It was June, the last month of Q2.
We’ve been tracking our sales progress all quarter long. Some deals closed along the way.
With mere weeks to go, we realized we were behind – too many deals piling up.
We needed to meet our quarterly reporting goal.
So, we ramped up our urgency and scrambled to close as many as possible.
Then…the quarter mercifully ended.
The result?
Irrelevant.
This ever-repeating process of a quarter-end scramble cost us too much – in time, distractions, discounts and energy.
Does this sound familiar?
Sadly, this isn’t rare.
Why does this happen?
Before we craft an answer pointing to people, processes or even our prospects, let’s ask a different question:
When would have our urgency arisen if the reporting period was six months?
Would we have waited longer because we had “more time”?
While we may not want to admit it, we’ve tied our urgency to the quarterly reporting cadence.
And we must ask ourselves – is that aligned with what’s best for our business?
Let’s find out.
Confusing Reporting with Operating
Quarterly reporting is useful. It’s expected—especially by boards and investors.
And yes, we should absolutely report on a regular cycle.
But that doesn’t mean we should operate on one.
Think about it:
- Does your next marketing campaign fit neatly into a 3-month box?
- Does your average sales cycle?
- What about your next product release?
If the answer is no, why are we managing these things on a quarterly clock with quarterly rewards?
Worse, if something isn’t progressing—when should we course-correct?
Waiting for the quarter to end is arbitrary (and almost always too late).
Quarterly works for board and investor reporting.
But we need something else to build and sustain real growth.
What is an Operating Structure?
Let’s start with what I mean by an operating structure.
Structure isn’t just a calendar or a checklist.
It’s the system that defines how work gets done—what happens, when it happens, and who’s responsible.
It shapes our priorities, our focus and our follow-through.
A healthy structure builds urgency before it’s too late.
Done well, it turns goals into habits and habits into results.
In my experience, a strong operating structure comes down to three things:
- Define the controllables — Be clear on what your team can directly influence. Pipeline health? Campaign execution? Feature delivery? Focus on what’s within reach—not just the outcome.
- Set the cadence — The key to a proper cadence is knowing when we’d make an adjustment. Weekly? Biweekly? Monthly? The answer will depend upon the controllable. The right rhythm creates urgency before it’s too late.
- Align the rewards — Make sure what gets recognized—or paid—matches the behavior you want. If you reward the finish line, people will ignore the middle.
Simple to say. Harder to do.
But these three levers shape how your team works, what they focus on, and how they show up—week in, week out.
Let’s Walk It Through
Let’s create a simple example using sales.
Instead of setting a quarterly goal and hoping for the best, let’s walk through the three operating structure levers:
- What do we control?We don’t control whether and when a prospect sign.Rather, we can only really control our own actions. Our marketing message, our sales process, our product releases.
- What cadence makes sense?Considering our specific market, capacity, and abilities, what is the best measurement period to best assess whether adjustments need to be made?:
- If our product release cycle is two weeks, measuring on a quarterly basis doesn’t allow for proper adjustments.
- If our sales cycle is 100 days, weekly conversion rates may be misleading.
- If we can handle only 4 demos a day, we should monitor demo flow daily – not wait for end of month reports.
- How do we align our reward structure with our needs?Too often, rewards are calendar based – monthly, quarterly or annually. While the rewards can be tied a controllable, did we align the rewards to the operating cadence? Consider:
- If we reward monthly demo targets, but 80% of demos land in the final week, we’ve created a bottleneck.
- If we can handle only 5 new implements per week, but reward new sales on a monthly basis, we might overrun capacity.
Reward What Matters
We often get the first two parts right. But we blow it on rewards.
Most reward systems follow the calendar: monthly, quarterly, annually.
That’s easy—but it’s not strategic.
Instead, we should laser focus on the exact behavior we need.
- If we need 3 large deals at the expense of anything else, reward it.
- If we need a deal / week, reward it.
- If we need 12 demos per week, reward it.
And by “reward”, I mean both the financial but also recognition.
If we only provide “shout outs” for the heroic large deals or big saves, “firefighting” is what shapes the structure.
If, instead, we spotlight a consistent performance, consistency is what gets added to the culture.
We must choose and prioritize what behavior we want.
We like to say: “What gets measured gets managed.”
But more often, what gets rewarded gets repeated.
Key Takeaways (TL;DR)
The quarter end crunch isn’t rare.
But that doesn’t mean it’s helpful — in fact, it’s highly detrimental.
But it can be minimized or avoided altogether with a better operating structure.
One that isn’t based blindly upon the quarterly reporting structure.
Instead, we can build a structure around what actually drives business:
- Focus on what we can control.
- Set a cadence that helps us course-correct before it’s too late.
- Align rewards to reinforce the behavior we actually need.
That’s how we can create urgency without panic.
Progress without burnout.
And results you don’t have to claw back with end-of-quarter heroics.
Reward what matters.
And the right momentum will follow.
