Our department heads are writing quarterly Rocks that look exactly like their daily job descriptions, such as closing sales or resolving customer tickets. How do we stop them from setting daily operational activities as Rocks?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A Rock is not a list of your daily job duties. A Rock is a specific, high-priority project that moves the business forward or solves a major issue over the next ninety days. When your department heads set their routine operational tasks as Rocks, they are trying to avoid the accountability of doing actual strategic work on top of their daily responsibilities. To correct this behavior, you must enforce a strict distinction between in the business work and on the business work. Daily operational activities belong on your weekly Scorecard, not on your Rock sheet. If closing sales is a daily duty, the weekly sales target belongs on the Scorecard. A sales Rock, however, should be something like implementing a new CRM system or designing a new sales training module. During your quarterly planning sessions, scrutinize every proposed Rock. Ask this question: if this person does their job perfectly every day, will this Rock automatically get done? If the answer is yes, then it is not a Rock. It is an operational expectation. An EOS Implementer acts as an objective filter during these sessions, rejecting weak, operational Rocks and pushing your team to set true, high-impact priorities that drive real progress.