Visionaries & Rocks

Hi everybody, it's Mark C. Winters and.

Today I want to talk to you about rocks. So now you know, rocks are the handful of priorities that the team is going to focus on during the course of a 90 day cycle that are the things that are going to have the most impact. They're really going to move us forward, get us closer to where we're trying to go. And today I want to talk to you about how the visionary plays in that rock process. Okay? And visionaries, hey, I know how you're wired. You're wired to always want more. You're just genetically encoded to push, push and reach for more. It's just who you are. And I want you to be aware through this discussion today of some ways that can show up in the rocks process that can be less than healthy for the team. Okay, so let's walk through the process. So when we're setting the rocks, sometimes I see two behaviors here. One is this behavior that's sort of separate and apart from the rest of the leadership team. So the whole leadership team is kind of working together to pick the right priorities and the visionary is kind of sitting over here and they're kind of holding back, they're not fully engaging, fully playing. And then a lot of times at the end of what the rest of the leadership team does, they'll sort of drop a bomb on them that kind of blows up the work they've done and introduces something completely different. So it's not together, it feels almost like two teams. The other behavior that'll show up there, that's sort of a pushing is to really coax the leadership team member to over commit. It's like, come on, you can do it. And they push them into this place where they go beyond the level of predicting what they can deliver and, and actually go beyond and actually over commit, which is not the healthy process that we want to see there either. Once the rocks are set, visionaries, you're a lot of times going to show up and try to get the team to add rocks. You're going to try to get them to change rocks. And you know, it really can lead to scope creep, it can lead to doing more, it can lead to that over commitment. Again, it's not the pure prediction and discipline and focus that we want. The other thing that happens is visionary. Sometimes you'll try to sneak things into the, the issues list and the to do list and get the team to do more by putting the pieces of some other rock you have in your mind into those parts of the tool. Alright? Then at the end of the quarter, when we're looking back on how we've done, if you haven't been fully engaged in this process from the beginning, Visionary, it's easier for you to sit back and look and just kind of point the finger and go, you know, there were bad rocks this time because you didn't really own it from the outset. Healthier sequence. When we're setting the visionary, you're fully engaged. You're fully disclosing all of your ideas and viewpoints. You're fully participating to develop and identify the right priorities along with the rest of the team. It's really one team reminder. Visionary individually, no rocks for you. Separate video you can watch on that, that kind of tells you why. But at the end of the process of setting rocks, we want you fully committed, fully engaged. You were in the room, you're part of it. You made sure that, that we got the right priorities. During the course of the quarter, resist that urge to add or change rocks. We want you to realize 90 days is fast. I mean, the next quarter is going to be honest before you know it. So when new priorities come up, just take them, park them on that VTO issues list so they can be there for our next round of rock setting next quarter. Compartmentalize. We have another video for you to watch on that, that make sure that we put those things in the right place during the course of the quarter, while you're committing and you're being disciplined about not adding or changing, I do want you to always do the right thing for the business. Okay? So if you've set a rock that's going to end up driving you into a wall or off a cliff, please don't drive the company into a wall or off a cliff. Do the right thing for the business, but by not changing, by leaving that prediction that you made there, you're going to get great feedback on how well you're doing at predicting. So at the end of the quarter, you can see how well you've done, you can learn and get better. If you just change it all along the way, you're never going to know. You're never going to know how well you're doing. Finally, at the end of the quarter, we want you to look back, make sure nothing changed, make sure that you are disciplined about staying focused, and then look for the learning, look for the lessons that you can take from this quarter and apply it to your rock setting for the next quarter. Remember, when you're at this stage, if the visionary, or really anyone for that matter, on the team calls bad rock. We pick bad rocks, remind them that they were part of that process, they were in the room they own, making sure that we picked the right priorities. Okay, so three key points for this one, when you're setting rocks, get them all out on the table and commit as a team, as one team. Number two, during the quarter, I want you to stay focused. Defer those new priorities to the VTO. Put them out.

Remember, it's a fast quarter.

Those 90 days will be passed before you know it. Third key point at the end of quarter, we want you to learn and commit to improve in the next cycle.

Thanks for watching. Today at Rocket Fuel, we're all about helping create the most powerful visionary integrator duos on the planet. And we do that by helping you.

Crystallize your thinking about what that should.

Look like, get connected with each other and then ultimately maximize that relationship to make it as powerful as it can be. So if you want more, please check us out on RocketFuelNow.com and several things that I'd like you to do there or at least check out. Number one, sign up to get our weekly videos. So if you like this one. We do this every week, so please be sure you don't miss any. Number two, take the visionary integrator assessments. Go on there and see really how you're wired. See what your edge of that two piece puzzle really looks like. Number three, join our private groups just for visionaries and integrators. A lot of really interesting cool things going on inside there you don't want to miss out on. Number four, check out the Integrator Mastery forum. Did another video on that. Might be something good for you. You want to get on the waiting list and take advantage of that opportunity. And number five, read Rocket Fuel. If you haven't read the book already, please go read that. That's where it all started. And if you liked it, we'd love to see a review from you out there. We really love hearing that kind of feedback. So thanks for watching.

Until next time.

Go Rocket.