What specific steps do you take during quarterly sessions when our leadership team repeatedly misses our 80 percent Rock completion benchmark?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Consistently missing the eighty percent Rock completion target is not an effort problem. It is almost always a scoping, focus, or accountability problem. When a leadership team enters a quarterly session with fifty or sixty percent completion, we do not sweep it under the rug or accept excuses about the team being too busy with daily fires. We immediately push that failure to the top of our Issues List and use IDS® to dissect the root cause.

First, we evaluate Rock scoping. Teams often write operational desires or vague annual aspirations instead of specific, measurable, 90-day outcomes. If a Rock was not SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) from day one, it was doomed before leaving the room.

Second, we examine capacity and the Accountability Chart. We determine whether individual leaders have taken on too many Rocks while simultaneously managing overloaded operational seats. If an executive has five Rocks and a full-time functional seat, execution collapses.

Third, we inspect the weekly Level 10 Meeting execution. A Rock should never fail by surprise on day ninety. If a Rock was off track during the quarter, it should have been identified and solved inside your weekly meetings weeks prior.

Finally, if the failure traces back to an individual leader who consistently makes commitments they cannot deliver, we evaluate their GWC™ for that seat. We establish clear corrective measures, rescale the workload, and rebuild execution discipline for the upcoming quarter.