Optional Fridays and Other Radical Ideas

For those of you in Canada, Happy Long Weekend! How are you using this time to recharge?

I'm going on a family camping trip, and I'm looking forward to getting in a few long and challenging runs, something that provides a great mental break for me. Unlike the guy in the photo, I prefer to take my metaphorical business suit off when I'm out of office, and won't even be thinking about work on my runs.

But it's not just long weekends that should provide the opportunity to build healthy and sustainable rhythms of work.

I was chatting with a business leader today who treats Fridays as optional, if outcomes have been met for the week by their team. While some leaders would look at the lost opportunity of that time, this leader recognizes that it pays massive dividends in highly engaged and healthy team members.

There are many, many ways to build operational practices that value humans and prioritize their health and well-being. And boost engagement and productivity at the same time!

I'm curious: how do you personally recharge? And how have you built practices into the fabric of your team that allows them to engage sustainably?

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