific, binary deliverables that represent a clear step toward your annual goals. By forcing this tight connection between your ninety-day execution and your one-year targets, you prevent your team from drifting off-course and ensure that every quarter's effort directly builds your long-term value.