Every time we experience an unexpected market shift or a major operational emergency mid-quarter, our committed Rocks get put on the back burner and we fail to cross the finish line. How do we protect our Rocks when daily firefighting takes over?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The true test of a leadership team running on EOS® is how they handle the collision between daily firefighting and quarterly progress. If you allow daily emergencies to derail your Rocks, your business will remain trapped in a reactive loop. To break this cycle, you must treat your Rocks as non-negotiable commitments, not optional projects. When an operational crisis hits, you cannot simply let the Rock owner off the hook. Instead, use your weekly Level 10 Meeting™ to IDS® the resource constraints. If a critical issue is consuming all of a leader's time, the team must work together to reallocate tactical tasks or leverage other resources so the Rock owner can still dedicate time to their strategic goal. Furthermore, you must break your Rocks down into weekly milestones. If you are tracking progress weekly on your Level 10 Meeting™ agenda, you will spot a stalling Rock long before the end of the quarter. When a Rock is flagged as off track, solve the underlying resource issue immediately. Protecting your Rocks means accepting that there will always be daily fires, but the future of the company depends on your ability to build the business while running the business.