Two habits of teams with high ownership and accountability

[3-minute read] Watch it on my YouTube Channel. Would you follow a leader without a plan? Of course not! Would you like to be surrounded by team members without a plan? The answer is probably the same. Without a plan, it is almost inevitable that you will spend your days in reactive mode. Without a plan, you have almost no chance to ensure that you are actually working on the things that matter most. In this post, you learn about two super simple organisational habits that will help you as a leader and your team avoid the trap of spending the whole day in reactive mode. By implementing these two simple habits, I can guarantee that you and your team will get more meaningful work done, without having to put in more hours.

Habit 1: The weekly review.

There is the weekly review as a team and the personal weekly review. The purpose of both reviews is to find closure for the past week and focus on the coming week. In the team weekly review, each team member shares

1. A) His or her biggest win or accomplishment for the past week
2. B) His of her two or three top priorities for the coming week.
3. C) Any help he or she would appreciate to get in order to accomplish get the top priority results.

This does not need to take more than 2 or 3 minutes per person. Under no circumstance should it be the tedious sharing of all the things everyone this the past week. What matters are results and commitments, not excuses! As for the personal weekly review, which should take no more than 30 minutes per week, I try to accomplish the following 1) Inbox Zero 2) Desktop empty 3) Downloads folder empty 4) Task lists up to date 5) Calendar up to date This is a system I learned from a guy named Tiago Forte. In the beginning, it would take me more than 30 minutes to complete all these tasks. Now that it is a routine, it seldom takes me more than 20 minutes. Although I typically do my weekly review on a Saturday morning, the closure I get from this routine has significantly increased the quality of my weekends.

Habit 2: The daily focus check

As a team, you have a 5-to-10-minute call or meeting early in the morning. In this meeting, each team member shares his or her top priorities for the day. These are the things the team member absolutely wants to achieve, not excuses. Team members may also share what help they would appreciate getting in order to achieve their crucial objectives. As an individual, you agree for yourself on the top priority for the day. This is the number 1 thing to accomplish during the day, without fail. For today, my Number One Thing was to produce and publish this blog post and video To summarise the key message of this video.

Start your day with a plan, and end your week with a review.

Implement these two habits, and I can guarantee that you will see a huge difference in focus, ownership, accountability, and business results. What next? If you want to explore how this would work in your organisation, click on the link below to apply for a free one-hour strategy session. I typically have one or two open slots per week. In the meantime, take care, stay safe, and get meaningful work done.