EOS Rocks: How Traction’s Methodology Is Helping OFH Thrive

Reposted from OFH CEO Marc Schwartzberg's Linkedin.

There is a secret sauce to everything, and for OFH, it is our team. We previously talked about how we utilized EOS Traction, in the form of the Level 10 Meeting to transform OFH into a larger company of engaged and passionate employees. In this post, we will be talking about EOS Rocks, and how we used them to take our company through 2020 and meet our annual goals.

What are EOS Rocks?

What “rocks” stands for, in EOS methodology, is a quarterly goal. They are mentioned in Gino Wickman’s “Traction, ” a strategic blueprint for growing small businesses and bringing them to the next stage.

Rocks are a subset of SMART goals—goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. The idea is that when you create a goal that is specific and achievable, you are more likely to accomplish that goal. Rocks represent very specific initiatives that take priority for your team. By holding you and your team accountable to achieve its rocks by a specific deadline, your company will start to move in the right direction.

Rocks are a great way to manage what is happening in your company, while also setting clear goals for members of your team. Each team member, including leaders, get their own rocks, and know they will have a 90-day timeline to complete them. To keep team members accountable, they are checked up on, on a weekly basis, and will say “On Track” or “Off Track,” depending on their progress.  

How we Implemented Rocks and Grew Our Team

As students and believers of the EOS process, we began first by implementing the Level 10 Meeting in January 2020, and shortly afterward focused our attention on rocks.

We started with rocks on the leadership team, and once the leadership team became confident, we introduced the concept to each department. In quarterly meetings we take the time to look at what is working and what needs improvement within the entire company. After identifying, discussing and solving all issues we can establish the most important goals for the next 90 days. Long term goals are great, however the 90 day timeline is a proven effective amount of time to get things done. Every division in the company has rocks, from the Leadership Team, to Sales, Marketing, Finance and Operations. Because each team member knows and understands their departmental rock, there is accountability and responsibility departmental and company wide.

When the pandemic hit, like many businesses, we found ourselves scrambling to readjust our company to a covid-safe remote office, while working tirelessly in the most challenging of times with our clients to exceed their expectations. Traction (and specifically, rocks) helped guide us through the transition from in-person to remote work. Rocks enabled us to maintain our focus on key priorities and maintain our quarterly goals, without getting sidetracked.

When we align, departmentally, around rocks, it is a great way to track progress. During our quarterly meetings, we follow metrics on our performance. By holding every division at OFH accountable, we are not only able to grow—we are able to determine the direction of that growth. Miraculously, having rocks enabled us to set priorities within our organization, while at the same time dealing with the day-to-day of communicating internally with manufacturing partners, designers, and trades to ensure our projects went without a hitch. By the end of the year we were able to exceed the goals we had set in the beginning of the year- amazing!


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