Rhythm isn't just for dancers and musicians. It's crucial for business execution.
Imagine two dancers gliding across the floor, perfectly synchronized with each other and the music – effortless, beautiful, and fun.
Translating this analogy, if the dancers represent strategy and execution, the music symbolizes synchronization.
Your business and teams mirror this synergy. Strategy alone, without execution, remains a mere dream. Achieving execution excellence demands alignment for direction and a rhythm for accountability.
How to attain seamless business rhythms?
Importance of Business Rhythm:
In 2008 I had to reorient the business I was running. We had a hard landing during the financial crisis and we needed to pivot fast.
I assembled our team and created a strong strategy. Now we needed to execute. Our business rhythm at the time separated strategy and operations, this was a mistake.
We had quarterly strategic offsites that were lively and engaging but the enthusiasm rarely lasted and we achieved very few of the strategic imperatives. Something had to change.
That's when I grasped the significance of harmonizing business rhythms involving both strategy and operations.
The positive attributes about our new found rhythm were:
Alignment - we maintained alignment all through the quarter and identified deviations fast
Accountability - there are 13 weeks in a quarter progress needed to be made daily/weekly
Predictability - the team knew when we would be together and for what purpose
Adaptability - the business was dynamic, sometimes we had to pivot mid-quarter
Trust - consistently communicating openly and transparently enhances trust
Communication - no person or team works on strategy in a vacuum and sometimes the best person to solve a problem isn’t in the room when the problem is identified
The most effective rhythm we found is:
Meeting | Description |
Daily Huddle | 15 minutes - what’s up/good news, where are you stuck, no solutioning, just direct reports |
Weekly Mgmt Meeting | 45 minutes - KPI’s of the business operationally focused |
Monthly Mgmt Meeting | 90 minutes - one longer weekly meeting, second 45 minutes on strategy update |
Quarterly Offsite | 1 Day: learn, strategic update, set next big rocks |
Annual Strategy/Planning | 2 Day: learn, 24-36 month strategy, annual plans |
The game-changer for our team was the daily huddle. It is also the meeting I get the most pushback about in my advisory practice.
The pushback is usually rooted in “We don't need another meeting” or “we see each other every day anyway”.
In my experience, the daily huddle, when done correctly, will give you time back and make your other meetings more effective. The primary benefits we experienced were:
Predictable time the executive team would get together - removed after-hour phone calls for updates
Ability to quickly identify blockers - we didn’t solve on the call but we assigned resources to solve outside the call, this dramatically shortened management meetings
It kept the executive team connected which enhanced trust and sped up the business
A dose of good news every day, it permeated our culture and was a very positive outcome
One last recommendation.
Every year has four quarters, and each quarter is thirteen weeks; that doesn’t change.
Program your rhythm into your calendars for 24 months. That avoids last-minute coordination of meetings, which usually results in poor attendance, increased expense and substandard venues.
A well-designed business rhythm will keep your team aligned, engaged and enthusiastic. It removes drama from execution and preserves mental and emotional energy to be applied to important issues and opportunities in the business.
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