Most organisations understand that you can’t run machinery at maximum capacity forever. So why are we less convinced when it comes to people?
A few late nights during a genuinely critical period? Deemed fine. Months of urgency becoming the default operating model? Different story.
I’ve seen teams praised for “resilience” when what they were really doing was absorbing poor prioritisation, unrealistic timelines and leadership’s inability to say no. Eventually, something gives.
It's only when quality drops and good people leave that leadership becomes surprised.
A sustainable pace = creating an organisation capable of sustaining ambition long enough to achieve it.