Uninterrupted time to reflect and focus is hard to come by and absolutely necessary if we want to be innovative. I think of innovation as systematic improvements to any part of our processes, services or systems and want every person on our team to feel empowered to innovate.
Knowing we need uninterrupted time to do this, our leadership team has committed to each other to block meeting-free zones on our calendars that we will all respect so we can reflect and focus.
The times we have committed to are Meaningful Mondays from 8 to 11 a.m. and Fabulous Fridays from noon to 5 p.m.
This is how I am planning on using the time.
On Meaningful Mondays, I will use the time to write this blog, which is a reflective exercise that helps me reground and reset for the week. Then I will give myself space to think about the most strategic and important initiatives that I need to move forward. After doing that, I will usually, but not always, identify concrete work I need to do during the coming week.
On Fabulous Friday, I will use the time to complete commitments I have made during the week. Part of this will be evaluating whether I made progress on the most important items. I will also read articles that I have collected during the week that I want to explore. This time will set me up to be able to let ideas percolate over the weekend when I can start the process over again.
We will be checking in to see whether this practice is helpful through short surveys with our team. This is an experiment that we invite others to join if possible. If it is not possible, we invite you to block Wonderful Whenever on your calendar to make sure you have uninterrupted time for reflection and focused work so that you can innovate.