Pace at Spec: The Standard for High-Performing Teams
If you want to build a great company (not just a “good enough” one, but a truly great one), you eventually run into this hard truth: Heroics don’t scale.
It’s easy to celebrate the person who pulls the all-nighter, saves the client, or jumps in last-minute to close the deal. Those moments feel heroic, and sometimes they are. But they’re also exceptions. One-off efforts that mask deeper issues in clarity, consistency, or systems.
And you can’t build around exceptions. You have to build around agreements.
That’s where real performance lives, not in adrenaline but in alignment. Not in vague ambition, but in clear agreements about what every team member is accountable for and how the work gets done. And there’s one agreement that separates high-performing teams from those stuck spinning their wheels. It's what I call "pace at spec."
It’s a baseline for every Seat, across every Stratum. Whether you’re the founder, a designer, a developer, a recruiter, or a C-Suite member, the standard is the same: Deliver work at the agreed-upon quality at the speed the business actually needs.
Not occasionally. Not only in a crunch. Consistently.
Pace at spec is the antidote to both mediocrity and burnout. It rejects the myth that you have to choose between speed and quality. And it sets the tone for a culture where performance isn’t reactive. It’s rhythmic, reliable, and repeatable.
In this article, we’ll break down how to build the kind of culture where pace at spec isn’t the exception — it’s the norm.
Why Pace at Spec Matters
I’ve seen too many teams fall into one of two traps:
- Speed without quality: Things move fast, but everything feels rushed. Corners get cut. Deliverables miss the mark. You’re stuck in rework cycles or making excuses to customers. It’s busy, reactive, and ultimately wasteful.
- Perfection without velocity: There’s endless tinkering and polishing, which turns into delayed decisions and waiting until something’s “just right” before shipping. The work might look good, but by the time it arrives, the window of opportunity has already closed.
Two different patterns with the same underlying issue: No shared agreement around what “good” looks like or how fast it needs to happen.
This is where high-performance, agreements-based cultures set themselves apart. They don’t just value output. They value outcomes and the rhythm that delivers them.
When pace at spec is internalized by your team, reinforced by your systems, and embedded in how you coach, hire, and promote, it becomes the invisible engine that moves your business forward predictably and sustainably.
And when that becomes the standard, you shift from managing chaos to building momentum. Your people know what they’ve agreed to deliver, when it’s needed, and how to do it, not because someone’s watching over their shoulder but because the culture and systems support them.
That’s not just operational efficiency. That’s cultural clarity. And it’s how great companies scale.
4 Components of Pace at Spec Culture
Pace at spec isn’t a personality trait. It’s not a mindset you hope people bring with them. It’s a product of culture — one shaped by systems, coaching, and clarity.
If you want pace at spec to become the norm in your company, start here:
1. Define Spec for Every Seat
You can’t deliver at spec if no one knows what spec means. Every Seat up and down and across the company needs a clear definition of what great looks like — not just what gets done, but how it’s done. This includes outcomes, quality standards, and agreements that reflect the company’s current Stage of Development.
Without an established spec, performance becomes a guessing game. And you can’t hold someone accountable for a standard you haven’t named.
2. Clarify the Necessary Pace
Spec alone isn’t enough. The work also has to show up when you need it. That means setting clear, time-based agreements (weekly, monthly, quarterly) based on the actual needs of the business, not wishful thinking or loose estimates.
How fast is fast enough? That depends on your model, your market, and your margins. But the pace has to be real. And it has to be shared.
When people don’t know the rhythm they’re aiming for, they either burn out trying to go too fast or stall out waiting for permission. Neither is healthy and neither is performance.
3. Coach for Autonomy
Here’s the thing about pace at spec: It’s not scalable if you have to micromanage it.
The goal is to build teams that can self-correct — people who know the standard, course-correct without being chased, and own their roles, accountabilities, and responsibilities. That’s what coaching is for.
High performers want this kind of clarity. They crave it. It frees them to do their best Work. Low performers resist it. They avoid commitments, blur timelines, and default to ambiguity. That tells you everything you need to know.
Coaching for autonomy isn’t about being hands-off. It’s about being precise, direct, and invested in someone’s growth so they can carry more complexity over time without added supervision.
4. Normalize the Standard
If you only bring up pace at spec during a crisis, you’re already losing momentum.
This standard has to live inside your organization. It needs to show up in how you hire, how you onboard, how you run check-ins, and how you evaluate performance. It should be visible in every 1-on-1, Weekly Team Meeting, and Quarterly and Annual Planning Meeting.
When pace at spec becomes part of how your company operates — not a special request, not a heroic lift, just the way things are — that’s when you know it’s truly a part of your culture.
Make Pace at Spec the Default — Not the Exception
Here’s the real test of any cultural standard: Does it hold when no one’s watching?
If pace at spec only shows up during performance reviews or when something goes sideways, it’s not a standard — it’s a reaction. For it to become the baseline, it has to be built into how your company operates and how your leaders lead.
That starts with systems. Your business operating system should make performance visible. Every Seat should have clearly defined roles, accountabilities, and responsibilities. Scorecards should track real outcomes. Weekly Team Meetings should surface issues before they snowball. At Ninety, we’ve built these tools to help you create a rhythm where pace and spec aren’t abstract ideals — they’re reinforced every day.
But tools alone won’t do it. You also have to model the standard.
That means following through on your own agreements. Running clean, focused meetings. Moving at the rhythm your business requires.
Because here’s the truth: What you reinforce becomes the default. What you let slide becomes the exception that sticks.
Culture isn’t what you say. It’s what you allow, reinforce, and correct. You don’t build culture with slogans — you build it with consistency.
Build the Rhythm First
If your culture isn’t running at pace at spec, don’t start by blaming your team. Look at what's shaping it.
Are agreements clear, or are you leading with expectations? Are you modeling the right rhythm or constantly shifting gears? Are you reinforcing reliability or rewarding fire drills?
If you want to build a company that scales with trust, not chaos, stop relying on outliers. Build a team that delivers with rhythm and rigor. That’s how quality compounds, and that’s how companies grow.
If you have team members asking for more autonomy, more influence, or more upside, tell them this: Deliver at pace at spec.
No drama. No excuses. No surprises. Just consistent, reliable Work that moves the business forward. Those are the people who earn trust and get promoted.
And remember, this isn’t about limiting your ambition. It’s about building a culture that lets you go beyond it. Because when pace at spec becomes second nature, it creates space for sprints, for innovation, and for bold moves when the moment is right.
