The Friday Email Concept
Keeping track of projects can be difficult for a busy leader. It is helpful to have a succinct way to capture significant achievements and plans from direct reports each week without requiring detailed operational reports. It also is a great way to keep your boss informed.
We recommend the “Friday Email” as a proven format for communication between a direct report and their supervising leader. The format is simple to create and read. It captures high-level movement in a way that can generate follow-up discussions or suffice as a “check-in” that requires no further action.
On Friday afternoons (or your end of week), a brief email (example below) is sent to one’s supervisor with 3 components:
1. Significant accomplishments this week. Add follow-up info if this was listed as a “next week,” last week.
2. Major goals for next week.
3. Decisions or resources needing approval by the supervisor.
The format uses bullet points and is viewable with little, if any, scrolling. In other words, very brief. Here is an example:
Here is my Friday status report and the items I need from you. Let me know if you have questions or if I need to pause on anything.
Major Accomplishments This Week:
• Completed the assessment of the 1st quarter financials. A meeting is scheduled with you to review.
• Onboarded 3 senior leaders in my department. It would be great if you could drop by to say hi.
• Met with my team to review the strategic plan for our department. The meeting went well. I’ll email you some interesting insights I discovered in the meeting.
Major Goals for Next Week:
• Holding a town hall meeting with my employees to discuss new service line additions.
• Preparing my section of the quarterly board report – due next Thursday.
• Conducting an audit of the supply utilization for last month.
• Kicking off my cost containment strategy, you reviewed last week.
What I Need from You:
• I need your review and comments on the capital request for the new IT system (I emailed you last week).
• I need you to approve my vacation request for the first week of next month.
Simple as that. A quick email that doesn’t require much, if any, scrolling and keeps the communication moving forward, resulting in greater productivity and strategic success.
