Unlocking productivity by mastering Operating Rhythms

We’ve been spending time in a variety of organisations recently, from major international corporates, to local not for profits. A consistent challenge we see is a disparate approach to sharing and distributing information in an organisation. We’re not talking about the comm’s department in an organisation. We’re talking about internal communications – the way our people connect, and whether they have the information they need to do their job effectively.

In the bustling world of business, where time is both a precious resource and a fleeting companion, mastering our rhythms is essential. These rhythms—the heartbeat of an organisation—determine how teams collaborate, make decisions, and achieve their goals. When they’re not consistent or clear, meetings become monotonous, people feel disconnected, and team members become drained and unproductive.

A few common symptoms of ineffective operating rhythms, include:

·         Meeting behaviours: When you start to see that not all attendees are coming; there is a desire for people who are not needed to attend; or there was no clear outcome at the end and a feeling that the meeting wasn’t necessary – your operating rhythms may be ineffective. And, you’re not alone - over one-third of meetings(!) are considered unnecessary. In many cases, there is simply too much time spent in meetings, which takes away from “focus” time and inhibits productivity.

·         Communications habits: Whether at the team or organisation level, when people are surprised about something happening, or you notice backchanneling or complaining from team members or colleagues, it’s likely that your internal communications channels are ineffective. This can often be the driver of many adverse behaviours such as distrust, resistance to change, and defensiveness.

·         Team connection: When teams operate in a transactional manner, connecting only on work related topics, with little authentic connection outside of the work environment, this could be a symptom of minimal opportunities to connect within structured operating rhythms.

A simple solution to these symptoms is a review of your operating rhythms. When your workplace is intentionally structured in a way that enables the people within it to thrive, it can have flow on effects to productivity.

Here’s three practical strategies to elevate your rhythms and transform the way you and your people connect:

1. Strengthen Your Meeting Hygiene

Define Your Purpose: Before scheduling a meeting, pause and reflect: What’s the purpose? Are you aligning on strategy, solving a problem, making decisions or sharing information? Clearly articulate the meeting’s intent. When participants know why they’re there, engagement soars.

Curate Your Guest List: Invite only those who contribute directly to the discussion. Fewer attendees mean more focused conversations – the optimal number is between 5 and 7. Remember, quality trumps quantity.

Ritual Review: Regularly assess your meeting rituals. If you’re a new manager, you’re more likely to hold too many meetings – you need to critically assess: Are they effective? Do they align with your team’s goals? Adjust as needed to maintain relevance and engagement.

2. Optimise your flow of information

Map your meetings: Do they enable a logical flow of information up and down the organisation? A comprehensive governance calendar is important and helpful in large organisations if it has flow on effects throughout the org – For example: Each function should have meetings prior to executive meetings, enabling Functional Leaders to hear from their team, and feed this up to their Executive and so on. While this may seem minor, having structures in place to allow the seamless flow of information can be a game-changer to creating timely and consistent communication while removing barriers.

Align your communications: Communications need to be deeply integrated with organisational activities and priorities. They need to be early, often and abundantly clear. The role of the communications team should be to create messaging that is high level, general in nature and organisation-wide. This means, for anything at a team or function level - the majority of employees will prefer to hear this from their direct supervisor. If you’re seeing challenges with people feeling disconnected or not included, it’s a sign you need to adjust how you communicate with the group.

3. Enhance team connection

Move beyond the transactional: Checking in individually with your team members each week can increase engagement by between 50-80%. This is important, because when people are engaged and feel part of a team, they are more resilient and likely to stick around. Start by introducing a weekly 10 minute check-in with each of your team members by asking two simple questions: WHAT are you working on this week?; and HOW can I help?

Create opportunities for truly personal connection: Two-thirds of employees say their co-workers and peers have the biggest impact on them feeling connected. Create and encourage an environment where your employees can find things in common and have shared experiences which are not always directly related to their work.

Operating rhythms aren’t mere clockwork—they’re the symphony that propels your team forward. By refining meeting hygiene, optimising flow, and fostering connected teams, you’ll orchestrate harmonious collaboration. So, let’s embrace purposeful rhythms and turn mundane moments into meaningful milestones.

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We work with leaders to lift their organisational performance. If you want to chat about how we could help you, get in touch today.