Before my business career, I spent time as a track coach at the University of West Virginia, coaching decathletes and heptathletes. One thing you learn quickly about those events: they are grueling. The decathlon finishes with a 1500-meter run, and the heptathlon finishes with an 800-meter run—tough ways to end two days of intense competition. In coaching, we used a system Bill Bowerman taught me called Date Pace / Goal Pace. Every athlete had a goal time for their final race, based on what it would take to maximize their overall points. But we didn’t just talk about the goal—we built a “glide slope” from where they were to where they needed to be.
On any given day, the athlete knew two things:
- What their Goal Pace was (the ultimate target)
- What their Date Pace was (what pace they needed to hit today to be on track for the goal)
It made a huge difference. Conditioning and confidence both grew steadily, because progress was always visible. They weren’t guessing if they were improving—they knew.
When I moved into business, I took that lesson with me: It’s not enough to just set a finish line—you need to consider when to use a ramp-up expectation too. Help people know where they are today, what today’s target is, and how it connects to the big picture.
Example for a Knowledge Worker:
Imagine a marketing team working on a major product launch six months away. It’s not enough to say, “We need the full campaign ready by October.” Good tactical planning says, “By May 15, we should have the initial positioning brief drafted. By June 1, first ad mockups. By July 15, final creative ready.” Progress is paced, checked, and corrected early.
Example for a Production Worker:
On a plant floor, if you know that a new assembly line must produce 1,000 parts per day by the end of the 30 day launch, don’t just wait until then to check performance. Break it down: “By week 1, we want 300 parts/day. By week 2, 600 parts/day. By week 3, 800 parts/day.” Then train, monitor, and adjust along that glide slope.