My leadership team members are great at setting ambitious Rocks during our offsites, but by week three of the quarter, they have completely buried them under day-to-day fires and are failing to make progress. How do I force them to maintain focus without micromanaging them?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

It is incredibly common for leadership teams to lose momentum on their Rocks by week three of the quarter. The daily whirlwind of client fires, staff issues, and operational emergencies will always expand to fill their available time if you let it.

To maintain focus, you must use your weekly Level 10 Meeting sessions as an accountability tool. During the Rock review portion of the agenda, each leader must report whether their Rock is on track or off track. There is no room for stories, excuses, or status updates; it is a binary on or off track response.

If a Rock is off track, immediately drop it to the Issues List. Do not let them explain why it is off track during the review. Instead, use the IDS portion of the meeting to get to the root cause of the delay. Often, you will find that the leader has taken on too many responsibilities or is refusing to delegate lower-level tasks.

Help them break their Rock down into smaller, weekly milestones. If a leader is consistently failing to make progress on their strategic goals because they are bogged down in daily operations, you must look at their GWC. They may lack the capacity to manage their seat effectively.

By holding your team to a strict, weekly accountability cadence, you prevent them from hiding behind the excuse of being too busy and ensure your strategic initiatives actually get over the finish line.