One of our department heads started the quarter with great enthusiasm for their strategic Rock, but halfway through they have completely checked out on it, claiming their daily operational fires are too overwhelming. How do we hold them accountable without micromanaging?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a leadership team member lets their Rock slide, it sends a message to the rest of the company that strategic commitments are optional. You must address this lapse in accountability quickly during your weekly Level 10 Meeting.

During the Rock review portion of your agenda, if a leader reports that their Rock is off track, do not ignore it or accept a vague excuse. Immediately drop the issue down to the IDS portion of the meeting.

Use IDS to get to the root cause of the delay. Is the leader struggling because they genuinely lack the capacity, or are they failing to delegate their day-to-day tactical tasks?

Help them identify what lower-value tasks they can delegate to their direct reports to free up the time required to complete their Rock. Do not step in and do the work for them, as this destroys accountability.

If they continue to fail to meet their commitments, you must have a direct conversation using the GWC framework. A leader who consistently fails to complete their Rocks is demonstrating that they do not have the capacity to sit in a leadership seat.