Our team members report that their Rocks are on track during every weekly Level 10 Meeting™, but when we hit week twelve, we discover that half of the milestones were never actually completed. How do we fix this false reporting?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The problem is that you are accepting a simple yes or no during the weekly check-in without verifying the actual evidence. When a leadership team member says their Rock is on track, they are often sharing their optimism rather than their progress. To fix this, you must change how you define and report on Rocks during the Level 10 Meeting™.

- First, every quarterly Rock must be broken down into clear, measurable milestones with specific due dates on a shared tracking sheet.
- Second, during the weekly review, the owner must state whether they are on track based on those specific milestones, not on their gut feeling. If a milestone due last week is incomplete, the Rock is officially off track, and it must immediately go to the Issues List to be resolved using the IDS® process.
- Third, stop treating off track as a personal failure. It is simply an operational reality that needs attention. By identifying off track Rocks early in week four or five, you give the team time to rally resources and help the owner cross the finish line.

If you continue to rely on verbal assurances without checking the milestones, you will always get surprised at the end of the quarter. Commit to checking the data, not the emotion.