Tempo
Good leaders find subtle ways to improve their organization's tempo without burning out their staff. Increased tempo leads to faster results, more chances to iterate, and less costly mistakes.
The tempo of an organization is a huge component of its culture. I've worked with clients and companies at both ends of the spectrum. Some were so frenetic that folks didn't know which way was up. Others moved so slowly that it hurt. Understanding the tempo of your organization is critical to successfully delivering work.
One of my early mentors referred to this as OPTEMPO – taken from the US Army. We were trying to drive a large change initiative but didn’t understand the organization's tempo. We scrapped our plans, re-forecast the project, and synced up with the rhythms of our client. Understanding the tempo is also the only way to accurately plan milestones, set deadlines, and, ultimately, deliver value.
My mentor called it OPTEMPO, Sriram Krishnan calls it clock speed and provides a great litmus test:
"When someone says, Let's have a follow-up conversation, what is the implicit, unspoken understanding of when that should happen?" Are you expected to follow up later the same day? The following day? A week or month or quarter later? Never?
I love this proxy for tempo. Whether you call it Clock Speed, OPTEMPO or something else, good leaders find subtle ways to improve their organization's tempo without burning out their staff. Increased tempo leads to faster results, more chances to iterate, and less costly mistakes.