POTENTIALS REALIZED - Teams365 Blog

STAND OUT VIRTUALLY 21 FOR 2021: DAY 18 OF 21 DAYS: Create a Dialogue Lean Into Community – #TEAMS365 #2576

1/18/2021

“It’s all about the conversation.” – Jennifer Britton

This year as part of the 21 for 21 kick off I wanted to bring in the element of community. For several years now, each January, as part of the annual kick off

I’ve hosted series of blog posts. Take a look back at:

18 for 18 Kickstart
19 or 19 Productivity

What’s been different this year in terms of seeing impact of this work, is the community which has been created and which has been meeting live each day (usually from 12 – 1240 pm ET). While we are winding own in a few days, don’t worry – more challenges as on their way.

A large aprt of my work as been about creating dialogue in my work. This is still something that helps to differentiate professional in the virtual space. What are you doing to bring people together for a conversation (not just an individualized learning experience).

Whether we are having a one-off conversation or leaning into community in areas such as the Conversation Sparker Zone (join us at https://conversation-sparker.mn.co), what are the dialogues you want to create?

Activity

Consider work you want to bring into the world. What role does dialogue play? What forums are you creating for people to come together and be in discussion?

Ask yourself:

What are the topics people want to come together around?
What platform is best to house this conversation on (consider Facebook, Mighty Networks or ….)
What’s important about creating the space for a conversation?

Conversation Sparkers

How do tasks expand to the amount of time I give them?
Where could I be more aggressive or lenient with my scheduling?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

STAND OUT VIRTUALLY 21 FOR 2021: DAY 17 OF 21 DAYS: Boundaries and Parkinson’s Rule – #TEAMS365 #2575

1/17/2021

“To the person who does not know where (S)he wants to go there is no favorable wind” – Seneca

Boundaries are key to success and thriving in the very fluid remote and virtual workspace. Whether we are juggling multiple tasks, or roles (business owner or leader, parent, etc), being clear on boundaries can mean the difference between getting by and thriving.

There’s an old project management adage, known as Parkinson’s Rule, which asserts that tasks expand to the amount of time we give them. In other words, if we set a deadline of getting something done by end of day tomorrow, we’ll get it done. Conversely, we could have fixed another deadline of early next week, and the task might have stretched out to then as well.

Parkinson’s Rule may be something you have seen at play in the 21 for 21 Virtual Co-working series. Day after day I am hearing about how people find they do get what they had set out to do in the 21 minutes complete. For many this is a surprise and several have noted that it would have taken more time to do on their own without the 21 minute time window boundary.

At a macro-business level, considering our start and end dates is critical in juggling multiple projects. From program and product design, to administration and finances, to actually coaching, there are a lot of varied tasks which make up a successful coaching business.

What are the tasks and activities which could benefit from a more fixed start and end date?

Related to this concept is that of time estimation.

Activity

Consider the major activities, tasks and projects which are a priority this month. Where are they scheduled?

Ask yourself:

What is the start date for this project or task?
What is the end date I have set?
Could the end date be a bit more aggressive so that the task could be completed in a more condensed manner? If not, why not?
What is important to notice about start and end dates? How my tasks are expanding to the time I give them?
What’s currently not getting done, which I wish it was?
If it’s not about changing time windows, WHO can help me get it done? WHAT other resources do I need to allocate?
What changes would I like to make?

Conversation Sparkers

How do tasks expand to the amount of time I give them?
Where could I be more aggressive or lenient with my scheduling?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

STAND OUT VIRTUALLY 21 FOR 2021: DAY 16 OF 21 DAYS: Anticipate FRequently Asked Questions – #TEAMS365 #2574

1/16/2021

“Life would certainly be easier if we all came equipped with our own personal FAQ lists. When we meet someone, we could pass them a business card with the list on the back, and then step back and let them read before we tried to talk."
Jeff Lindsay
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jeff_lindsay_525871

People like to ask questions. It’s also a signal that things may not be as clear as they could be. In the virtual and remote world, helping team members know where to go is key. Likewise, customers or other stakeholders may have questions.

As a virtual professional, it’s likely that you are anticipating certain questions to come up. Or, perhaps you are hearing certain questions already.

Over time we want to develop a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). For example, an FAQ about your services, how to register, what’s included. his could be posted on our website, blog and/or be available as a download.

Some of the more common areas addressed in Frequently Asked Questions are the following:

What do you offer?
How do you offer your services and products (in-person, virtual, on-demand, live…)
What are the benefits of what you offer?
Where can people go for more information or to access what they need?
Where to find….
How to locate….
How to do (insert your top 10)…

What do you regularly get questions about?

Activity

Make a list of the common questions you receive.
Draft out your Frequently Asked Questions page

What will it include?
What format do you want to provide it in? (Download on website, post card, rack card)
Where will it be available?
What else is important to communicate?

Run your FAQ by current clients to get their feedback. What connects with them? What else would they include?

Conversation Sparkers

What is important to communicate to people who are just meeting you for the first time?
What do you regularly get questions about?
What else is important to note?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

STAND OUT VIRTUALLY 21 FOR 2021: DAY 15 OF 21 DAYS: Schedule it. What doesn’t get Scheduled Doesn’t Get Done – #TEAMS365 #2573

1/15/2021

“The whole point of getting things done is knowing what to leave undone.”- Oswald ChambersScheduling and tracking are key parts of business productivity. Time management in a virtual business includes:

Discernment – Knowing what is, and what is not important. In the big picture, in the immediate. For you. For the business.

Prioritizing – Being clear on your Top 3-5 activities. Today, this month, this quarter.

Scheduling it in- Making sure the big tasks and smaller tasks are scheduled in, particularly those things which are important to you and the business (review time, planning time, renewal time, maintenance, systems etc). Some research has also started pointing to the need for significant enough blocks of time being required to help you focus. For some this may be 90 minutes, others 3 hours.

Saying NO - tactfully! Given that we are usually operating in isolation, negotiation skills are key. Being able to say “I can help you with this, however, that may not be feasible…”, being able to delegate, defer or even say no, are all key skills. It’s not surprising that training I deliver on Communicating and Negotiating for Impact is popular!

Being ruthless with your time. Time is non-renewable. How do you choose to spend it?

Activity
Consider the questions listed above. What do you notice about Discernment? Priorities, Scheduling, saying no, being ruthless with time. What is important for you in staying the course?

Take 15 minutes to make sure your schedule is up to date and includes time for the important activities in the short, medium and long term.

Add an additional 10% of time to projects or tasks which are not yet visible but need to get done.

Consider what your line in the sand is around tasks and new requests. Are you operating at 100%? If you had a new request come in, what would you do? How could you defer other tasks?

What your successes have been?
Where your focus has been?
What products or services have you been focusing on offering?

Schedule it in. If you have not left space now, it’s unlikely it will emerge on its own!

Conversation Sparkers

What projects, tasks or activities are important to schedule this month?
What is your line in the sand around what more you can take on?

What are the Top 3-5 priorities for you today? This week? This month? This quarter?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

STAND OUT VIRTUALLY 21 FOR 2021: DAY 14 OF 21 DAYS: – #TEAMS365 #2572

1/14/2021

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” – Neal Donald Walsch

The pace of change today is faster than ever before. Getting comfortable with taking focused action, without all the details is a part of success in the virtual space.

When starting, or launching, new initiatives it can be valuable to just get into action. It’s easy, and can be alluring, to spend time doing more research. I continue to meet a lot of coaches who fail to move into execution stage because they are just not “sure”. They need to do a “bit more research”. The more data we have, the easier it may be to slip into “analysis/paralysis”. This can be a place of overwhelm or “STUCK” for many business owners. There usually is a place where you have “enough” information and can get started.

The tagline for the Coaching Business Builder, and PlanDoTrack, is
“Consistent Action + Daily Steps = Momentum”Key to business success is to Get into Action!

As Nike says, “Just do it”.

Consistent action is key for building business in today’s everchanging world. We often do not know what’s going to have impact until we get it out into the world. This is even more true in the virtual space. It’s through trying things out, and getting feedback, that we start to get the feedback required as to if we are on the mark, or not.

Even in creating group coaching processes, it’s key to get things into action, rather than fall into the analysis-paralysis trap. We don’t need to know everything, or even anything. We need to trust our clients. Things will change right up to the moment we meet our clients.

So, how much mental energy are you spending in trying to figure out what your clients really want? Holding ideas and thoughts in our head takes up a lot of space. How much mental energy are you spending just thinking about things, considering best and worst-case scenarios without getting into action?

Activity
Think about the most important priorities for your business. What needs to get done?
What are you doing to create opportunities for action and feedback with your ideal clients? What events can you host to start the dialogue with them?
What are the regular action steps which will help you get things done?

Conversation Sparkers

What is the consistent action you want to take daily in your business?
Who can support you in determining when “enough is enough” and you need action?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

STAND OUT VIRTUALLY 21 FOR 2021: DAY 13 OF 21 DAYS: – build in regular time for review #TEAMS365 #2571

1/13/2021

"Big thinking precedes great achievement."— Wilferd Peterson

Part of productivity is about building in pause points to reflect and think about what’s working and what’s not.
Building in time for regular review helps to:

Identify where we are getting our results
Observe the patterns that are occurring
Think about where we want to go
Identify what is important to be able to move forward

Some of the pitfalls we may experience in review is number one we don't have the data our memories are not good at remembering and capturing where we were at different points in time.

With this in mind, I've included in number of monthly daily trackers in the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack. They get you to regularly track and capture your key metrics. Perhaps you want to track sales. When did sales and revenue come in for the month? Was it on a Friday or was it on Monday?

Another metric you might want to be tracking is social media. How many followers did you have on July 1st? November 1st?
Building in time for regular review helps us to identify what's working and what's not that then gives us the opportunity to make a change.

Activity
Identify the metrics you want to track in your business. Make note of these and start tracking them. Consider using colors to highlight. As you review them consider these questions

What do you notice about your metrics?
Where are you spending a lot of time?
What is giving you impact? What is not?
What changes do you want to make?

Conversation Sparkers

“What we focus on expands”. What do you want to focus on more?
What does the data say?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

STAND OUT VIRTUALLY 21 FOR 2021: DAY 12 OF 21 DAYS: circadian rhythm: when are you at your best ? #TEAMS365 #2570

1/12/2021

“Perhaps the main conclusion to be drawn from studies on the effects of time of day on performance is that the best time to perform a particular task depends on the nature of that task”.
– Simon Folkard quoted in Daniel Pink’s When, 2018, pp 22.

Are you a night owl or a morning bird? As a school girl in the 1970s I remember teachers getting us to think about when we were at our best. Flash forward to the late 1980s and early 1990s and discussion around circadian rhythm.

Daniel Pink’s most recent book When further delves into the research. He writes,

“Our moods and performance oscillate during the day. For most of us, our mood follows a common pattern: a peak, a trough, and rebound. That helps shape a dual pattern of performance. In the mornings, during the peak…. most of us excel at …analytic work that requires sharpness, vigilance, and focus. Later in the day, during the recovery, most of us do better on…insight work that requires less inhibition and resolve.” – Pink, 2018, pp 26

Activity
Questions to Consider:

When are you at your best? Check out the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire to learn more
When are you able to focus the most?
When are you able to get the most work done?

Take a look at your schedule and think about the major tasks that could be rescheduled to better meet your energy needs.

Make the change now.

** Pink notes that “people born in the fall and winter are more likely to be a lark; people born in the spring and summer are more likely to be owls.” – p 29

“Moods are an internal state; but they have an external impact. Try as we might to conceal our emotions, they inevitably leak – an that shapes how others respond to our words and actions”. – Daniel Pink, When

Conversation Sparkers

What is important to note about the ebbs and flows of your day, your tasks and your energy?
What tasks could benefit from being scheduled in the times when you are most productive? When you are not as focused?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

STAND OUT VIRTUALLY 21 FOR 2021: DAY 11 OF 21 DAYS: The 4rs : RePurpose, Reuse, Recycle and Resyndicate #TEAMS365 #2569

1/11/2021

“Recycling turns things into other things. Which is like magic.”
– Anonymous

Content Creation can be an important part of getting your voice out in the virtual space. What are the topis you are passionate about? You don’t always have to start from scratch.
In magnifying our content, we can:

Repurpose
Reuse
Recycle
Re-syndicate

If you’ve gotten good results from something (for example, an email campaign, an article, or a social media post), what it the next iteration of that?

Let’s look at an example. Perhaps you led a speaking engagement on Emotional Intelligence. Chances are you did a lot of research into the topic and there are things that can be REPURPOSED. Are there some resources you can point your clients to as an extended resource to them? A new offshoot be a one-page resource list (TED Talks, books list) OR a checklist for them to complete.

What are the things that can be quickly repurposed into other formats?

At the same time, there may be many ways we can re-use, and leverage things already created in our business. From reusing processes so that we avoid pitfalls, to reusing a proven checklist we have created and is road-tested in another program, reusing is key.

A third way is to recycle. In content creation, recycling is key. A very popular way to design programs is to build it through small packets or modules. You might have a one-hour module on EI in general, another on building EI in your team, and a separate one around “Self-management”. These could be recombined, or recycled, for future programs, creating a whole new resource!
Finally, think about how you can Re-syndicate. Resyndicating means sharing content on other channels. Perhaps you already have shared something on Linked In. Are you sharing a link to that on Facebook? Instagram? Via a pinterest pin.

Activity
Take a look at all the content you have created. Note it down. This could include blog posts, Instagram stories, Facebook Lives, etc.
As you look at what you have created already, consider:
What are the things your clients are looking for related to your already created content?
What are the vehicles they would like that in? (Think blog post, Instagram post, video, e-book, other)?
What would the 4Rs look like – repurpose, reuse, recycle and re-syndicate?

Conversation Sparkers

What can be repurposed into a new format? Reused? Recycled? Re-syndicated?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

STAND OUT VIRTUALLY 21 FOR 2021: DAY 10 OF 21 DAYS: LEverage the Remote Enablers #TEAMS365 #2568

1/10/2021

“No person is an island.” – Old Adage (in more gender inclusive language!)

In early 2020, before the pandemic erupted I shared the Remote Working Whitepaper. It introduced what I call, the Remote Enablers. Each one ofthese are levers we can use in order to leverage and amplify our work. The 7 Cs are something that I have shared over the course of the last year to coaches, business professionals, leaders and entrepreneurs. Inevitably, there is always one area which “Stands Out” as an important focus. Consider which of these is the area you want to put more attention around – Communication, Clarity, Connection, Culture, Consistency, Community or Collaboration.

Download a copy of the Remote Working Whitepaper for more information about these remote enablers at https://bit.ly/remoteworkwhitepaper.

The 7 Cs include. Consider what you can do to expand your work.
Communication
Clarity
Connection
Culture
Consistency
Community
Collaboration

For more detailed descriptions refer to Teams365 Blog post #2304 which can also be found at:
https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2304-remote-enablers-in-focus

Activity

Keeping the Remote Enablers in mind, which are the ones you are great at?
Which are the ones you could improve upon?
What is important to note about these?

Conversation Sparkers

What is going to help to leverage and amplify your work?
What is going to help to accelerate things?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

STAND OUT VIRTUALLY 21 FOR 2021: DAY 9 OF 21 DAYS: Connect and Engage #TEAMS365 #2567

1/9/2021

“No person is an island.” – Old Adage (in more gender inclusive language!)

As solopreneurs (one-person businesses), it can feel like we are always on our own. Relationships play a critical role in growing and maintaining a successful business or leadership role in the remote space. Whether we are building relationships with new clients or alumni, peers, joint venture partners or coaches we can co-coach with, relationship building and connection is critical for success.

This tip gets you to think about building relationships – who you interface with regularly, who you’d like to connect with, and who are your connectors. [Connectors are individuals who are connected with those you want to reach. They can be a valuable link to your target market and/or other partners].

A first step in building relationships is to consider what you have to offer to others.

What are the skills, strengths and talents you bring to the table? What do you have to offer others?

As a second step, consider who you want to connect with and who is in your network.

How can you support others in their work? How can you support others to achieve their mandate and vision?
An ongoing focus on building solid relationships with a variety of others is important across the entire lifecycle of a business.

Activity

Map out 20 people in your network. Write out their names. Consider how you interface. What do you offer them? What do they offer you?
What other people would be useful to have in your network? Consider financial, legal and administrative support. Collaborators.
How often are you making a point of connecting with others in your networks? Growing your network? What could this look like this year?
How do you support their work? How can others support you?
What could collaboration look like?

Conversation Sparkers

What key relationships are you able to lean into with your work?
What do you have to offer others in terms of your skills, talents and strengths? How can you help others magnify what they do, and who they serve?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326