The Anywhere Operating System: How to lead a team and run your business from anywhere

by Luke Thomas

Likewise, the workplace is growing up and graduating, too. Your employees are adults, not high-schoolers. They want more control over their time. They want you to trust that they will get the work done, no matter what their daily routine looks like. For some, that may be working from home every day of the week. For others, that may be working from the office a couple days and home the rest of the week.

While there is no perfect solution, we use the software we build at Friday to automate asynchronous updates. We only have three regularly scheduled meetings a month with this playbook: 1. Weekly Kickoff On Monday at 11 a.m. (in each person’s respective timezone), we ask the entire company the following questions asynchronously: How was your weekend? What do you aim to accomplish this week? The answers to these questions are a mixture of work and fun, exactly what you might discuss in a weekly staff meeting. People will regularly share photos of a hike or family event; but, as a leader, I also can see what people aim to accomplish. This creates accountability, but also helps me privately course-correct and nudge if there’s something more important that someone needs to tackle. You can use this routine to supplement or eliminate your Monday morning staff meeting. 2. Daily Standup Throughout the week, we also have a daily standup where we ask the following questions at 9 a.m.: What did you accomplish yesterday? What are you working on today? Anything else you’d like to share? In all honesty, this is probably the least useful routine we run because it’s so tactical and in the weeds, but it’s also a great way for people to share their work. The last question gives everyone the opportunity to share if they will be out for an appointment or break. You can use this routine to supplement or replace your daily standups/huddles. 3. Friday Check-In Unlike other routines that are trans...

Monthly Review At the end of the month, we’ll review the past month and look forward to what we need to accomplish next. We ask the following questions asynchronously: How effective do you think we were this month? (1-10 scale) What is the reason for your score? (1-10 scale) What do you think WE should work on next month? What do you think YOU should work on next month? The responses to this monthly routine help me cut down prep time for monthly kickoff meetings. It also helps me understand what each person would like to focus on in the month ahead.

Spend time connecting in a 1:1 way The second most important tool in your managerial toolbox is to have dedicated 1:1 conversations to get to know each person on your team. One of the most common examples is a 1:1 meeting. I don’t have regularly scheduled 1:1 meetings on my calendar. I will create on-demand 1:1s based on the feedback that I receive in the asynchronous check-in (see previous tip). Then, when I chat with someone, I try to spend extra time chatting with them as people instead of feeling pressure to check in on the status of a project. If someone is struggling with work, I will find out through the check-in and will schedule a 1:1 meeting based on that. I find this process more effective as there are rarely awkward conversations. You always have something to talk about!