Written by: December 17, 2023
Underrated skill: Managing up at work.
How to accelerate your career (Friday Highlights):
Principle-First
Today, you’ll get a career hack to make a killer first impression.
If you're new to a team, do ‘Friday Highlights’—a weekly update to your manager.
It takes 20 mins per week. And it may be the highest ROI activity you do in 2024.
Yep—I’m giving you my exact template and script.
Here’s the breakdown:
SUPERHUMAN SCORING
In every edition of System Sunday, I assess the featured system across three superhuman dimensions: impact, setup, and maintenance.
Unlike your typical review, I focus on factors that influence personal growth. Get to know the evaluation system.
Impact (9.0/10)
First, why do Friday Highlights?
You will:
- Build trust
- Hold yourself accountable
- Demonstrate strong communication skills
- Have everything you need for self-reviews
- Tactfully promote yourself*
*As an introvert, self-promotion is something I’ve always struggled with.
The practice of Friday Highlights will respectfully provide your boss visibility into your contributions.
In the words of Jay-Z, “Closed mouths don’t get fed.”
Onwards to the setup.
Setup (9.0/10)
Every Friday, send your supervisor(s) a short email.
Two parts:
1) Highlights from the prior week
- Big tasks completed
- People networked with
- Extracurriculars (like affinity groups)
2) Upcoming activities for next week
- Forward-looking big tasks and activities
Steal my script…
Subject: Weekly Highlights [Insert Date]
Hi [Name],
Happy Friday! Below are noteworthy tasks I’ve completed this week and priorities for next week.
Please feel free to not respond to my weekly updates. While I hope they’re helpful to you, they’re also helpful for my own reference.
This Week’s Highlights [Date-Date]:
Activities
- [List]
Extracurriculars/Networking
- [List]
Next Week’s Priorities [Date-Date]:
Activities
- [List]
Extracurriculars/Networking
- [List]
Thanks,
[Name]
Maintenance (7.5/10)
Here are several more tips for Friday Highlights:
- Keep a running draft throughout the week. You’ll save time on Fridays.
- Send the update every Friday before you head into the weekend (make yourself a calendar invite).
- The following Friday, reply in the same thread. Change the date in the subject line.
- Do not expect a response. If your manager asks you to stop sending Friday Highlights (I’ve never heard of this), respect their request.
Sidenote: As I mentioned in this post, soft skills are only called ‘soft' because they're tough to measure. Communicating well, being easy to work with, having a bias towards action, etc. There's nothing soft about their impact.
BRINGING IT HOME
That’s Friday Highlights—a simple but powerful method.
As always, fortune favors a well-designed system.
Share this with a friend or relative starting a new job or role soon. (They’ll thank you later.)
All systems go,
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