Building productive teamsSetting clear expectations

Establish your team’s operational rhythm

20 minutes

Setting an effective operating rhythm with your team is crucial for maintaining high levels of productivity and engagement. See how you can establish your team’s operating rhythm with these steps.

Preparing for the operational rhythm

Before implementing your team’s operational rhythm, first identify what would work best. As each team functions differently and will have different needs, it’s best to identify first what the goal is and what would work best.

Define your objectives

Before you can set an operating rhythm, determine what you want to achieve with it. Goals might include improving communication, ensuring progress on projects, or better alignment with organisational objectives.

Identify your audience

Is your team fully remote, hybrid or out in the field? Since operating rhythms serve to optimise how your team works, varying setups will require solutions that works best for everyone in your team.

Look at your team's current practices

Your team may already have valuable practices in place that could enhance overall efficiency and workflow. Take a moment to explore these existing habits—sometimes, the best strategies are already there and just need a little fine-tuning to reach their full potential.

Implementing operational rhythm

Follow these step-by-step guidelines to create a clear and effective operating rhythm:

Establish regular meetings

Decide on the types and frequencies of meetings needed. Common types include:

Daily stand-ups for quick updates

1:1 meetings for your individual catch-ups

Weekly team meetings for more detailed project discussions and status updates

Monthly strategy meetings to review broader goals and progress

Create an agenda

For each type of meeting, develop a standard agenda that covers necessary items and topics. Ensure the agendas allow time for discussion and are not too packed, to keep meetings focused and efficient.

Use our 4 step structure for meetings to guide your meeting flow.

Implementing a structured approach ensures every meeting is both efficient and engaging.

Set expectations

Communicate with your team about the new operating rhythm. Clearly define your expectations of each team member during these meetings, including preparation and participation, and outline what they can expect from you.

Implement Tools and Technology

Utilise tools that facilitate communication and collaboration, such as calendars, team chat groups or project management tools such as Trello or Click-up. Or choose any other tool that will integrate well with your operating rhythm.

Monitor and adjust

Regularly assess the effectiveness of your operating rhythm. Ask for feedback from the team on what’s working and what’s not. Be flexible and willing to adjust the frequency, format, or content of meetings based on their feedback.

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