🚀 How to Lead a Great Departmental Quarterly Session

A complete EOS® guide for managers and department heads

If your company runs on EOS®, your leadership team already meets quarterly to align, refocus, and solve key issues. But for real traction, the process must cascade down to the rest of the organization.

That’s where the Departmental Quarterly Session comes in. The Departmental Quarterly Session is an essential component of the EOS Meeting Pulse which also includes:

• Annual and quarterly leadership team meetings (as outlined in Chapter 8 of Traction)
• A Quarterly State of the Company meeting with the entire company within 2 weeks after each annual and quarterly
• Weekly Level 10 Meetings at all levels of the organization
• Quarterly Conversations

The Departmental Quarterly Meeting is a structured, half-day session that brings clarity, alignment, and ownership to every team. It helps departments contribute meaningfully to company goals and execute with confidence.

The department leader typically facilitates this meeting—and this guide is here to help you do it well. If that is you, here’s your step-by-step guide to running one, whether it’s your first time or you’re ready to sharpen your process.

🎓 Your Role as a Departmental Leader

You’ll wear three hats in this session:

1️⃣ Teacher

Your first job is to help your team understand and apply EOS tools, including:

🔹 V/TO (Vision/Traction Organizer)

🔹 Accountability Chart

🔹 Rocks

🔹 Scorecard

🔹 Meeting Pulse

As your team matures, teach additional tools like:

🔸 Delegate & Elevate

🔸 Your 100%

🔸 LMA (Lead + Manage + hold Accountable)

🔸 Core Processes

🔸 Kolbe

🔸 8 Cash Flow Drivers

🎯 The goal is mastery: they understand the tool and use it correctly.

2️⃣ Facilitator

Job #2 is to create a safe space for open, honest conversation. Keep the energy focused. Capture issues as they arise and guide the team through the agenda.

3️⃣ Coach

Job #3 is to help your team grow into their seats, overcome roadblocks, and reach their potential. Ask great questions. Challenge with care. Encourage ownership.

🧭 Guiding Principles

✔️ Teams exist to produce results

✔️ Every meeting is unique—no two quarters are the same

✔️ Your team is naturally creative and resourceful

✔️ Balance celebrating wins with addressing gaps

📬 Pre-Session Preparation

Send a message a week or so before the meeting.

Here are some things to consider including:

⏱️ Set the expectation for time:

• Plan for 3–4 hours (a half-day session)
• Add 20–30 minutes per person beyond 5 attendees

🧠 A team of 8 may need closer to 5-6 hours.

✅ Ask them to come prepared:

• Be on time and fully present (phones off, laptops closed)
• Review their tools (V/TO, Accountability Chart, Scorecard, LMA, Your 100%, Delegate and Elevate, GWC, etc.) and identify what is working and what is not working.
• Think about potential priorities for the quarter—both for the department and their individual seat
• Watch short EOS videos or read blog articles on key tools you plan to focus on teaching during the session: (6 Key Components, V/TO, Accountability Chart, Rocks, Scorecard, L10 Meetings, etc.)
• Gather and bring any key financial or operational data that will help the team review performance and make informed decisions.
• Ask them to read this article so they understand what to expect and how to participate successfully.

📩 Great sessions start with great preparation.

🗓️ Departmental Quarterly Agenda

Objectives:

• Clear vision
• Clear plan to achieve it
• All key issues resolved

Agenda:

• Check In
• Review Last Quarter
• Vision Reconnect
• Tool Teaching
• Rock Setting
• IDS (Issue Solving)
• Wrap-Up and Next Steps

🔍 Full Meeting Structure (The 90-Day World Format)

1️⃣ Check In (15–30 min)

Purpose: Set the tone, build trust, and frame the day.

📝 Give team members private reflection time at the start to write down:

• A personal best and a business best from the quarter
• A list of what is working and not working in the business
• Their expectations for the meeting so they are clear on what they want to accomplish in your time together

🔁 Then go around the room and share out loud. When it’s your turn as the facilitator:

• Share your answers to 1, 2, and 3 above
• Set the expectation that each person be open and honest during the meeting

🧠 Remember to capture issues during the check in. Those mostly come from people's lists of what is not working.

2️⃣ Review of Last Quarter (15–30 min)

Purpose: Learn from the past to do better in the future.

🔍 Review completion of Rocks (departmental rocks first then individual rocks): calculate rock percentages as a team and individually.

🧠 Reflect as a team:

• Celebrate wins
• Clear the slate, capture learnings, and prepare the team for a stronger quarter ahead
• Capture additional issues

3️⃣ Vision Reconnect (15–30 min)

Purpose: Re-anchor the team to the bigger picture.

📜 Review the full company V/TO

Ask for real-life examples:

• Who lived a Core Value?
• How did we support the Core Focus?
• How did we contribute to the 1-Year Plan or 3-Year Picture?

🧩 Connect daily work to long-term goals; come prepared with some call outs of how your teammates lived the vision last quarter.

🧹 Clean up the department’s Short-Term and Long-Term Issues List

4️⃣ Tool Teaching (15–30 min)

Purpose: Build mastery of EOS tools (master means you understand + use the tool correctly).

🧰 Choose one EOS tool to teach (e.g., Accountability Chart, Scorecard, Delegate and Elevate, LMA, etc.) This can also be a great time to do a trust builder exercise.

Teach it simply:

• What it is
• Why it matters
• How to use it properly
• Real-life examples from your team

📊 After teaching:

• Review how the tool is currently being used
• Make updates as needed
• Capture related issues

✅ This is a working session, not just a training moment.

5️⃣ Rock Setting (60–80 min)

Purpose: Identify, write, and assign the most important priorities for the quarter that support department and company priorities (rocks).

🔹 Step 1: Individual Reflection (5 min)

Each person reflects silently:

• Review the financial targets the department owns (sales targets, operational numbers, etc.) and consider what needs to happen to hit those targets.
• Review the company and department rocks that have already been set by the leadership team and ask your team to consider how they can best support those rocks. Don't be afraid to assign a department rock to one of your team members to fully own when appropriate.
• Are there any additional priorities we have capacity to accomplish this quarter to move the department and company forward?
• Consider if there are any personal development goals you have capacity to take on this quarter?
• What will help us win the game (hit our financial targets for the department) this quarter?

🔹 Step 2: Identify Individual Rocks (30–40 min)

• Team members share their top 3-7 ideas
• Capture everything
• Facilitate discussion to narrow down to the highest-impact Individual Rocks. Remember everyone in the company should have 1-3 rocks they are responsible for each quarter.

🔹 Step 3: Write SMART Rocks (20–30 min)

• Write each Rock in SMART format (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound)
• If needed, use root analysis to clarify the root cause of the problem you are trying to solve with the rock.

🔹 Step 4: Assign Ownership (5 min)

• Make sure each rock has an owner. The owner is the one who is responsible for ensuring the rock gets done. Remember ownership does not necessarily mean do-ership.
• It's best for the ownership to align with roles on the accountability chart unless there is a capacity constraint.
• Make sure to double check each person has taken on an appropriate workload considering their other responsibilities and availability for the quarter. Make any adjustments as needed.

Remember less is more. Focus on what will truly move the needle.

6️⃣ IDS – Issue Solving (60+ min)

Purpose: Solve the issues slowing your team down.

• Review the full Issues List
• Prioritize the top 3
• Use the IDS Process (Identify, Discuss, Solve)
• Capture To Do's that are agreed to

🎯 Make sure to prioritize the most important things first

7️⃣ Wrap-Up (15 min)

Purpose: Leave the meeting aligned and ready to execute.

• Compartmentalize unresolved issues (Short-Term, Long-Term, or Kill)
• Review all action items (To-Dos from IDS) and confirm Rock ownership is clear.
• Identify cascade messages for the rest of the company
• Rate the meeting (1–10). If the rating wasn't a 10, share what would have made it a 10.

✅ Final Thought

Great teams don’t happen by accident. They’re taught, coached, and aligned every 90 days.

The Departmental Quarterly Session is how you create clarity, build accountability, and generate traction—one team at a time.

Stick to the structure. Be flexible where needed. And most importantly—do it every quarter.

Have questions? Don't hesitate to reach out.

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