​

Why Rhythm Matters More Than Intensity

Issue #29
3-minute read

For three months, my Level 10 meetings ran smoothly. Every Thursday at 1:00 p.m., we stuck to the same agenda. We tracked our rocks, solved problems, and made decisions.

Then I canceled two weeks in a row.

The first week, I had a donor prospect meeting that couldn’t be moved. The second week, vacation.

When I came back, things had drifted.

Gift officers were waiting for decisions I thought we'd already made. Rocks had stalled. The team was building a new SOP for a problem we could have solved in 10 minutes.

Missing those two meetings set us back by three weeks.

That’s when I realized that having a steady rhythm matters more than working intensely.

​

What System One Actually Is

Last week, System Zero showed us how to name what's holding us back and choose real priorities.

But clear priorities don't execute themselves.

System One keeps your priorities alive, even when daily tasks threaten to push them aside. It’s the steady routine that helps you turn plans into real results.

You might set your strategy once a year, but execution happens every day.

System One helps bridge the gap between planning and daily action.

Without it, you end up repeating priorities and making the same decisions week after week. With it, your team understands what’s important and keeps making progress.

​

The Three Rhythms That Work

Three rhythms keep strategic work on track:

Weekly Operations Rhythm (60 minutes)

This is your team’s check-in to answer: Are we making progress on our priorities? What’s getting in the way? What decisions do we need to make this week?

Hold it on the same day and time every week, without exception. If you skip it, things start to fall apart.

(My team calls this our Level 10 meeting.)

Quarterly Planning Rhythm (3 hours)

Pick one to three priorities for the next 90 days. Not fifteen, and not everything you hope to do. Just one to three key goals per person that you can finish.

This is when you clearly say “not now” to good ideas. If you skip this step, you end up saying yes too much and finishing nothing.

Strategic Review Rhythm (90 minutes, twice per quarter)

Most teams skip this step. It’s your chance to pause in the middle of the quarter and ask: Is what we're doing really working?

See if your priorities are still the right ones, notice what’s working better than expected, and spot where you need to adjust. This helps you catch problems while there's still time to fix them.

​

Why Rhythm Beats Intensity

I used to think that if work was important enough, it would get done.

I was wrong.

Important work gets buried under urgent requests every single time.

The only thing that protects strategic work is having a steady routine. It’s not about working harder or with more intensity. It’s about showing up at the same time, every time, and doing the work.

When I missed those two meetings, nothing dramatic happened. But our momentum quietly slowed. That’s how most strategic plans fail. Not with a big event, but gradually, as the routine slips away.

​

How to Know If It's Working

You need these four signals:

Your team stops escalating decisions they should own → they know the priorities and decide independently

Urgent requests get evaluated against priorities → the rhythm creates space for strategic thinking

Your quarterly priorities get completed → the weekly rhythm keeps work moving

You catch problems early → the review rhythm surfaces issues while you can still fix them

​

Start Small

Start by building one routine at a time:

Week 1: Add a weekly team meeting. Hold it on the same day and time every week, treat it as a top priority, and keep it to 60 minutes.

Month 2: Add quarterly planning. Choose your quarterly dates for the next year now and block everyone’s calendar.

Quarter 2: Add the strategic review. Schedule it for the middle of the quarter, keep it to 90 minutes, and focus on learning.

Each routine reinforces the others.

​

Scale Check

If you cancel your weekly team meeting for three weeks, would your priorities still move forward?

If you're not sure, it’s time to put System One in place.

​

Coming Next Week

You’ve identified your constraints and set up routines to keep your priorities on track. But what do you do when your best people can’t make decisions on their own?

Coming next Sunday as we build the Chief Fundraiser OS: System Two, the Delegation Operating System.

​

Your Turn

Which rhythm is missing right now?

The weekly check-in? The quarterly planning? The strategic review?

Reply and let me know what you’re noticing. I respond to every note.

Until next week,
​Christine​

P.S. If this is helpful, feel free to share it so others who might need to get in on the Chief Fundraiser OS at this early stage can get in on it.

P.P.S. If you want to see the complete 12-week Chief Fundraiser Operating System, hit reply and let me know.

I’m Christine Bork, Chief Development Officer at the American Academy of Pediatrics. I write Chief Fundraiser Weekly to share what I’m learning as I lead a growing team and try to do the work in a way that’s sustainable and thoughtful.

​