Establishing a Work Cadence

Show Notes

 

• [0:00:55] Episode Summary | Intro

 

• Why Every Podcast NEEDS Intro Music
• Last Episode Communication Recap

 

• [0:03:13] Kicking off a New Topic

 

• Making Progress
• • Helping our teams make progress.
  • Establishing a work cadence. 
  • Promoting progress and not business. 
• The Necessity of Work Cadence
• • We’ve lost seasonality.
  • • The modern world lacks cadence and sets your team up for failure and unfair expectations.
    • Black Friday in recent years is a perfect example of this. 
  • We don’t recognize how people’s creativity and work output is seasonal.
  • • You can’t be “at an 11” all the time. 
  • Don’t let anyone feel guilty for taking time off. 
  • • Not just vacation, but allow your people to switch up what they are working on. 

 

• [0:08:36] Creating Seasons to Break-up the Work

 

• This even applies to a given day’s worth of work.

 

• [0:10:00] Learning From Past Mistakes

 

• The work shouldn’t inherently dictate the season. 
• Your “fires” shouldn’t determine and set the standard and expectations for the season. 
• Consider checking email ONCE a day. 
• Your team can’t work at the same speed 365 days a year. 
• • We’re literally evolved, as a species, around seasons.

 

•  [0:12:10] What We’ve Done to Establish Cadence Within Our Company

 

• Ask yourself, “What is the pulse of the team?”
• • Where are the hills and valleys?
• Breaking up work into cycles.
• • Then establishing a down time in-between cycles. 
  • Try to ensure your cycles match or work around the cadence of common holiday and vacation times.
  • • It’ll never be perfect or match the needs of each and every team member, but it will make a difference as a whole. 
    • Allow PTO/vacation during a cycle, and take that into account when considering expected cycle output. 
    • • Don’t punish the team for PTO being utilized.
  • Cycles allow you to pause and celebrate wins with intention. 
  • • We STILL do a poor job of celebrating wins...and you probably will too, but don’t settle for it. 
  • Regular stopping points allow you to more easily course correct. 
• We create a very loose plan for the year as a whole. 
• • We also reevaluate that plan after every cycle concludes (but before the next begins). 
• Our calendar can be scary to the average business owner…
• • ...but here’s why it shouldn’t be. 
  • • On putting people over profits. 
    • • Happy people do better work. 
      • How do we create sustainability AND keep people with the company?

 

• [0:22:57] Is Boredom the Missing Item in Your Workday Toolkit?

 

• Problems are solved in the silence. 
• • In the quiet between the work is generally when problems are solved in more creative ways. 
  • Margins (pauses) make doing the work more productive. 
• Looking back at the dreadful state of our work lives without cycles and natural stopping points. 

 

• [0:27:13] What’s Next?

 

• Planning definitely for the whole year is overwhelming and loses clarity over time. 
• • Asking “what’s next?” after each cycle is liberating and creates so much more shared understanding in the end. 
  • • Additionally, it works wonders in the ability to pivot, which is vital in your organizational toolkit.

 

• [0:29:45] Saying You’re Not Working During Downtime is Very MIsleading

 

• • Downtime is a time for reflection, pivoting, preparation, and learning.
• [0:30:49] Cycles Are Iterative
• • You’ll have to dial it in with what works best for your organization. 
  • • What works best for your company can/will change year to year.
    • • Maybe you need more downtime, or longer cycles. 
      • • But keep your focus as one that is people first. 

 

• [0:31:34] Parting Words

 

• Stop and think. 
• • Analyze if you could have accomplished more, had the team been given more thoughtfulness, freedom, and room to pivot. 
• Next Episode
• • The Difference Between Progress and Productivity, or Activity