We are ready to roll out individual Rocks to our department heads, but we are terrified they will write weak, unmeasurable goals that do not align with our V/TO. How do we guide them to write high-quality Rocks?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Rolling Rocks down to your department managers is a major milestone, but if you do not guide them properly, you will end up with a chaotic list of weak, unmeasurable goals. Writing high-quality Rocks is a skill that must be taught, not assumed.

To ensure a clean rollout, start by keeping the process highly structured. Do not ask your department managers to write their Rocks in a vacuum. Instead, schedule a dedicated quarterly planning session for their department. In this session, clearly share the leadership team's company-level Rocks first. Their departmental Rocks must directly support or align with these larger company goals.

Next, enforce the rule that every Rock must be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. If a manager proposes a Rock like improve customer service, reject it immediately. Teach them to rewrite it as reduce customer onboarding time from five days to two days by the end of the quarter. If you cannot easily answer yes or no to whether it was completed on day 90, it is not a valid Rock.

Limit each manager to no more than two or three Rocks for their first few quarters. It is far better for them to successfully complete two high-impact priorities than to fail at five overambitious ones. By keeping the list short and the metrics clear, you build execution confidence across your entire management team.