Cadence Is What Makes Efficiency Stick

Putting aside the fact that a random post on LinkedIn convinced me I should never use the word “just” …

Stop me if you’ve written or received this one:

“Hey, just checking in to see if you have any updates.”

Or

“Just reaching out to see if you’d had a chance to look over my previous email (below).”

If you have to check in, your system has already failed.

It is not in fact what you are just doing, but it is indicative of a system with no shared cadence. In many environments or situations you won’t be able to establish and get buy-in on a cadence for sharing important information. Your contractor, your internet provider, and your solar company don’t care about sharing information with you on an agreed upon cadence.

In the sphere of your business though, you’re able to exert control and proliferate this throughout your workflows if it doesn’t already exist.

Check ins, follow-ups, or verifications, is likely indicative of a cadence. If that doesn’t lay it bare or make you feel seen, other symptoms include

• Work showing up randomly and unpredictably
• Problems arising when it’s too late to address them effectively
• Owners interrupting instead of reviewing
• Teams waiting instead of acting
• A constant sense of urgency

In the absence of a cadence for your workflows, everything necessarily must be an interruption.

What is Cadence?

If you’re nodding your head but unclear exactly what I’m talking about when I say Cadence, you’re not alone.

Music has a cadence, a rhythm with which it moves. So too does exercise … your cadence might be how many times you pedal per minute, or how many strides when you’re running. With your business it is something similar. Cadence is when work knows to show up. It replaces memory with structure, and anxiety with certainty.

How frequently do you want updates?

When and how often do you want problems or challenges to surface?

When do you want to review the work being done?

If you take a step back and see what we’re doing here, you’ll notice a simple progression. You determined what to focus on, what matters most. You developed systems to execute on those priorities. More and more of the necessary work is being done by the people who were hired to do that work. And cadence ensures that what others own, stays theirs while still maintaining your ownership of the business.

Essentially you’re finalizing the transition from acting as a lynch pin in everything, to reviewing, prioritizing, and making decisions.

Intellectually, structure and systems seemed like constraints on your life and your business. But realistically they are the wings that give you freedom.

Cadences that work

Similar to your systems and your delegation, you don’t need grand Sisyphusian effort to implement cadence in your business. Start simple and stay simple. Some examples that might be worth considering:

• Weekly priorities review
• Daily standing check-in for in-flight work
• Monthly look-back on what slipped and why

Your work will dictate the frequency, and it’s okay to adjust as you learn more or as your business adapts to its new structure.

Looking back, drape these cadences over what you’ve built so far. Apply them to the delegation work you initiated. Think about the tasks that fall through the cracks and how a cadence might eliminate the problem. Identify who is tending to your systems and your workflows.

Ultimately, a proper cadence helps ensure your priorities remain priorities, and that your strategy is realized in the day to day. It minimizes surprises and it makes everything far more predictable. Predictability isn’t always thought of as an admirable trait, but think of how much better you would feel if everything important in your business were predictable?

In the coming weeks, pick one system that’s already in place and decide when it will be reviewed. Put the review on the calendar, then stop checking until then.

I can hear you thinking “Trust, but verify!” but start simple, start small, and build that bidirectional trust.

We’ve talked at length about what efficiency is and what it isn’t. For the sake of your business, it’s not doing more with less or at very least the conversation shouldn’t stop there. It’s about building systems you can rely on, and the cadence allows you to stop chasing or checking, and finally step back.