Why Every Chief of Staff Needs a RoB (Rhythm of Business)

As the Chief of Staff or Operating Leader, you are responsible for ensuring that the team or company you are supporting is running efficiently and effectively week-to-week, month-to-month, and quarter-to-quarter. You are responsible for deciding what your leadership team talks about on a weekly basis, what you tell your staff on a monthly basis, and how you retro the previous quarter as well as set OKRs for the next. All of these critical business operations are made stronger (and done more effortlessly) with a solid Rhythm of Business (RoB) for the company in place.?

In this article, I’ll cover the following:

1. What is a “Rhythm of Business (RoB)”?
2. Why is establishing a strong RoB so important?
3. What is included in RoBs and how do they differ by company stage?
4. What are the best practices for setting up & maintaining a strong RoB?

What is a “Rhythm of Business (RoB)”?

While there isn’t an official definition for this term, I like to describe a rhythm of business in the musical sense. A rhythm of business is the operating cadence of a business, that keeps the musicians (the company) on beat and in harmony. It’s the ebb and flow of everything from strategic planning by senior leaders to the way team managers hold weekly update meetings.

Rhythms of Business are often visually shown as a framework of activities, milestones, and success measures. There are a few ways to visually represent a RoB and the most common is to create a RoB that is Category Centric. What you see in Figure A is a People Team’s RoB that outlines People Team-specific categories and details those categories across the slide with initiatives over the quarters.?

Another way to represent a RoB visually is by focusing on the cadence. At the top of Figure B, you’ll see the activities sorted by annually, quarterly, monthly, and weekly.?

Ultimately, there is no wrong way to represent your RoB visually. It is just important to have it documented in a way that is easy to understand and also it’s key to have it be easily accessible. When I was Chief of Staff, I would often bring up the RoB in our monthly team All Hands to remind staff of what we have upcoming. I would also keep the visual tagged in key slack channels and stored in the Knowledge Management system our team used.?

Why is establishing a strong RoB so important?

• Proactive Planning. Establishing a strong RoB early allows you to proactively plan for the year ahead. A RoB is not the WHAT but is HOW the company will execute to meet the company’s annual goals. Setting a RoB early will also for you to foresee potential roadblocks or issues that could impact the execution of the strategy.?
• Intentional Communication. As the Chief of Staff or Operating Leader, it’s often your job to communicate key priorities and updates to the company. Having a RoB pre-set gives you the ability to plan communications intentionally, which will create understanding among staff and reduce inconsistent communications about competing team priorities. I’ve sadly witnessed poor comms in which People Teams are sharing what they need from staff while BizOps has entirely different and competing needs from teams.
• Departmental Alignment. A RoB that is agreed upon by all departments will break down those department silos and create alignment and clarity, which also again will allow for better communication with staff.??
• Empowerment through Predictability. It won’t just be leaders and department heads using this RoB but even line managers and team leads will use this and will understand what is expected of them by when, giving them the freedom to explore, experiment, and dig in with their teams without interruption.?

Ultimately, having a strong RoB just makes you (Chief of Staff/Operating Leader) look good. Executive Leaders are often visionaries and thus not in the weeds on operations and how things will actually happen. Having a clean and well-thought-through plan is an added value to your Executive Leader.?

What is included as part of a Rhythm of Business??

The short answer: the aspects of the business most critical to your leadership team and key stakeholders. Examples of things included as part of a RoB may include:?

• Annual Strategic Planning?
• Quarterly Planning & Reviews
• Board Meetings
• Monthly Town Halls
• Weekly Update Meetings
• Performance Review Cycles
• Onsites

I most often see 4 categories included in a Rhythm of Business:?

• Annual Planning (e.g. Headcount Reviews and Planning, Budget Reviews, and Yearly Strategic Goals)
• Quarterly Planning (e.g. Quarterly Business Reviews and the establishment of OKRs for the next quarter)
• Department Operations (e.g. Team All Hands, Leads Meetings, Team Onsites)
• HR Administration (e.g. Performance Reviews and Compliance Trainings)

How do RoBs differ by company stage?

Overall, Early Stage company RoBs are more Loose & Flexible while Mature Stage company RoBs are Robust and Structured.?

That all being said, my advice is that all company RoBs emulate those of mature-stage companies. While process can be annoying and a bit burdensome for early-stage companies, it’s important to move the mindset of your leaders and staff because process and ensuring there is a strong HOW is what will lead to ultimate success.?

What are the best practices for setting up and maintaining a RoB?

• Gather Milestones: Document what is needed from cross-functional teams (e.g. HR, Finance, the Strategic Planning Process).
• Determine Key Events: Decide on the cadences for All Hands, Leadership Meetings, Onsites, Board Meetings etc.?
• Get Feedback: After drafting your RoB, get feedback from key stakeholders on the rhythm.?
• Establish Culture: Work to establish a culture that will strengthen and lock in the RoB process for all staff (e.g. Ring → Military Culture, Amazon → Memos).
• Stay Agile: Like most new (or established) processes, iteration is key. Come back to the RoB regularly to ensure it’s still accurate and effective.?

About the Author:

Aarti is an Executive Coach for Chiefs of Staff and Operating Leaders. She has been a Chief of Staff twice - more recently at Guild Education for the Co-founder and President of the Learning Marketplace department. Prior to that, she was Chief of Staff at Change.org for the Product Development team. Aarti is a seasoned Operating Leader who started her career in management consulting and has since worked for EdTech and social impact organizations. She has over 12 years of operations, program management, and people leadership experience.