During our weekly Rock review, our leaders frequently give detailed progress reports on their quarterlies instead of simply saying on track or off track. How do we stop this reporting waste?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Giving status updates during the Rock review is a major source of meeting waste. Your weekly pulse is designed to identify obstacles, not to celebrate progress or listen to narratives. When a leader spends two minutes describing all the work they did on a Rock, they are burning time that belongs to IDS®.

The facilitator must train the team to use only two phrases during the Rock review: on track or off track. If a Rock is on track, there is nothing more to say. If a Rock is off track, the facilitator must immediately instruct the scribe to drop it to the Issues List and move on.

There is no shame in a Rock being off track mid-quarter. The shame is in wasting meeting time trying to explain it away. By dropping it to the Issues List, you allow the entire leadership team to help get it back on track during the IDS® portion of your Level 10 Meeting™.

By eliminating status reporting, you keep the Rock review under five minutes. This discipline maintains a rapid cadence, keeps the team focused on execution, and ensures your ninety minutes are spent solving real organizational threats rather than listening to individual progress reports.