Creating an Operating Rhythm

What are the critical meetings, communications and feedback systems that keep your contracting business running like clockwork?

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Leadership Tools: Operating Rhythm and Cadence of Accountability.

How do those Operating Rhythms at various levels; within different functional areas; in different geographic locations; and at different job sites interlock with each other effectively?  

Retired General Stanley McChrystal and his team talk about these Operating Rhythms in their books Team of Teams and One Mission

The team at FranklinCovey talks about Operating Rhythm as a Cadence of Accountability in The 4 Disciplines of Execution.

For a contractor to grow sustainably they need to move from “Doing Things” and ad-hoc communications into effectively integrated Operating Rhythms.  

When these changes don’t occur it causes stress on the organization and impacts profitability.  




A Business Exists to Serve a Customer
Without satisfied and growing customers, nothing else a contractor does will matter. Few things are more profitable for contractors than recurring work negotiated with a select group of project owners.
Levels of Improvement: Start with the Foundation
Every process in your business including field productivity will go through three levels of improvement: From predictable to productive to scalable. Trying to skip levels is the surest way to slow down improvements across the company.
Work Conversion Cycle and Backlog Run-Off
PARADOX: A contractor can’t focus on the bigger strategic issues until they have a predictable backlog of work. If a contractor doesn’t have a solid market strategy and organizational structure in place it’s very difficult to build a consistent backlog.