5 Things Successful Managers Do Every Friday
Friday morning. It ends a week of hustle — planning, pivoting, persevering, and executing and simultaneously focusing on uncovering new opportunities for potential growth and optimization for the organization. The most successful people I know, in particular leaders, understand how important it is to start their week off strategically and not just stumble through it.
For many, Friday is a day to watch the clock, take the foot of the gas, catch-up on overdue tasks, and dream about the weekend. Believe it or not, starting your week off on Friday might be the game changer you’ve been looking for. Here are 5 things you can do to ensure Friday propels you forward to a great week.
1. Refill the tank. You give…give… and give to everyone all week! A week of going the way, knowing the way, and showing the way can drain your tank. It can deplete you emotionally and physically. Successful leaders know this and take the time to refill their tank. Refill your mental, spiritual, and physical tank. You can jump-start your morning spending time with God, meditating on His Word. Exercise and shut your brain off by listening to uplifting music. Maybe try catching up on a book you’ve been putting off.
2. Look back and learn. Look back at the week, ask the following three questions and learn from the answers. Be sure to write them down as you may want to share an appropriate version of your answers at a future meeting or in a communication next week.
- What went well?
- What needs to be improved, changed or stopped?
- How did we move the needle? What business success can we celebrate?
3. Write appreciation notes. Take time to write at least two or three appreciation notes to employees, peers, clients, and partners. A simple “thank you for _____…” goes a long way in connecting with people. It’s also a great way to jump-start your employees weekend! Just be sure you mean it. Pro tip: Using data points from the look back and learn step will add more value to the note.
4. Check the dashboard. These are vitals like employee wins and losses, first-time achievements, organizational key performance indicators, etc. Be sure to look for patterns, trends, areas of strength and areas that need attention. Make sure you have a pulse on what areas are growing, plateauing or declining.
5. Make a to-do list for the week. Using the outputs of the previous 4 steps, plan out your work for the following week. This includes incorporating any notes you made through the current week.
After you complete these 5 steps, not only will you feel supercharged to begin the following week, you will feel confident enough to unplug and enjoy your weekend. After all, as a leader, you need to feed yourself properly if you are to feed value to your family, employees, investors, peers, and clients.
