# Transforming Leadership Practices: The Rise of Focus Fridays
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Chapter 1: The Need for Change
In a bustling B2B SaaS environment, especially one with about 30 employees, the pursuit of a "do-whatever-it-takes" mindset can be overwhelming. Our commitment to closing deals and ensuring customer satisfaction often leads us to push boundaries—whether it's delivering a tender presentation on a Sunday morning in the Middle East, rolling out a hotfix on a Friday afternoon, or attending an impromptu meeting to resolve customer issues.
While this relentless pace is often celebrated as part of startup culture, the reality is that such an approach can’t be sustained indefinitely.
Thus, we recently revamped our leadership dynamics to carve out essential time for focused work.
Section 1.1: Introducing the Leadership Rhythm
The concept of "leadership rhythm" draws inspiration from military terminology, specifically "battle rhythm," which refers to the cadence and coordination of leadership meetings. After a productive off-site discussion with our CIO, I utilized a town hall meeting to inform our team about our revamped leadership rhythm.
Our revised structure begins with an Executive Team Meeting on Monday mornings, followed by simultaneous team meetings across all departments. This allows for the swift dissemination of information from the executive team meeting, ensuring that by Monday lunchtime, everyone is aligned on the week's priorities.
Monday afternoons and Tuesday mornings are dedicated to face-to-face meetings between team leaders and their members, providing a platform to discuss individual workloads and personal matters.
Every other Tuesday morning, we conduct a planning meeting between the product and IT teams to set priorities for the upcoming sprint. By the time Tuesday lunchtime arrives, the bulk of our coordination efforts for the week are complete.
Section 1.2: Enhancing Collaboration on Wednesdays
As we move into Wednesday, it becomes our designated interaction day. In our hybrid work environment, this day sees the highest number of employees physically present in the office. Consequently, we aim to minimize Zoom calls, fostering an atmosphere for genuine interaction. While time blocking can boost individual productivity, it may inadvertently isolate team members.
To further enhance visibility into our current sprint's progress, we hold an extended daily standup on Wednesdays. During this session, the IT team shares updates on their progress, while the product team discusses developments in sales and customer relations.
Chapter 2: The Emergence of Focus Fridays
With effective coordination and interaction already established by Wednesday evening, the remainder of the week can be devoted to concentrated work.
This brings us to the implementation of Focus Fridays. The goal is to provide an environment where team members can work independently without interruptions from phone calls, Slack messages, or other distractions. It's crucial to remember that we have four other days for coordination, and many of the inquiries that arise on Fridays can wait until our next team meetings on Monday.
Focus Fridays deliver two significant advantages. First, they eliminate the need for team members to work over the weekend to achieve uninterrupted focus, a situation that often occurred prior to this initiative. Second, they afford employees the opportunity to complete their tasks by Friday evening, allowing them to recharge over the weekend. Given the demanding nature of startup life, regular rest is essential.
Section 2.1: Acknowledging the Challenges
However, one must acknowledge that emergencies often seem to follow Murphy's Law. For example, outages rarely occur on a Monday morning but tend to arise on Fridays around 3 PM. Similarly, requests for additional information typically flood in on Fridays, as customers aim to clear their desks before the weekend.
In a 30-person company, it’s clear that some urgencies must be addressed, even on Focus Fridays. With proper organization and discipline, we can establish protocols to ensure that key personnel remain accessible for urgent matters on these days.
That said, if emergencies consistently arise on Fridays, it may be time to investigate the underlying causes rather than simply accommodating them within our work processes.
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