Setting Up for Operational Velocity

Operating velocity is crucial for business success. Every company function is racing the clock to hit targets – product releases, sales forecasts, hiring goals. When a company is small, it’s easy to communicate, make tradeoffs and reset priorities. As the team grows, though, we need to establish mechanisms that keep our organization aligned in its goals, execution and culture.

When the company starts to hire employees, it’s time for the CEO to ritualize key team actions and events – cadences – and establish systems and processes for tracking, communication and decision making – mechanisms – to enable the company to scale.

A company’s operating cadence is its organizational rhythm, driven by the business cycle and reflected in the calendar. At first, the cadence will contain a few important events, like “all-hands” or board meetings and perhaps an industry conference or two.

Operating mechanisms are important routines, often coupled with tools, that we use to create efficiency in core functional areas, like HR, design or sales. Mechanisms will come and go as the company becomes more complex and sophisticated.

Many founders and CEOs will have been exposed to a range of operating tactics from previous experiences, some good, some bad. Leaders can draw on these, of course, but should remain open to adapting and learning new ways to lead the business.

Typical Events and Processes

The list below shows basic events and processes companies use to run more efficiently. The list is grouped by company stage and employee population size, but these are very rough thresholds. It is important to be thoughtful about the timing and method for introducing new processes or meetings. Sometimes we need to replace an old process. Any new addition will require you to bring your team with you on the “why?”

Pre-Seed Through Seed Stage:

• Monthly All-Stakeholder Update. Recap the last quarter for shareholders, team and advisors. See: Investor Updates Done Right
• Quarterly Company Objectives & Key Results (OKRs). Establish goals and conduct end-of-period reviews. If you haven’t used OKRs, or if you have used them but are dissatisfied, consider variations or new approaches. The important point is to establish your own discipline and rhythm.
• Transparent sharing of board decks. Early on, begin to establish open and transparent communication with the team. This will help align the team and create an ownership culture.
• Weekly All Hands meetings. You have many ways to do this meeting and can evolve it over time. The key thing is to be inclusive, transparent and consistent. A little fun helps with culture development, too.
• Win Celebrations: "Gongs" for new deals, "Deal Won" emails, etc.

First Round Venture (or up to ~100 Employees) :

You’ll likely continue everything you have established above, but you’ll start to simplify your messaging and communications to fit the growing population. You will begin reducing noise and stamping out emerging bureaucratic or empire-building tendencies. Here are some typical additions, although your situation may not demand all of them.

• Expanding OKRs to include team – and perhaps personal – goal setting and reviews.
• Weekly Management Meetings: Regular communication and alignment meetings for the management team.
• Weekly Outcomes Tracker: Tracking priorities and outcomes for each management team member.
• Quarterly Leadership Offsites: Offsite discussions on important topics for the management team.
• Quarterly Board Meetings for strategic discussions.
• Weekly 1:1s: Essential one-on-one meetings for effective communication.
• Quarterly Road Mapping: Prioritizing "big bets" at an executive level for decision making.
• Annual Product Vision: Refreshing the product vision every year for alignment.
• Quarterly Hackathons: Fostering innovation through regular hackathons.

Expansion (100+ Employees, 4+ Functional Leaders) :

At this stage, it is important to review everything above and make changes to enable what is now potentially a multi-level management structure. Consider resizing meetings to make them more impactful and pushing decision making to lower levels to increase agility.

• Deal Desk: Streamlining deal approval with a simple template and quick decision making.
• Customer Aliases: Creating email aliases for customer accounts to facilitate internal communication.
• At-Risk Reviews: Monthly discussions on accounts with churn risks to address issues proactively.
• Quarterly Sales Kickoff: Strategizing and discussing goals at the beginning of each quarter.
• Hotspot Reviews: Monthly meetings to address urgent issues and fires.
• Offer Approval Process: Systematic approval process for hiring with a high bar.
• Nine-Box Reviews: Categorizing team performance and potential to encourage parting ways with low performers.
• Annual Budgeting Cycle: Implementing a lightweight budgeting process with multiple employees.
• Monthly & Quarterly Financial Results: Sharing financial metrics with the entire organization.
• Quarterly Forecasting: Conducting lightweight forecasts for leading financial indicators.

Want to discuss your company’s operating rhythm? Have questions about any of these mechanisms and how they might apply to your team’s needs? Schedule time or drop me a note.

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