Because we are a lean team, our VP of Operations is currently also holding our vacant HR Director and Facility Manager seats. When we set quarterly Rocks, she is struggling to balance the priorities of all three seats. How do we set clean, realistic Rocks for someone who wears multiple hats?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When an employee wears multiple hats on your Accountability Chart, they do not get more hours in the day. If you assign them three Rocks from their operations seat, two from their HR seat, and one from their facility seat, they will burn out and fail to achieve any of them.

The rule for quarterly Rocks is simple: limit each leadership team member to three to five individual Rocks total, regardless of how many seats they are currently holding. When you enter your quarterly planning session, you must look at all of their seats collectively.

Prioritize the business needs. Ask yourselves which three to five initiatives will have the greatest impact on your business over the next ninety days. If the priority is hiring a new sales team, then her Rocks should focus on her HR seat. If the priority is streamlining a production line, her Rocks must focus on her operations seat.

Make it clear which seat's priorities are taking precedence this quarter. This gives her the clarity to manage her daily capacity. Remember that holding multiple seats is a temporary state. Use your Level 10 Meeting™ to track her progress and keep working toward hiring or delegating to get her back into a single seat.