The 10 Rockefeller Habits: “Routines that set you free!”

Author

Luqman Shantal
June 07, 2024

Welcome back to the Business Builder newsletter. In today’s issue, we’ll begin to explore Verne Harnish’s “Scaling up” method, based on the “Rockefeller Habits” which we’ll quickly familiarize you with today.

Estimated read time: 3 minutes.

Below are the 10 habits that the Scaling Up method is based on:

1. The executive team is healthy and aligned

  • This is the fundamental building block on which all the other Rockefeller Habits are built.

  • In essence, your executive team needs to have a level of trust that allows true debate and constructive conflict to occur.

  • Everything comes down from the top, so you must spend time and resources on getting this right.

2. Everyone is aligned with the #1 thing that needs to be accomplished this quarter to move the company forward

  • Habit #2 is about setting a quarterly goal/theme, providing the company with a badly needed finish line every 90 days, vs. just running and running and running.

  • This also affords everyone an opportunity to celebrate or commiserate — and have some fun along the way.

    This is the power of setting a Quarterly Theme, which we’ll discuss in depth later.

3. Communication rhythm is established and information moves through the organization accurately and quickly

  • The #1 challenge when two or more people are working together is communication.

  • The key is an effective daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual Meeting Rhythm, which, when implemented correctly, saves everyone a tremendous amount of time.

4. Every facet of the organization has a person assigned with accountability for ensuring goals are met

  • Every facet of the organization has a person assigned with accountability for ensuring goals are met.

  • Remember, “When everyone is accountable, no one is.”

5. Ongoing employee input is collected to identify obstacles and opportunities

  • Your executive team should talk to at least one staff member from a different team every week and ask, “What should the company Start/Stop/Keep doing?”

  • Pay particular attention to the “stops.” These are the roadblocks you need to eliminate from the company to keep people motivated.

6. Reporting and analysis of customer feedback data is as frequent and accurate as financial data

  • The second key component of the weekly qualitative data that you need to guide the business must come from customers.

  • Each senior leader should formally ask customers questions to gather market intel, especially about competitors, rather than discerning whether they like your particular product or service.

7. Core Values and Purpose are alive in the organization.

  • The key phrase here is ‘Alive’.

  • Many organizations spend time coming up with core values and then put them in some literature or on the wall and forget about them. Very few actually ‘live’ them.

8. Employees can articulate the key components of the company’s strategy accurately.

  • The key components here are the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), Core Customer and the Three Brand Promises everyone needs to keep.

  • Employees should be able to explain the Three Brand Promises when asked (the elevator pitch).

9. All employees can answer quantitatively whether they had a good day or week

  • One of the key elements in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is every employee being able to answer question one of the Gallup Q12 – Do you know what is expected of you at work?

  • Is each employee or team clear on their priorities and KPIs for the week, and do they know how they did that week?

10. The company’s plans and performance are visible to everyone

  • The company’s plans and performance should be visible to everyone.

  • Successful companies have scoreboards everywhere – monitors in reception, screens showing results, totalizer boards… They come up with creative ways to display their core values, making sure they’re not annoying or hackneyed.

I'll keep sharing actionable insights to growing your business from the Scaling Up method.

Next week’s Issue will be about upgrading the EOS Rocks with the Quarterly Theme.

Stay tuned.