The Manager - Edition 96 - 5:15 Reports
THE MANAGER - BY ROB LAMBERT
Hi,
I hope you are safe and well on this Monday morning and looking forward to the week ahead.
This week I released a new video that is a break from the old routine; a video with beats and lessons on management on screen - a video to work to. I've also launched my new brand Parent Brain - where I'm sharing ways to remain relevant, employable and productive as a parent. It is less about parenting, and more about great career advice.
This week I'm musing about how to stay connected to your team when your team starts to grow.
The 5:15 Report
Once your team gets above around 6-8 people it can be tricky to know what's going on, especially if they are spread across a number of projects.
The 5:15 report is a really good way of staying connected and understanding what improvements are being made in your team.
I first discovered the 5:15 report after reading Growing a Business. In the book Paul Hawken describes how Yvon Chouinard (the CEO of Patagonia) rolled the 5:15 out to stay connected to his team - when growth was coming thick and fast.
I modified it slightly for my uses and I'll share what I use it for.
In a nutshell the report is called a 5:15 for two main reasons:
It shouldn't take your direct reports more than 15 minutes to write it.
It shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes to read it.
Hence, 5:15.
Here's the basic five stage format:
Did you do what you needed to do this week?
What improvements have you made to the process or work this week?
What personal improvement are you going to do next week?
What key high-level objectives are you trying to complete next week?
What's the mood of the team?
1. Did you do what you needed to do this week?
I don't want my team to list all of the detailed work they have done, I can see that my looking at work trackers (Kanban, PM tool, etc).
Instead, I'm looking for insights as to whether they completed everything they said they would from Point 4 of last week's report. When they list a couple of high-level objectives - I'm looking for an update about those. Did it get done?
2. What improvements have you made to the process or work this week?
In this section I'm looking for ways they have made the business better. Have they stopped doing something that added no value? Have they improved a delay, removed a hand-over or done some other improvement?
It doesn't have to be a large improvement - just something.
3. What personal improvement are you going to do next week?
In this section I'm looking for a small personal improvement they are making. It could be something like taking a walk at lunch, leaving on time every night, reading a book - whatever - it's to get people into the habit of working on themselves - no matter how big or small.
4. What key high-level objectives are you trying to complete next week?
In this section I'm looking for what they plan to achieve next week. They may be carrying some work over from this week that didn't get done, or it could be new work.
5. What's the mood of the team
In this section you're looking for their own personal take on the mood of the team. It doesn't have to be anything scientific, just a gut feel.
You're looking for patterns across a number of people. An individual who feels the team is not good, but everyone else says they're ok, maybe tells you more about the individual. But if the whole team are saying things aren't good - you have some work to do.
Why the report works
It works because it's not a status update, it's a communication and thinking tool. It's a way of asking your people to keep you informed about the important things, but also a self reflection tool for each direct report. Are they getting better? Are they doing what they said they would?
How to roll it out
Carefully communicate your intentions around the report - it's not a status update - it's much more than this.
Carefully explain the structure and the timings associated. You don't want an essay - short and sweet. You don't want them to spend more than 15 minutes creating it.
Define the mechanism - I prefer mine in the email body so I can apply rules, store them and read them quickly. You may prefer excel or word or wiki - whatever works for you.
Set a calendar reminder in everyone's calendar for Friday afternoon - to write and send you the report.
Explain the report again in your weekly 1:2:1 - and why it's important for you.
Remind people in the first few weeks.
Follow up with anyone not sending it to you - remind them about why you're doing this and how this report helps.
Deal with any push back - there will be some people who would rather come and speak to you - but the point is to get them thinking, keep it short and use up as little time as possible. After all, if you're doing weekly 1:2:1s this report should be a breeze.
Keep going - it can take a while to get the right level of detail etc. Give feedback to people about how their report helps, or whether its too long, or too short, or not insightful enough.
Use the information to form next week's plan. Do you need to help someone, push someone for a little more, deal with a project that is failing.
So there you have it - a useful tool for keeping up to date, getting your team to think about their own improvements and to sense check the state and mood of the team.
This report also works if you're a consultant working with clients - it can provide your client with a nice summary, sense check and understanding of the work you're doing for them.
Until next week - stay safe.
Rob..
FOOD FOR YOUR MANAGEMENT BRAIN
1. Are you procrastinating? Focusing on the small details? Not doing the work in front of you? You could be bikeshedding - https://www.inc.com/melina-palmer/feeling-unproductive-this-brain-bias-could-be-to-blame.html
2. As a manager are you creating the problems in your team? Probably. - https://seths.blog/2020/07/underwater/
3. Important read on gender equality and why we need more women in the board rooms. https://theequalgroup.com/sarah-pinch-gender-equality/
4. Wow - a tool that helps you write fluently in any language - great for multi-locale teams - https://fluently.so/
5. The new normal - how the world will change in the next 5 years - lots of experts predicting how the world will be in 5 years. Of course, nobody knows, but these great minds provide plenty of food for thought. - https://qz.com/is/new-normal/
6. Parents, bring your entire self to work. Be careful.... not sure I agree with everything in here, but some interesting points - https://hbr.org/2020/07/parents-bring-your-whole-self-to-work
Thanks for reading this week's edition of The Manager.
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Thanks
Rob..