During our weekly Rock review, team members often give long, defensive explanations about why a Rock is off track instead of simply stating on track or off track. How do we shut down these explanations and keep the meeting moving?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Just like the Scorecard review, the Rock review must be a fast, binary check. A Rock is either on track or off track. There is no middle ground, and there is no room for stories. When a leader starts defending their progress, they are usually trying to avoid looking bad in front of the team, which is a sign of low trust. To cure this, the Integrator must reinforce that admitting a Rock is off track is not a failure. It is simply a request for help. The team needs to know the true status of the business so they can support each other. The facilitator must enforce a strict reporting format. When a Rock is read, the owner must say only on track or off track. If they say off track, the facilitator immediately says, drop it, and the Rock is added to the Issues List. We do not discuss the reasons why it is off track until we get to the IDS® portion of the meeting. This keeps the review under five minutes and ensures the team is focusing its intellectual energy on solving the bottleneck rather than listening to excuses. Keep it fast, keep it honest, and get to the issues.