Today's quote comes from a Doug, a Subject Matter Expert I worked with for many years in co-delivering leadership development programming with. One of his favorite pieces of advice to new leaders was to "Micro-monitor, not micro-manage". It is a great piece of advice.

What are the things you are micro-monitoring within the team right now?
What do you want to micro-monitor?
What do you want your team to micro-monitor?

Enjoy your Sunday and a quick reminder that the First Annual Teams365 Team Leader survey will close tomorrow. Please take a moment to share your thoughts. Thank you! It will help us to shpae future blog posts and also programming support.

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

We are almost at the en of the month and I hope that you will take a few minutes to stop, pause and reflect on the first month of they year, and take a few minutes to think about the month ahead.

As you think about January, consider these questions:

What were my major achievements 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:

Enjoy your 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

In today's blog post I am pleased to introduce you to Jo, a new team leader through a new series I'll be hosting here at the Teams365 blog.
In 2014 I  did a series of illustrations which were well received around different leadership topics. This  year we'll be following the adventures of Jo throughout the year.
This week's focus here at the Teams365 blog has been on Mentoring, so in this week's inaugural Jo cartoon, we have her sitting down with her new mentor Steve.
as I've written in the past, the mentor relationship is a key one to any leaders' development. The first meeting is paramount between the mentor and protege or mentee. Some of the topic areas you'll want to discuss include:

• What you both expect and want to get out of the mentoring relationship?
• What's going to work well for both of you in terms of meeting time, location, frequency etc?
• Key goals for the mentoring process?

Stay tuned as we'll see part two of this meeting next week!

Click here to read more posts I've written on mentoring this week and in the past.

Have a great weekend!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Don't forget the First Annual Teams365 Team Leadership Survey is open until February 1st. We'd love your insights! Please take a few minutes to participate.
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

In keeping with this week's theme around mentoring here at the blog today's Team Building tip asks you to consider what formal and infromal relationships can you as a team foster, individually and collectively with other teams or individuals who can mentor you.

As I write, mentoring is a powerful process to learn from those who have gone before us. Their stories, along with their insights as to how to get things done, the political currents, and the relationships which are key to success, are paramount in helping us grow as leaders. Teams also can benefit from mentoring relationships with other teams.

This week have some dialogue within your team around mentoring. What would be useful for the team right now? What relationships would they want to foster? For you as a team leader, what mentoring relationships do you have in place (formally and informally). What will support you?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Don't forget the First Annual Teams365 Team Leadership Survey is open until February 1st. We'd love your insights! Please take a few minutes to participate.
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

In yesterday's Teams365 Blog post on The Dip in any mentoring process (Teams365 #556) we saw how it's quite natural for formal mentoring programs to hit a dip and even a plateau. Mentoring is increasingly being used formally and informally to build capabilities and skills with professionals of all levels, in all kinds of industries. Many millennials love the idea of mentoring and are seeking it out formally and informally. The great thing about mentoring is that both mentors and their proteges/mentees learning from the experience.

Many new mentors and proteges are curious about what you might do in upcoming conversations. Each meeting doesn't just have to be over coffee. In fact there can be some great hands-on learning experiences such as these five ideas:

1. Attend an industry /networking meeting together (what upcoming conferences, breakfast meetings, lunch and learns, webinars are being held that you both would benefit from?

2. If mentoring is happening across your organization or industry, pair up with another mentoring team (mentor and protege) for one of your meetings. Com;pare notes on what you have been learning, doing and applying your knowledge and insights.

3. Develop a reading list together. When my business partner Susan Combs and I do mentor training through our Mentor RoadMap(TM) training and supports, we continue to hear how many mentoring partnerships enjoy creating a reading list together, reading the books and discussing them during the mentoring conversations. What three books would you put on your mentoring reading log? The nice thing about all of these ideas is that both mentors and their proteges/mentees will find value from the activities.

4. Identify a podcast series that would be of interest to both of you. Make apoint of setting a goal to listen in regularly and discuss the topics. This is a great one for commuters!

5. As appropriate, spend time onsite with each other going through part of your daily routine. Maybe it's attending a team meeting, or reviewing a report, or budget together.This may spark some new ideas and focus areas you had not through abut previously.


Which ones have you tried? What has been your experience? ohter ideas to share? Please feel free to comment below!

Best wishes,

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326
Contact us by email to explore how the Mentor RoadMap(TM)mentor training and workbooks could support more effective mentporing in your organization or industry.

The first decade plus of my career was spent primarily working for Canadian and British humanitarian organziztions and the United Nations. It was typical that mentoring was a key part of our team's development, as well as our own leadership development. Whether involved in passing on our skills to other staff happened formally or informally it was part of every day work, given that you might only be in a role for six months or three years.

Today I continue to see how mentoring is transforming organizations. In the last twelve years I've been able to support organizations in financial services, insurance, health care and safety create, and launch their own mentroing programs. It changes conversations, it changes leadership and it changes the culture!

What we often don't talk about in mentoring is the "DIP". Just as in any change process, such as cross-cultural integration when you move locations for work, or change through a coaching process, it's typcial to start off with great gusto in what's commonly known as the "honeymoon" phase. At this piont, mentor and protege are raring to go - they can't wait to get started and into dialogue with each other. Goals are clear as is usually the way forward.

AS the meetings progress, some partnerships find an ever evolving spiral of conversation and goal touchpoints, whereas others drop down into the dip. The dip is a place which sometimes feels like you are spinning your wheels, or not getting traction. Proteges and mentors may feel like mentoring is a waste of time.

In fact, the dip is natural! It's part of the change process. what you can see in today's photo is my handdrawn sketch of the cycle of adaptation. It's actually from a recent conversation I had with a leader who was going to work globally and wanted to think about what to expect. I've seen the dip throughout my own international assignments, and I've seen it mirrored not in the hundreds, but over more than two decades of work in the intercultural sector, mirrored in the thousands.

The dip can, and does, happen in the mentoring process. What to do if you see it? Here are a few things to consider:
Revisit the goals of the protege?
What have they accomplished?
What do they want to aim for next?
Where might they need recharging?
What will "shake" things up a bit?

Tomorrow, we're moving on to look at Five activities you might want to weave into your mentoring conversations. Some, or all of, these five could be a great addition to "shaking things up".

You might have noticed there were several other places where we can see the dip - in coaching, global assignments, and any change process. Where have you experienced the dip? What did you do?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Best wishes,
Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326
Learn more about the mentoring program support and trianing we offer through the Mentor RoadMap(TM)

January has been National Mentoring month and as we go to close out the month, this week's post will focus on this critical area of capacity, team and leadership development.

As someone who has been involved in mentoring for almost 3 decades - either as a mentor, in  running mentoring processes or designing mentoring programs for clients, I have seen dozens of examples of the transformative power of mentoring.  Some of you may know that through a collaboration with my colleague Susan Combs in Michigan, we offer mentoring resources, mentor training and program support using a Coach approach through our Mentor RoadMap(TM) programming.

Today's post takes a  look at why mentoring? Why is this a popular, and often overlooked, development modality. 

Here are a few of the reasons you may want to consider adding a mentoring component to your learning and development programs:

• Building bench strength within your succession pool
  
• Connecting people across the silos of an organization or industry
• Building leadership strength and capacity
  
• Providing both new and experienced leaders/team members with another sounding board, confidential place to explore options/perspectives/best practices
  
• Little or minimal cost (mostly people's time)
  

Coaching and mentoring are often talked about in the same breath, with people using the term interchangibly. In fact, there are some important distinctions. Here's a great post from ATD's blog on the differences between mentoring and coaching.

In the next few days I'll be sharing several more posts on mentoring, and you can also look back at what I've written in the past on mentoring here at the Teams365 blog.

Have a great start to your week!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders 
Looking to spark more conversation with your team? Consider the Conversation Sparker(TM) Cards
Set up a conversation about how we can support you and your team though enhanced coaching, mentoring or other support
(416)996-8326

Feeling confident and skilled at holding performance conversations is key for both new and experienced Team Leaders. Yesterday's Six Leadership Questions post went into detail around several questions you might consider bringing into your one-on-ones and other performance conversations. Check out #TEams365 #753.

Today I wanted to share some great resources -web and book based - which you might want to tap into in preparation for your next performance conversation. Check these out:
2600 Phrases for Effective Performance Reviews - Paul Falcone - check it out at Amazon here.

Five Conversations - How to Transform Trust, Engagement and Performance at Work - Nigel Purse and Nick Cowley and Lynn Allison - check it out at Amazon

The Essential Performance Review Book - Sharon Armstrong - check it out at Amazon

Crucial Conversations - Kerry Patterson  - Check it out at Amazon

Fierce Conversations - Susan Scott - Check it out at Amazon

Have a great Sunday! Don't forget to take a moment if you haven't done so to let us know your thoughts regarding topic areas you are interested in reading at the blog and other learning and development needs you have as a team leader this year. Click here to access our First Annual Teams365 Team Leader Survey. It will take five minutes of your time. Thanks!

Best wishes,
Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

I would like to hear from you! What are the topics keeping you up at night? What support are you looking for in terms of your development? What budget do you have available. For the next 10 days I'm launching a team leader survey and would love your input (as well as your peers!). Please spread the word so we can tailor our blog posts to your most pressing needs in the area of leadership. I would also welcome your feedback in terms of what type of support and development you would find most useful.

Click here to participate in the First Annual Teams365 TEam Leader Survey. It will be open for the next 10 days to February First. Please spread the word to other team leaders you know by tweeting and using the Facebook share below!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

Performance management is a huge topic and one that many tam leaders struggle with. As written earlier, regular one-on-ones coupled with regular goal setting and check-ins can make performance management part of everyone's domain, with the team member in the drivers seat.

To narrow down the realm of performance management into only six questions would be a disservice. Rather these are six of many questions you might bring in at the appropriate moment:

What will success look like around this goal?
What supports will help you be successful? (human resources, financial, knowledge, materials)
What might get the in the way? (this could be competing goals, the environment, lack of resources/equipment/people, lack of role clarity....)
What's not clear about this performance goal?
How can I help you (move it, remove it, modify it....)?
How will you/we know things have gotten off course?
What support do you need to bring it back on course?

While you are thinking about this right now, make a list of 4 other questions you ask, or might ask, in an upcoming performance conversation.

Have a great weekend,
Jennifer


Best wishes,
Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326