Andy: Welcome to January! I have this vision of everyone returning to the post-holiday “real world” like an action hero emerging from a car crash: a slight twist of the head clicks your spine back in place and you’re ready to go again. (Can you see it? There are flames everywhere.)
Emma: Lolol. Jeez. How was your holiday?
Andy: Lol. It was hard! And returning is hard, too.
Emma: Seriously. I love the season, but I really dislike the January re-entry. I’m very much still in my holiday hangover, even though by the time you’re reading this, most people have already been back in the swing of things for a full week. But let’s be real: Last week doesn’t count because we were easing into the first week back, so this week is the real first week back. Do you know what I mean?
Andy: Yeah, I feel a little bit of whiplash: “Wait, we’re back?” And then the crushing realization that there are no more breaks until when? I’m not sure a tirade on the way holidays are unevenly distributed throughout the year is necessary here, but it’s another example of my January crankiness.
Emma: It’s a terrible truth: Unless you’re working in a place that observes bank holidays, there’s no three-day weekend until Memorial Day. In May. The end of it.
Right now, go block a three-day weekend on your calendar in March, and probably another one in April, too. I don’t care that you don’t actually have plans yet. Give your future, burned-out, braindead self this little gift. Encourage everyone on your team to do the same.
Andy: Save yourselves! Prevention is the cure!
Emma: My expectations of January at work have always vacillated between a sort of high-pressure optimism (We gotta start the year off RIGHT!!!) and apathetic malaise (This is just another week in another month in another year of the same old thing). Neither are a good look.
Andy: Aren’t those the two options for everything in January? We’re joining gyms, we’re not drinking, we’re meditating daily, we’re not ordering takeout — and then suddenly we’re back to sad to-go falafel and a gym contract we may or may not be using. Womp womp.
Emma: Obviously there are a lot of third ways between these two extremes, and I think that’s probably the best place to funnel your energy — at least at work.
Andy: One third way to try is simply making sure everyone on your team is clear-eyed about what they’re doing — that as many holes as possible are filled in. I like that this strategy acts as a January re-set, but it’s not overhauling anything, or starting something from scratch, or rebuilding any processes. It’s just a quick recalibration on the basics. We’ve created a list of ten questions to ask and answer. Try them:
10 Questions Everyone on Your Team Should Be Able to Answer in January
Work through these questions together in an all-team meeting, in small groups, or individually during this week’s 1-on-1s. Listen closely. Are there any gaps in knowledge? Patterns in the answers? Barriers you need to remove? If no, your team is in great shape to cruise right along. If yes: getting everyone’s feet on the ground is your priority.
1. What am I working on?
2. When is it due?
3. What does success look like?
4. Why am I working on it / why is it important? What problems are we trying to solve?
5. What’s at risk?
6. What is everyone else doing? How does it fit into our/my work and goals?
7. How did we do in Q4 and what was our impact on that?
8. Where can I go for help? Answers? Feedback?
9. What struggles is our team facing?
10. As a team, what is everyone most excited about?
Bonus! A motto that’ll help get you through this:
Emma: This mental exercise can highlight where things have gone on autopilot, or maybe have spun out into a flurry. Andy and I talked through these questions together just last weekend. Et voila, we realized we didn’t have a fast, full, satisfying answer for “What does success look like?” for a project we’d been chipping away at. We kind of talked our way to a partial answer, but it was an obvious hole considering we could rattle off all the other ones. Excellent. It meant we needed a scorecard and we needed to align with the stakeholder on what was what. Bring it on, January!
Andy: Want to see what the notes from that conversation looked like? They’re right here:
1. What am I working on?
Digital strategy for a potential acquisition
2. When is it due?
Draft due Friday; client meeting next Wednesday at noon
3. What does success look like?
Goals are well-articulated. We feel confident in our strategy. We have great comps/examples. We feel prepared? Client is happy? Our boss is happy?????? (This feels like a hole!)
4. Why am I working on it / why is it important? What problems are we trying to solve?
This is the first foundational layer for a potential future: If we win this, we’ll have set ourselves up for the next 12 months of interesting, collaborative, rich work; if the strategy works, we will move forward with the acquisition and potentially much longer-term work.
5. What’s at risk?
Year-long contract and beyond. Misguided strategy would be a huge drain on resources; overambitious strategy sets us up for failure. We’re also working on two other projects, which are competing for our brains and time.
6. What is everyone else doing? How does it fit into our/my work and goals?
Lawyers are at work on the terms and consultants are weighing in on our strategy. UX designer is working on digital mock-up based on our strategy. Boss working on resourcing: funding, evaluating time and expenses. Entire team working on other projects — a lot of biz dev happening, negotiations, scopes getting hammered out and executing on that work.
We need to make sure that what we’re proposing in our strategy is do-able from a resource perspective. UX design will inform some of our future workload and processes. Insights from our boss, the lawyers, and biz dev will inform our resourcing limitations.
7. How did we do in Q4 and what was our impact on that?
In Q4, we planned an in-person strategy workshop and we mapped our timeline for working on this proposal. (So far, so good on both!) Hired a teammate to get the work done (negotiations, on-boarding). We balanced other work: got some new projects underway, took time off from others to recalibrate our goals and plans.
8. Where can I go for help? Answers? Feedback?
Each other and our boss on the project. The work itself: draft will be a good source of feedback. In-person workshop a great time to ask questions. Can always ask via email and Slack, or hop on a call for more insight. We also have access to the client’s thoughts and expertise in the meeting on Wednesday, and likely moving forward. Also, we can leverage our personal networks for quick takes and gut checks.
9. What struggles is our team facing?
Need to define success: scorecard and incremental goals. We need to create the plan for how to execute the strategy and make sure we can actually do it. We know we’re going to need to be rigorous with time management and goal prioritization. We’re liable to say yes to too much.
10. As a team, what is everyone most excited about?
The future! We’re all excited about this proposal: “If this works out, it’s a dream project.”
Bonus! A motto (or chant!) that’ll help get you through this:
It’s not as hard as you’re making it.
Andy: So, welcome back. Ease the experience of returning by answering these questions. They’re orienting, useful, and will give you a clear understanding of where there are holes you can fill. It feels really good to know what you’re doing. And, it can feel good to be back.
Good Boss Achievement Stickers: First Week Back Edition
