A few weeks back, I told you about how the 4DWW was way more popular than you
To view this email as a web page, [click here]() This is part of our series on [IWTâs 4-Day Workweek Challenge](), where we take you behind the scenes to show what itâs like for us as we test out a compressed work schedule. The email youâre about to read is written by Tony Ho Tran, a professional journalist for The Daily Beast and a former copywriter for IWT. Join us as we dive deep on the highs and lows of the challenge. {NAME}, A few weeks back, I told you about [how the 4DWW was way more popular]() than you probably thinkâand a reader named Brianne responded with an interesting observation that I just had to share: âI can get my work done in 4 days, and am a proponent of work/life balance. The challenge is that if I compress my work week, I don't have time to mentor the younger associates at my company so they end up being the ones that miss out.â This is a VERY common concern when it comes to the 4DWW. After all, a shorter week means less time for meetings and the day-to-day grind of workâand even less time for the hands-on and delicate process of mentorship and training. Itâs not something to be taken lightly either. We know all about the value of great mentorship here at IWT. Our founder [Ramit Sethi credits his mentor Jay Abraham with putting him and his company on the path to where it is today](). So, really, we all owe a lot to good mentorship at IWT. [Ramit chatting with Jay Abraham] Ramit chatting with Jay Abraham How to create transformative mentorship in a 4DWW Mentorship can get easily lost in the shuffle when your business is trying out a new work system like 4DWW. Mentorship is crucial thoughâand it isnât made any less important just because youâre working with less hours in a week. In fact, the development of our employees is so vital to the future success of the company, that we made sure to double down on mentorship and training when we went through the 4DWW. Today, I want to prove to you that it can be done using the very same systems that we use here at IWT. For this, I made sure to get the very best advice from IWTâs president, Gretchen Leslie, whoâs helped champion the careers of dozens of people in and out of IWT. Not only does she know how to grow the rich lives and work of her employees, but sheâs been doing it for years. Hereâs Gretchenâs 5 pieces of advice for assuring the most transformative mentorship possible while doing the 4DWW Challenge. 1. Thereâs no âone-size-fits-allâ solution No two employees are alike. Everyone has different styles of working, managing their time, and overall career aspirations. So why would a manager ever approach two employees with the same mentorship style? âEven before the 4DWW, we realized that we needed to evolve with mentorship,â Gretchen says. âWe realized that it wasn't a one-size-fits-all solutionâand we had to get much more intentional about it.â That means sitting down with your employees and figuring out exactly how they want to be managed and mentored. For example, Gretchen compares two employees under her wing: One loves to have frequent half-hour check-ins throughout the month in order to ask her questions and get advice, while another would take an hour or so every other week to go deep on the issues that theyâre having. Before, both would have received regular weekly check-insâbut that would have been doing one of them a huge disservice. âPeople have really different needs and desires,â Gretchen says. âAs leaders, a lot of times, we don't actually stop and ask questions. We're just like, âAlright, here's how we give feedback, everybody gets a check-in, and then you get your end-of-the-year performance review.â Thatâs what we thought it wasâbut thatâs not the case.â 2. Donât sweat the small stuff (especially in meetings) When it comes to the meetings you do have with a person youâre mentoring, they need to be well worth the time. One common theme with the 4DWW Challenge is that all of IWTâs agendas are now incredibly streamlined. Thereâs zero fat in meetings regardless of whether itâs a one-on-one to discuss someoneâs career or an all-hands to discuss a big annual goal. Put it another way: IWT is strictly a no âthis could have been emailâ meetings zone. âWhen it comes to one-on-ones, it is not a time for status updates,â Gretchen says. âThat is a waste of meeting time when we talk about things that could be written down. When we're spending time one on one, I don't want to talk about your projects. It should be coaching.â These meeting times need to be intentional. You need to come at it with the goal of helping develop your employeeâs long term successânot short term. 3. Streamline your agenda When it comes to how these meetings are run, itâs actually a very heavily guarded secretâone that takes years to master and only after youâve gained the utmost respect of your peers and leaders of your industry. Lol just kidding. [Here is the exact agenda we use](). [Agenda example]() Feel free to use this agenda in your next meeting.(Click File > Make a copy first.) While it might look simple, this is the template that has helped us streamline our meeting process down to an exact science. Not only has this led to some of the biggest wins in our companyâs history, but it has also helped our employees get the most meaningful and actionable developments in their careers. Itâs also helped us keep our 4DWW Challenge on track without sacrificing our employeesâ development. Since each meeting starts with a fresh agenda, it means that thereâs a record of progressâor lack thereofâfor us to keep track. âThe agenda is a really good starting point,â Gretchen says. âWhere we spend most of our time is when I ask them, âWhere do you need help and what would you like to learn?â If there's nothing and they say, âI'm not stuck. I'm really good,â then we'll cancel that week. We don't need to meet just to meet, and everyone gets more time back.â 4. Championships are made in the offseason One of the biggest insights that weâve gained from the 4DWW is that a compressed workweek isnât a magic bullet for your companyâs issues. Itâs not like employee morale will immediately shoot up, youâll triple your quarterly earnings, and hit the Fortune 500 list. The 4DWW actually amplifies what you are already doing: the goodâ¦and the bad. âIf you were bad at something before, you're going to be bad at it afterwards,â Gretchen says. âIf you were good at something before, you're going to be good at it afterwards. The 4DWW completely amplifies it. Wherever you have cracks in your organization to begin with, it puts them under a microscope.â Thatâs why sports teams love the old chestnut, âChampionships are made in the offseason.â You donât just show up to the big challenge and expect to be great right away. Instead, it takes time and effortâoften years of work before you settle down and actually tackle your big goal. IWT already had a great system for mentoring and meetings in place well before we even decided to research the 4DWW. When we finally decided to test it out, we were more than prepared for the challenge. âThe really nice thing for us about the 4DWW is that it took places where we were already being very intentional and it caused us to double down on refining our processes,â Gretchen says. âSo if we were already good at it, now we've become great at it because we had to be.â 5. Trust the process The last point is an important reminder that changeâgood or badâdoesnât happen overnight. With the 4DWW, weâve certainly had our fair share of growing pains. However, if you stick with the challenge and already have the systems in place that have allowed your company and employees to grow, then we promise you will see results. âI cannot emphasize enough the growth that I have seen from my team,â Gretchen says. âWe did a quarterly check for one of my long-time employees, and we both agree that she had the best quarter she has ever had. She has shown so much growth, so much development, she's taking on such bigger projects, and her development into her career has been astronomical.â (BTW if youâre interested in running an optimal quarterly check-in too, hereâs [a complete and detailed breakdown of our check-in process]() â AND a [check-in form template]() you can use.) Not only that, but weâve seen employee sentiment skyrocket since the last time we checked in with how folks are doing with the 4DWW halfway through the challenge. [Weekly team ratings] Weekly team ratings As you can see, our employees are feeling well-rested, less stressed, and positive about the 4DWW across the board. This is despite a few down weeks here and there at the beginning of the challenge and halfway through. As we continue to wrap up our challenge, we canât wait to share with you what weâve learned and whether or not we decide to continue with it. No matter what, though, this experience has proven to be incredibly valuable in not only stress-testing our companyâs values, but also gleaning lessons about the aspects of training and development that we arenât willing to sacrifice. Remember: The things worth doing in life are rarely easy. But then again, sometimes thatâs exactly what makes them worth doing. Thatâs all for now. Talk soon, Tony P.S. Weâre coming to the end of the 4DWW Challengeâand with it, this weekly email series. (I know, I know. Youâre completely heartbroken I wonât be in your inbox any longer.) But thereâs a silver lining: Next week, weâll be working on gathering our thoughts and takeaways from the 4DWW Challenge. As a team, weâll be voting on whether or not to continue on with a 4DWW⦠or just leave it as a fun and challenging test that taught us a lot. As always, weâll keep you updated on what we doâso watch this space. Youâll be hearing from us again before you know it. You may be new to IWT.
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