Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

Teams365 #396: the Month in Review

1/31/2015

It is hard to believe but we are now at the last day of January and the end of the first month of the year. I would like to invite you today to take 10-20 minutes to pause and make some notes around the month. It's a great practice to get into and allows us to look back month after month at our achievements, insights and perspectives.

Some questions you may want to reflect on today are:
What were my major achievments this month?
What do I want to celebrate?
As I consider my goals (and resolutions) I made at the start of the year, how am I doing with these on a scale of 1-10? Which ones are becoming new habits or something I can check off?
Which ones need to be let go of?
As a leader, what have I noticed about my team this month?
As a leader, what notes should I make about performance issues (if I haven't done it already!)
The thing that has helped me be most productive this month has been ______
The thing that has helped me be most successful this month has been ______
The thing that has helped me be happiest this month has been ________
The thing that has helped me be most healthy has been _______

Looking ahead to February.....
My priorities are:
My goals are
I want to......
I'll be really happy at the end of the month of February to be able to say:

Have a great weekend,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Potentials Realized
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Authorized Partner
Everything DiSC® Authorized Partner
Contact us and let us know how we can support you in helping your team reach its' full potenial - (416)996-8326

#Teams365 #395 : Check It Off Tip: Be RuthLess with Email

1/30/2015

Last week's check it off tip was to be ruthless with meetings. This week's Check It Off Tip is to be Ruthless with Email. Email management is up there with meetings as one of the most challenging, and time consuming, areas for managers.

A couple of tips around email management:
1. Schedule times of the day when you are going to focus on email.
2. Touch it once and reply right away. It's very common for me to get seveal hundred emails a day. I've learned that it's important to keep on top of them, rather than say that I'll address them later. If you have multiple team members or stakeholders that you are in regular contact with, this can help keep the conversations going.
3. Consider if color coding might be useful in helping to define the different projects/tasks you are working on.
4. Consider if email is the best way to communicate. Could a phone call cut down on some of the back and forth email often leads to?

What tips do you have for others around email management?

#Teams365 #394: Team Building tip #20: What does Excellence Mean for Us?

1/29/2015

Today's Thursday team building tip is the question "What does excellence mean for us?" . Take time in an upcoming meeting forum to create a shared vision of what excellence means for you as a team.

For example, if customer service is your priority this year consider these questions:

what are the behvaiors which demonstrate excellence in customer services. What would an outsider see in your office/environment to demonstrate excellent customer service?
Consider timeframes?
Behaviors?
Communication - what does excellent customer service sound like?
What the team work looks like to make "excellence" happen

Creating a shared vision which is behaviorally based, will help everyone be on the same page, and pulling in the same way. If there is not this shared lack of clarity the team risks inconsistent behaviors and unclear expectations.

I hope that you enjoy the dialogue around this question with your team this week.

Best
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Potentials Realized
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Authorized Partner
Everything DiSC® Authorized Partner
Contact us and let us know how we can support you in helping your team reach its' full potential: (416)996-TEAM (8326)

#TEams365 #393: Delegation: 8 Questions to Ask Yourself

1/28/2015

Over the past few days I've included a number of resources around delegation you may want to refer to if you are looking for some ideas. At the core of delegation is planning, and the ability to have a good conversation. Conversations are started with great questions. Today's post prompts you with some of questions to consider.

8 Questions to be asking yourself as you think about delegation include:
1. What is important for me to focus on right now? With that in mind, what can I delegate on?

2. Who would benefit, and be able, to take on each task?

3. What support will they need to the successful?

4. What will success look like for each project? How will they know that they are on the mark?

5. How will we check in around the task?

6. What authority and responsibility do I need to provide to them to be successful with the task?

7. What are the lessons learned from taking on the task?

8. With what I have delegated, what space does that free up?

What other questions will you want to keep in mind as you think about delegation?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Potentials Realized
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Authorized Partner
Everything DiSC® Authorized Partner
Contact us and let us know how we can support you in helping your team reach its' full potential: (416)996-TEAM (8326)

#Teams365 #392: Five Resources to Support You With Delegation

1/27/2015

This week's focus at the Teams365 blog is on delegation. As a team leader you are likely to be time-crunched and are looking for some resources to support you with delegation.

I've pulled together links to five useful resources for you around delegation in today's post:

An article I wrote on the 5 Ws of Delegation which you can download here.

BusinessBalls,com pages on Delegation - click here to link to their site

An article on Delegation from MindTools.com - click here to read their article.

Susan Heathfield's article on Delegation - click to read here

Harvard Business Review's resources around Delegation - click here to read them

What other resources have you found useful in approaching delegation? Please feel free to share them here!

Best
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Potentials Realized
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Authorized Partner
Everything DiSC® Authorized Partner
Contact us and let us know how we can support you in helping your team reach its' full potential: (416)996-TEAM (8326)

#Teams365 #391: The Dreaded D Word - Delegation!

1/26/2015

One area both new and experienced team leaders struggle with is in the area of Delegation. How do you find delegation as a skil lset and practice yourself?

If you are one of the many leaders who struggle with this area then this week's focus on delegation is for you. You may already find yourself with way too many things on your plate, and not enough time to do it.

To get a handle on what might be "delegation material" schedule the following 10-15 minute activity:

1. Pull out your current to do list, along with your accountabilities for the next quarter.
2. With these in mind, take a look at the current key priorities. These may be shaped by KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), Team Goals or any other Organizational Goals which are priority this quarter (or year).
3. What are the tasks that only you can accomplish?
4. What are the tasks that you need to be involved with, but can be supported by others?
5. What are the tasks that you really need support from others to accomplish (i.e specialized skills may be needed, due to complexity etc)?
6. What are the tasks on your list that really need to be completely handed off - who can do them? What support and direction do they need?
7. With these items off your plate, how much more time will you have?

Once you have gotten a line of sight on the tasks which need to be handed off, we can then start exploring how to do this. We'll be looking at tips for that this week, and you may also want to refer back to other posts I've written on delegation namely
Teams365 #90 - Delegation Tips which you can read here OR
Teams365 #315: Leadership a - z - D is for delegation which you can read here

Have a great start to your week!

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Potentials Realized
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Authorized Partner
Everything DiSC® Authorized Partner
Contact us and let us know how we can support you in helping your team reach its' full potential: (416)996-TEAM (8326)

#Teams365 #390: Sunday Audio: Hosting Effective Virtual Meetings

1/25/2015

This week's Sunday audio post continues along our theme of hosting effective meetings. How much time did you spend in meetings this past week? What does next week look like?

This 10 minute audio, focuses in on 7 tips for more effective hosting, and facilitation of virtual meetings. Many of these tips are also relevant in holding in person meetings as well.

Enjoy!

Have a terrific Sunday,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
(416)996-8326
Supporting Team Leaders and Teams One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Authorized Partner of the Everything DiSC and Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2009) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)

#Teams365 #389: Essential Leadership Read: Death By Meeting

1/24/2015

Today's Essential Leadership Read is aligned with yesterday's Check It off Tip - Be Ruthless with Email. A terrific, and important, read is Patrick Lencioni's Death by Meeting. How much time did you spend in meetings this past week? how much of it was truly productive time? What recommendations would you have to make meetings more effective?

This week take a look at your meeting management practices and see what tweaks could be made, whether it's around being more clear on agendas, sticking to time and topic, as well as making sure that a meeting is the best way to address the issue.

Have a terrific start to your weekend!

Jennifer

Have a great weekend,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2009)
(416)996-8326
Supporting Team Leaders and Teams One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Authorized Partner of the Everything DiSC and Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team

#Teams365 #388: Check It Off Tip: Be Ruthless With Meeting Management

1/23/2015

Today's check it off tip is about being ruthless with meeting management. How many hours have you spent this week in meetings? How productive were they? What impact did they have on the work that you accomplished?

A few key areas you can consider in tightening up your meetings are:
1. Make sure you assign roles - facilitator, time keeper, record keeper etc. These roles can, and should change, so that it doesn't always fall to the same person.

2. Have an agenda and make sure that the meeting is really the best forum. Can it be handled in another way? in another meeting?

3. Keep to time and on track. It's easy to get off track with meetings. Watch the time you have allocated and be vigilant in bringing meetings back on track. If there is an issue that needs further discussion decide how you want to approach it, and perhaps place it in a "parking lot" for future meetings. Do decide when you want to address it and who will track this.

4. Be sure everyone is leaving the meeting with clarity around decisions made and next steps

For other meeting management tips here at the Teams 365 blog, please visi:
Teams365 #211: Meeting Management Faux-pas
Teams365 #219: Keeping Meetings on Track (Five key tips in a cartoon)

Have a great weekend,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
(416)996-8326
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Authorized Partner of the Everything DiSC and Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team

#Teams365 #387: Team Building Tip: Influence and Relationship Management

1/22/2015

This week's Team Building Tip is a remidner to check in with your team around how they are doing, and how comfotable they are with their skills in the areas of influence and building relationships. Business happens through relationship and our ability to build connection outside of our team is critical to success.

At the same time the skill of influence is also key for team members. Without direct leadership, team members will often need to turn to the skill of influence as decisions are made and plans created.

How is the team doing with the skills of relationship building? Influence?
What needs attention?

Have a great Thursday,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Authorized Partner Everything DiSC and Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team
Supporting Team Leaders and Teams One Conversation at a Time(TM)
(416)996-8326