There are a variety of factors which impact the level of success your business achieves. One of the more important, yet often overlooked factors is your success rhythm. Businesses that are able to implement an effective success rhythm typically achieve greater strategic alignment, higher levels of operational efficiency, better accountability among team members, higher levels of employee engagement, and a more effective balance between big-picture strategic planning and day-to-day operational execution.
While there is no one way to create an effective success rhythm, there are certain key elements that should be present to ensure your company is able to operate at optimal levels of performance. Your business success rhythm should be authentic to your unique processes, vision and core values, but it should also incorporate the essential elements discussed below to provide the proper framework for successful operations.
Your business success rhythm refers to the energy, flow and cadence of your business operations. This rhythm helps define how your team works together, and it provides your employees with a clear sense of what is supposed to happen, what they are expected to contribute, and how often different things should occur.
Your business success rhythm should be rooted in your company culture. It should stem from your core values and help your team remain aligned with these values as they perform their job every day. In addition, your success rhythm needs to be owned by everyone on your team. Even if it is established by your leadership team, it’s critical that your team feels empowered by your success rhythm in a way that helps them achieve the best possible results with their daily work. Finally, your rhythm must be consistent – it should happen like clockwork and become woven into the norms and routines of your team.
Your success rhythm should contain the following three elements:
Successful businesses are aligned on their strategic goals. Each team member understands the long- and short-term goals for the company, as well as their role in achieving these goals. In addition, successful businesses have team members that buy into this shared company vision and take personal accountability for their role in executing this vision.
Meetings and events play an important role in creating this alignment with strategic goals:
Some essential meetings and events to incorporate into your regular business success rhythm include:
Employee One-on-Ones
These are informal weekly meetings between each employee and a member of your leadership team. These one-on-one meetings should be brief and give your team an opportunity to forge deeper relationships with leadership. Topics discussed can range from items in their personal life that may be impacting work as well as potential roadblocks at work which employees need assistance with.
Monthly Check-Ins
Your weekly informal one-on-ones should be supplemented by monthly check-ins that are held by each team member’s manager. These meetings should be more formal and focused on work. Topics to cover should include:
These monthly check-ins will help employees understand how well they’re performing their job as well as any changes they may need to make to more effectively deliver the results expected.
Annual Planning
It’s important to hold all-company annual planning events where your leadership team discusses the major initiatives for the upcoming year and any goals you are trying to achieve. These events are critical to ensuring your entire team understands your goals, buys into your company initiatives, and understands the role they play in achieving your desired results.
Quarterly Planning
Depending on the nature of your business, you may decide that an annual planning event isn’t sufficient to ensure your team remains aligned with your strategic goals. In some instances, it may be more effective to hold these all-company planning meetings twice a year or even on a quarterly basis.
If the discussion above has left you exhausted, you’re in good company. Many people experience meeting fatigue, and no one wants to add more meetings to their busy schedule. More importantly, if all you do is spend your days in meetings, you’ll have no time to get actual work done. So while the meetings discussed above are important, they must be scheduled judiciously to allow your employees the time they need to complete their work.
The key to building meaningful work time into your business success rhythm is to remove impediments to your team having the ability to complete the important tasks they’re assigned. There are several ways you can do this:
Give Employees Time for Deep Work
There’s a rhythm to doing work. When you have an extended period of time to focus on your work, you’re able to get into a rhythm that allows you to work more efficiently and effectively. Conversely, when you’re constantly interrupted by meetings and other distractions, your work time becomes disjoint, making it go slower and less efficiently. Empower your team to block off large chunks of time that they will dedicate to completing their work. Make this time sacred – other team members, including your leadership team, should be discouraged from interrupting employees during the time they’ve blocked out for work.
Create a More Flexible Working Environment
Everyone works differently. For some, they may do their best work surrounded by their team. For others, being able to block out distractions and work alone may be the best way for them to get work done. Whenever possible, empower your team to create the ideal working environment for them to be productive. This may involve a remote working situation or an in-office working situation. It may also involve allowing certain team members to find a quiet space in your office to focus on their important tasks.
Simply completing work isn’t sufficient to build a successful business. Your team must do good work that delivers significant value to your customers/clients. There are ways you can set up your success rhythm that will help improve your team’s ability to deliver the value your customers/clients expect:
Give Employees Autonomy Over the Structure of Their Workday
Just as your business has an overall rhythm, so does every employee. Encourage your employees to be aware of their own individual rhythms and block out time for deep work when they’ll be most productive. For example, if someone is more productive in the morning, giving them time for deep work at the end of the day won’t be as effective, and it won’t deliver as much value as if this person were able to focus on their work during the morning hours when they are most productive.
Focus on Operational Efficiency
Implement standardized processes and routines for day-to-day operations that will streamline work and increase the productivity of your team. This should include providing them with any tools and technology that will maximize productivity.
Leverage Data
We have more data at our disposal than ever before, and this data can be a critical tool helping you deliver better value. Utilize success metrics and analytics data to inform your operational decisions and optimize the performance of your team over time. Use this data to regularly assess your processes and outcomes to identify areas for refinement and enhancement.
Align Business Rhythms with Customer Needs and Expectations
Understanding the needs and expectations of your customers is critical to delivering value. This should involve more than just the quality of the product or service you provide. It should also apply to your communications with your customers. How often do they need meetings and check-ins? How do they prefer to receive information from you (email, phone call, video meeting, etc.)? Aligning your communication efforts with their expectations will help you provide greater value.
If you’ve struggled to develop a strong success rhythm for your business, you’re not alone. Many companies struggle with this important aspect of running their business. At PassioHR, we can help you create and implement an effective success rhythm for your business.
As a full-service PEO company, we regularly help small and medium-sized businesses with a variety of aspects of their operations. As part of this process, we can work with you to develop a success rhythm that will improve employee engagement, streamline operations and achieve your strategic goals.
You’ll benefit from our exclusive Elevated Engagement Plus™ Approach focused on helping you create a more successful and inspired organization. As part of this unique approach, we’ll take the time to learn about your company culture and your unique workforce dynamic. This allows us to make customized recommendations that will ensure your new success rhythm aligns with your core values and your strategic goals. Our process has helped many companies elevate their success with our customized business rhythm, and we can put our process to work to help your company grow and thrive.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.
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