A central part of my work with clients is to help them stay on track to achieve their vision. A key element to accomplish this is to set powerful and impactful Rocks.
Rocks are simply 90-day priorities that keep leadership teams focused on accomplishing the right things to move the company forward.
Recently I noticed a subtle but important misnomer about Rocks, a view shared by several of my clients. Their assumption was that Rocks must be difficult to accomplish, in order to be “rock worthy.”
Frankly, many Rocks are difficult to accomplish. They can be a stretch. Then occasionally, there’s a potential Rock disguised as a low-hanging fruit. In other words, it feels like a pebble, but don’t let this fool you. Due to its great impact, it’s truly a Rock!
Take for example, one of my clients in the medical field. They observed an unusually high turnover of personnel at a high level, i.e. physicians. Further probing during the Issue Solving segment of their quarterly meeting uncovered an interesting pattern among the physicians that didn’t work out. In each case, they did not exhibit one of the company’s Core Values: “collaboration.”
This was an astonishing discovery, yet the solution was easy. The CEO took on a SMART (specific-measurable-attainable-realistic-timely) Rock for the quarter to make sure all candidate screening would start with a tool called the People Analyzer as well as refining the interview process to include questions that better assess a core values fit.
Since implementing this Rock, turnover is way down (below average for the industry) and employee morale has noticeably improved. This was not a difficult Rock, yet it had incredible impact.
Rocks do not have to be difficult; they just need to be impactful. Remember this when you set your next BIG priorities for the quarter. There’s nothing wrong with grabbing a Rock disguised as a low-hanging fruit!
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