Highs & Lows Method

I get it you are busy. Meetings, calls, presentations. You don’t have time to kill. How can you delegate time every week for your team?

Well, I get news for you. If you cannot find 30 minutes for your team, you are not busy; you suck at time management and prioritization.

HIGHs and LOWs meeting is easy, but just like everything in life, it requires a little effort. What makes it very applicable is how little that effort is, but still, you will need to have discipline.

Here are ten tips to make it happen better:

1. Commit to the process by announcing to your team that you will gather weekly sessions to share the highest and lowest points of their weeks.
2. Book weekly repeating slots in your agendas.
3. Tweak the agendas when necessary; sometimes, important appointments fall in the same slot. Don’t deprioritize HIGHs & LOWs; reschedule accordingly.
4. Find the best timing for you and your team. HIGHs & LOWs is a great way to either start or end the week. I prefer Fridays to finish the week on a high point and wish everyone a well-deserved good weekend.
5. While doing the round table, make it easier for your team to take the lead. One smooth transition that works well is the « throw the ball » trick. When one person finishes their part, they throw the ball to another person they nominate.
6. Team manager finishes doing a more broad overview of the week.
7. As a manager, I open my schedule to see the significant events of the past week to celebrate each team achievement and individual contribution. In smaller teams, I make sure to make one HIGH per person to honor their work.
8. Be open, non-judgemental, and empathic. HIGHs and LOWs is a moment of generosity and vulnerability. Accept every point that comes up, try to have a positive angle even if you disagree. In the end, this is to help you understand how your team feels, what motivates them, what demotivates them. We can’t see things from another person’s eyes unless we care to listen without judgment.
9. In HIGHs, celebrate important days such as birthdays, wedding proposals promotions and in LOWs, empathize if there have been losses or sicknesses publicly known by the team so that your team can see that you care. Publicly known is vital as some people prefer to keep things private, mainly when they are concerned about difficult moments. Do not reveal any subjects you have been trusted in as a manager. It is imperative to treat personal information ethically.
10. Be real but select the information you would like to share if you are a manager. Teams want to see their manager as a human being and a leader. They want to count on and be inspired. Choose your LOWs carefully to share something personal but deliver a message.

A regular HIGHs and LOWs session takes approximately 1-2 minutes per person. So 10-20 mins for ten people. Schedule 5 minutes more to allow moments of fun, exchange, and interaction.
Each manager should spear 15-30 minutes for their team. If not, maybe they should not be a manager, to begin with? 😉

Invest time in your team now to gain time after. As HIGHs & LOWs make your team closer and more efficient, future tasks or problems will take less time. Also, everyone needs a bit of fun during the week.

“The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.”

Stephen R. Covey