Why Most Quarterly Planning Sessions Are a Waste of Time (And What to Do Instead)

It’s the start of Q2. Your team is gathering around the conference table—or on a Zoom call—and everyone has that familiar look. Part hopeful, part exhausted. Last quarter’s Rocks didn’t all get done. The issues list is still full. And somewhere between the PowerPoint slides and the catered lunch, you wonder: Is this session actually going to change anything?
For most $5M–$50M business owners, the honest answer is no. Not because quarterly planning is a bad idea. But because the way most teams run these sessions is broken before the meeting even starts. The problem isn’t commitment. It’s execution. And the difference between a quarterly session that drives real traction and one that just burns a day comes down to a few critical choices.
The good news: those choices are learnable. Let’s dig in.
The 90-Day Rhythm Is Real—But Only If You Take It Seriously
Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up framework and Gino Wickman’s EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) both center on the power of 90-day execution cycles—and for good reason. Human beings’ attention spans and energy naturally align to roughly three-month windows. Annual goals are too distant to feel urgent. Monthly reviews don’t give enough runway to build momentum. But 90 days? That’s close enough to feel the pressure and far enough to accomplish something meaningful.
Research from the EOS community confirms that teams operating inside a clear 90-day world consistently outperform those stuck in annual planning mode. Rocks get completed. Accountability sharpens. And teams stay aligned because everyone is executing against the same short-term priorities—not some twelve-month wishlist nobody remembers by March.
(Not sure which framework is right for your business? Read: EOS vs. Scaling Up vs. Business Made Simple: Which One Fits Your Business?)
What Most Teams Get Wrong
Here’s the pattern I see again and again with the business owners I coach. The quarterly session is scheduled. People show up. Someone opens a Google Doc or fires up the slideshow. You review last quarter’s priorities. A few things got done. A few didn’t. Nobody fully explains why. Then you spend forty-five minutes listing new priorities—and call those your “Rocks.”
But they’re not Rocks. They’re wishes. A real Rock, in EOS language, is a specific, measurable outcome that one person owns and that can clearly be marked complete or not complete at the end of the quarter. A wish sounds like “improve marketing.” A Rock sounds like “Launch the updated website by May 31, owned by Sarah.” Those are completely different commitments.
The second mistake is more subtle. Most teams treat the quarterly meeting as a standalone event. They walk in cold, talk fast, and walk out with a list of priorities nobody truly believes in. The meeting becomes a ritual, not a turning point.
The real problem? More meetings without more clarity won’t fix execution. For a deeper look, read: Why ‘More Meetings’ Isn’t the Answer to Execution Problems.
The Pre-Work That Changes Everything
The most effective quarterly sessions I’ve facilitated don’t start at 9:00 a.m. on the day of the meeting. They start two to three weeks before, with structured prep work that every leader completes individually. Here’s what that looks like.
Each leader reviews their personal Rocks from last quarter and honestly scores each one complete or not complete—no “80% done.” They review their weekly measurables (their scorecard numbers). They identify the top issues they want to solve in the coming quarter. And they come in ready to talk about what’s working, what isn’t, and what genuinely needs to change.
When every leader walks into the room having done this work, the conversation is completely different. You spend less time catching up and more time solving. You spend less time debating what’s important and more time committing to it. That’s when quarterly planning becomes a competitive advantage.
What a Great Quarterly Session Actually Looks Like
A great quarterly planning session has four movements. First, you close the last quarter. That means reviewing every Rock (complete or not) with brutal honesty, reviewing your scorecards, and identifying patterns in what’s working and what keeps breaking. No sugarcoating.
Second, you open the new quarter. You revisit your one-year plan and ask: are we still on track? Has anything changed that we need to account for? This is where strategy meets reality.
Third, you set Rocks. Not twenty priorities. Not ten. Between three and seven Rocks per quarter at the company level—and the same for each leader. Less is more here. Trying to move fifteen things forward simultaneously is how nothing actually moves. The discipline of choosing your top three to seven is where most teams fail, and it’s where the best teams win.
Fourth, you clear the Issues List. This is the heart of Gino Wickman’s IDS process: Identify, Discuss, Solve. For each major issue facing the business, the team names it clearly, discusses the root cause honestly, and lands on a clear resolution. Issues that leave the room unresolved are issues that will cost you next quarter.
If accountability is slipping between quarters, there’s usually a clarity problem underneath it. Read: Why Accountability Systems Fail Without Clarity.
How to Know If Your Quarterly Was Worth It
Here’s the test I give every leadership team I work with. After the session, every leader should be able to answer three questions without hesitation. First: What are my Rocks for this quarter and what does ‘done’ look like for each one? Second: What are the three most important things the company is focused on achieving in the next 90 days? Third: What was the most important issue we solved today, and how did we resolve it?
If anyone on your team can’t answer those questions walking out of the room, the session didn’t work. Not because people weren’t in the room. But because the session lacked the structure and discipline needed to create genuine alignment.
Here’s a hypothetical I share with clients. Imagine two companies at the same revenue level. Company A has great people but runs quarterly planning as a loose two-hour all-hands meeting. Company B runs a disciplined full-day session with prep work, real Rocks, and a cleared Issues List. Within a year, Company B consistently outpaces Company A—not because they worked harder, but because they were aligned on what mattered.
High-performing leadership teams have distinct habits beyond just planning sessions. See what else sets them apart: What High-Performing Leadership Teams Do Differently.
The Framework That Makes This Stick
Whether you use EOS, Scaling Up, or Business Made Simple, the underlying principle is the same: great execution requires great rhythm. Quarterly planning is not a box to check. It is the engine that turns your annual goals into 90-day realities.
According to the EOS Quarterly Meeting Guide from EOSWorldwide, the most effective sessions share a common trait: they are treated as sacred time—not a calendar obligation, but a leadership discipline. The structure is respected. The prep work is done. And the team leaves with clarity, commitment, and a short, focused list of what must happen next.
That’s the kind of quarterly planning that doesn’t just fill your calendar. It fills your pipeline, builds your team, and drives your business forward one 90-day sprint at a time.
Your Next Step
If your last quarterly planning session felt like a waste of time, the answer isn’t to skip the next one. The answer is to run it differently. Start with the pre-work. Set real Rocks. Clear your Issues List. And walk out of the room with every leader aligned on what’s next.
If you’d like help facilitating your next quarterly planning session or building a meeting rhythm that actually drives growth, let’s talk. That’s exactly the kind of work we do at Newlogiq.
And if quarterly planning feels hard because you’re still the bottleneck in your business, start here first: How to Stop Being the Bottleneck in Your Own Business.
—————
Jeff Oskin is the founder of Newlogiq and a Scaling Up and DISCPlus certified coach. He works with $5M–$50M business owners and family businesses to build leadership, create execution systems, and scale with confidence.





