How to Increase Velocity in Your Team

Some­times, we under­es­ti­mate how much time some­thing is going to take. We all do it, espe­cial­ly when we set a goal and think we have a whole year ahead to get it done.

As I reflect on the past year, on the many things that have gone incred­i­bly well in our firm and with our clients, I also got behind on two of my annu­al goals and need­ed to invest a lot more time and ener­gy to get them done:

• Com­plete the first draft of my new book
• Add at least two new awe­some strat­e­gy advi­sors to our team.

Both have the same cause: I did­n’t make enough ear­ly progress. Now I am ​‘cram­ming for the exam’ to deliv­er on my commitments.

Sound famil­iar?

Chart a Course

For my book, the num­ber of hours I ded­i­cat­ed in my sched­ule, on a week­ly basis, looks like the growth chart of a com­pa­ny – a lit­tle at the start and more and more towards the end. Now, at the start of the year, I’ll spend almost a day in a week to get the book draft across the line.

And, if I look at the amount of time that my team and I are now spend­ing on recruit­ing new advi­sors, our efforts resem­ble the growth chart of a com­pa­ny rock­et­ing to the moon.

It’s chal­leng­ing to find peo­ple who have what it takes to be an amaz­ing advi­sor, to facil­i­tate strat­e­gy ses­sions, and to work with high-per­form­ing CEOs and their teams to help to opti­mize and dri­ve their growth strategy.

Need­less to say, our veloc­i­ty has increased – and we will get it done.

There’s still time but it’s not waiting.

-Al Pur­dy, Cana­di­an writer/​poet

Fre­quen­cy + Effort = Velocity

On projects, longer meet­ing rhythms lead to longer cycles. To increase veloc­i­ty, you need to move to more fre­quent meet­ings and more effort.

That’s why quar­ter­ly goals and mul­ti­ple check­points give us the chance to recal­i­brate early.

When we knew we were behind with the book and recruit­ment, at the end of Q2, we amped up our com­mit­ment in Q3. And recent­ly in Q4, we increased our meet­ing fre­quen­cy rhythms and veloc­i­ty even more to get them done

If we’d done that ear­li­er, we would have been ahead of the game.

The Chal­lenge

• If you look at the most the most high-val­ue things you and your orga­ni­za­tion need to accom­plish that are not quite on track, what can you do to increase your velocity?

Addi­tion­al Blogs

• Are You Fail­ing to Achieve Your Quar­ter­ly Goals?
• Ted Las­so & the Half­time Reset
• Work Your Best Laid Quar­ter­ly Plan
• What One Thing Do You Want to Achieve in 2023?

Old­er Podcasts

• Why The Great­est CEOs Obsess Over Their Goals
• How to Use SMART Goals with Your Team