By Bret Weekes, CEO, eDoc Innovations

When I reflect on my early days as a CEO, I grimace at some of the things I did. Of course, I thought I was doing the right thing and being a good CEO. However, I’ve come to recognize how often the dominance of tactical execution can overrun a CEO’s strategic vision, which is needed for a sustainable growth outcome. One lesson I’ve learned in maintaining that strategic outlook is to have a cadence driven by strategic vision; a strategic cadence that builds the muscle memory of the organization.

A traditional outlook on cadence is as simple as a rhythm … the rhythm of music, voice or sounds that we hear in nature. Business school taught me cadence was the frequency in which we have meetings or how schedules are organized (Webster 2018). What business school didn’t teach me was the importance of strategic cadence, a strategic vision infused into the meetings and activities of the organization, which is the source for building the muscle memory of stakeholders and unifying the company.  Strategic cadence creates a vision for the future with its stakeholders through repetitive action in the present. It unifies the stakeholders, builds confidence and trust and energizes the participants.

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Where did I learn this? In the board room. When I first began working with a board of directors, we set meeting schedules that were convenient for the board members, and I worked hard to meet the expectations of the board. Over time, I saw the harder I worked to be convenient for the board, the less likely I was to meet their expectations. I lacked strategic cadence. With some trial and error, I started to rely less on convenience and more on setting a cadence of activities that aligned with my strategic vision for the board and our company.

Now, I was – and am – fortunate to have a great board. When I figured out the recipe of strategic cadence, I outlined the board calendar differently, including in the calendar the details for specific activities that would happen consistently in the board meetings. I sent a cadence for an annual review of the technology plan and offset that with an annual review of the resource development plan; I set the cadence for business plan development, table officer elections, board handbook approval and several other key board activities as part of my strategy. The results were powerful. Our muscle memory as a board improved, our meetings I felt were more productive and strategic, and the discipline of the cadence removed the convenience factor and increased the overall satisfaction of the board members.  

There are many who attribute IBM as the technology leader that authored business cadence concepts, even coining the phrase “IBM language” (Friedman 2010) to describe how long employees have meetings.  For me, I’ve learned there is greater value of strategic cadence, that consistency of action that builds muscle memory inside the organization and fosters strategic outlook in the tactics of all stakeholders. I’ve witnessed the value of strategic cadence in the board room, executive leadership teams and our staff.

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David Tilk insightfully noted, “It's … important that the governance processes and mechanisms … in place … make sense to you and they fit what you are trying to accomplish. This includes a regular cadence of meetings.” (Tilk 2016) When strategic vision is added to cadence, real energy is ignited in the organization’s muscle memory and that energy drives success now and creates sustainability for the future.

If you’re interested in more information on this concept, here are some excellent resources:

Friedman, N., (2010), ‘Weird Words from Corporatese Lexicon’, Vocabulary.com, [Online], Available at: https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/candlepwr/weird-words-from-the-corporatese-lexicon, [Accessed 2 October 2018].

Webster, M., (2018), ‘How Cadence Became a Business Term’, Merriam-Webster, [Online], Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/words-we%27re-watching-cadence, [Accessed 2 October 2018].

Tilk, D., (2016), ‘Decision Making‘, PM Network, [Online], Available at: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/new-sponsor-9842, [Accessed 3 October 2018].