Timing is Everything for the CEO:
Entraining Pace, Cycle and Rhythm

The key predictors of organisational success are the speed at which the CEO makes decisions, the timing of those decisions, and the ability of the CEO to synchronise his/her behavior with the cycle of the organisation and with key cycles in the environment.

Rather than look separately at the CEO, the organisation or the environment, it is necessary to understand how each entity experiences different cycles and/or phases and even more importantly, whether a synchronsation between the three entities can be achieved. This synchronisation is called entrainment.

The consequence of not achieving entrainment is dire - it entails inefficiencies, poor performance, and even the possible death of the organisation.

Matching Pace
Not only are technologies, markets, and products changing, but the pace of change itself is increasing. A CEO must therefore make more frequent large-scale strategic and organisational changes and adopt a fast pace of decision making. Tempo entrainment or the meshing of the CEO pace with the environment pace is critical.

Interlocking Cycles
It is important to map and understand the complex linkages among the CEO, the organisation, and the external environment.

High performance results from the entrainment, or matching across these cycles. The performance of an organisation is heightened when major changes in the environment are coupled with major changes in the internal workings of the organisation, and replacement as all are in the first phases of their respective cycles. In other cases, entrainment may be difficult as each entity, CEO, organisation, and environment is operating according to its own clock where the pace and cycle are different. External entrainment may also not occur as once the CEO and organisation develop a pace it becomes habitual and automatic with many interdependent processes that operate at a given speed.

Embedded Rhythms
Entrainment seems to be a very embedded process that is responsible for many underlying assumptions within the organisation. For example, there is a rhythm in business firms driven by the fiscal year. The fiscal year determines the timing of performance and budget reviews, sales closings, and accounting deadlines. It breaks the year up into four quarters, each with a pattern of its own. This rhythm repeats itself year after year and other rhythms entrain to it. Customers learn to wait until the end of the quarter to buy goods because they know that salespeople will be more likely to provide discounts as the deadline for quotas approaches. While entrainment of some activities to the fiscal year is necessary, to facilitate coordination, other activities should be uncoupled from this yearly rhythm.

Implications
First we should use a dynamic model that looks at the interaction of various activities. CEOs need to ask the questions, "Are we moving fast enough in this marketplace?" "Are we matching our interventions to what is most needed in the environment, or are we making decisions with a dated view of the environment?" "What stage is the organisation in, and what stage am I in?" "How do these stages fit together with each other and with the current environmental situation?"

Secondly, there is often a time period when you must take action or lose the opportunity forever. Getting into a market when a new technology has been discovered is very different from getting in when a dominant design prevails. The strategies for the firm are quite different.

Thus, the notion of wait and see could have dramatic consequence and stresses the importance of taking action, not just analysing a situation. It also requires CEOs to pay attention to the match between the problem they are trying to solve now and the solution when it is implemented, not when it is conceived.

Thirdly, there is a need for cyclical rather than linear thinking, the use of systems-dynamics models rather than regression models, and the use of simulations to demonstrate the impact of cycles on business practice.

Conclusion
CEOs need to embrace the concept of time and timing as it will push them beyond phenomena such as impression management, decision making, and openness to change to start thinking about how fast processes occur, how long they exist before they shift or disappear, and when they are likely to reappear. By modeling cycles, periods, and pace across organisations and environment, they can examine the main effects and interaction effects of these cycles, systems, and levels, and to relate these effects to performance.

About the Writer:
Prof Chong Chee Leong is a Professor and Dean of the School of Science and Technology in SIM University. He holds a PhD in Management from the Sloan School of Management, MIT as well a MSc (Eng) and BEng (Hons) from the National University of Singapore. He currently also oversees the Technology Entrepreneurship Programme in UniSIM and teaches Strategic Management module.

Upcoming Events

Event	Details	Synopsis
Building Pipeline of Leaders - SMU AMP Graduation	Date/Time: 28 January 2010, Thursday 1.30pm Venue: SMU Ngee Ann Kongsi Conference Hall	The guest speaker, Mr Rick Smith, Partner of Accenture, will share on 'Talent Attraction and Retention'. There will also be a panel discussion with SME leaders, moderated by Prof Annie Koh, Dean, Executive Education and Associate Dean, Lee Kong Chian School of Business Contact Information: Ms Norzarina Zakaria Email:norzarina_zakaria@spring.gov.sg DID : 6279 3332
Business Leadership Centre - SPRING Corporate Governance and Risk Management	Date/Time: 24 - 25 March 2010 Fee: $900 per pax*	This corporate governance and risk management course is specially tailored for SMEs to help them apply these principles cost effectively. Companies will also learn about the expectations of multinational corporations in terms of governance structures and processes, code of conduct/ethics policies, compliance programs and risk management practices. Contact Information: Ms Jessica Ng Email:jessica_ng@spring.gov.sg DID : 6279 3146

* Information accurate at the time of print

SPRING Singapore Management Development Scholarship The UniSIM Executive Masters in Technology Entrepreneurship has been approved as a supported programme under SPRING's Management Development Scholarship (MDS). The MDS grant enables talented executives the opportunity to be supported for their studies through a co-funding arrangement with their SME employers. The MDS grant will provide up to 90% funding support for tuition fees and related expenses. For more information, please visit http://www.spring.gov.sg/mds. For more information, please call Ms Sharon Low at 6248 9605 or email at sharonlowhl@unisim.edu.sg. You can also visit http://sst.unisim.edu.sg/sites/TEN