What did you do last week

What did you do last week?

I’ve seen several articles this month about Government employees feeling aggrieved about being asked to submit a written report each week summarizing what they got done.

Welcome to the world of radical accountability! 

I guess if you have never worked in a high-performance organization before, this practice might come as an unwelcome surprise. However, weekly reporting is a practice I wholeheartedly recommend, and my highest-performing clients swear by it.

Why? To accelerate strategy execution by keeping teams informed, aligned, and focused.

I’ve managed several geographically dispersed global teams over the years and derived tangible benefits from having my team submit written updates on a daily AND weekly basis.  

The process I used was derived from the work of Yvon Chouinard, the renowned CEO of Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and product company. Yvon deployed what he called “15 – 5” reports to run his company. 

The concept is that it should take each team member no more than 15 minutes to write their daily update at the end of the day, and it should take the managers and colleagues no more than 5 minutes to read everyone’s updates the following morning.

In my case, I’d ask my team members to submit their updates by 5 pm at the end of each workday and post them in a dedicated discussion channel (on Slack or Teams) where the manager and colleagues could read everyone’s report, add comments, or offer support the following morning. 

What did you do last week? It’s not about how many hours you worked. It’s about what you actually got done!

The benefits of daily and weekly written reports: 

  • Forces people to plan their days and weeks
  • Forces people to identify and prioritize “The One Thing“
  • Keeps the team aware of what everyone else is working on so work can be coordinated
  • Identifies who needs help and support to keep things moving forward
  • Identifies who the Drivers vs Passengers are on your team

Your A-Players are like drivers. They drive the growth. They drive the improvements. Your B-Players are like passengers. They show up to work, but they deliver a mediocre level of performance.

If you want a high-performance culture, there are tradeoffs that you need to make. You need to push people to do their best work and give them a forum to demonstrate what they have done. Not everyone will like that kind of work environment. Some people will squeal. Some people will leave. But A-Players will thrive.

Steve Jobs believed a small team of A-Players could run circles around a big team of B & C players. I agree.

Here are the headings of the report templates I used.

“15 – 5” Daily Update: (Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays)

Today’s Top 3
(Don’t list everything you did, it’s not about justifying yourself. Just list up to 3 tasks that were completed today plus any other notable wins or achievements. Don’t just submit a boring list of tasks. Include a brief explanation about each item to provide background context and make it interesting for the audience)

Tomorrow’s Top 3
(List up to 3 tasks, ranked in priority order. Your #1 task is the most important task you will get done tomorrow to move things forward in your role. Tasks must be specific action steps within your control)

Roadblocks / Needs
(Describe any issues impacting your progress, or make requests for support)

***

“Last 7 – Next 7” Weekly Summary: (Fridays)

Last 7 Days
(Don’t list everything you did, it’s not about justifying yourself. Just list up to 3 tasks that were completed last week plus any other notable wins or achievements. Don’t just submit a boring list of tasks. Include a brief explanation about each item to provide background context and make it interesting for the audience.
Note: If you are accountable for a strategic project (Big Rock) provide a summary of the status of each project)

Next 7 Days
(List up to 3 tasks, ranked in priority order. Your #1 task is the most important task you will get done next week to move things forward in your role. Tasks must be specific action steps within your control)

Roadblocks / Needs
(Describe any issues impacting your progress, or make requests for support)

Lessons Learned
(List any lessons that enhanced your personal development or knowledge, or share other observations the broader team would benefit from knowing)

***

I found this daily and weekly reporting discipline to be profound in its impact when I ran a global team that was spread over 12 time zones. 15 minutes of writing at the end of each day dramatically reduced the amount of time people needed to spend in meetings each week, and everyone felt better informed about what was going on. 

Managers and colleagues could reach out directly to individuals to offer support as required or redirect someone if they were focusing on the wrong things. 

People who were away for a week on vacation could read the weekly summaries and be fully up to speed with everything that happened in their absence. 

The “15 – 5” and “Last 7 – Next 7” reports did much of the heavy lifting for me as a manager to help drive accountability and speed of execution. 

And yes, I filled out these daily and weekly reports myself and posted them in the same channel as my team. They acted as a forcing mechanism to ensure that I too was investing my time in high-value, high-leverage activities as a manager.

And most importantly, the written reports helped drive personal integrity up and down the organization. Am I working on the most important things? Can I be relied upon to keep my commitments?

If I was still managing teams I would insist on a weekly report as a minimum, and I would give people feedback on the contents of their report during our weekly 1 on 1 meetings.

***

Until next time…
Stephen