It's time for another Sunday Teams365 video, and in the spirit of this month's theme here at the Teams365 blog of goals, today's post brings to life Teams365 post #629 on Managing Interruptions.

Notice how many interruptions you face this week at work. What are some strategies you would like to employ in managing interruptions?

Have a great Sunday,
Jennifer

Today's quote comes from one of my favorite authors, Steven Covey. This month we've been focusing on goals here at the Teams365 blog. It can be very easy to get focused in on creating goals for the sake of creating goals, rather than creating goals which are aligned with your goals and where you want to go.

What is is that you are creating or moving towards this year? As you consider your goals, how do they reflect your vision? What tweaks might you want to make?

One of my favorite training programs as a leader in the 1990s was what ultimately became a five day training program around Covey's Work - the Seven Habits of a Highly Effective People. The entire office team I worked with went through the training, transforming the way we worked - from a very intense fire-fighting mode to one that was still intensive but focused on the most important things in our work. I still use many of the processes we used for my own planning and productivity (including the BiG ROCKS concept)

This weekend I hope you will take a few minutes to review your goal list and adjust based on what's most important for you.

Enjoy and have a great weekend,
Jennifer

This month's focus on goals is tied to the performance management realm in any team. As we individually and collectively get clearer on our goals, it helps us to articulate the resourcing we need, and gain clarity on the steps we need to take.

For today's #FlashbackFriday I wanted to reach back to a past post on one-on-ones, which are an important part of the leadership role in goal support. Have you scheduled your first (or second) one-on-one with staff already this month? If not, perhaps this is the impetus for you to get it in your books.

Here' what I wrote about the Leadership Practice of one-on-ones in Teams365 #1301. Take note of the skills and enabling factors for better conversation. What needs to be put in place, or adjusted, for your team to be having the best conversations this year? Here we go with Teams365 #1301:

It's the start of another week and time for another Leadership Practice. This one is on one-on-ones. Taking time to build closer relationships with your staff is critical for success as a team  leader. One-on-ones, short conversations with each individual team member are important for:
- Getting to know your team members. What their strengths are, their aspirations, and what their preferences are.
- Creating shared expectations around work
- Understanding where support is needed and what type of support is required
- Keeping abreast of issues which need attention or may be on the horizon

In holding one-on-ones with different team members you will likely find that there is a different appetite for how and where one-on-ones occur. Some staff may want them held frequently, while others may want them on a less regular basis.

Here are seven things you will want to keep in mind as you move into your one-on-ones (Taken from Teams365 Team Building Tip #120 - Teams365 #1122)

Today's post looks at seven elements which makes a one-on-one really effective.

​These are:
1. Listening - In a one on one conversation it is important to be listening on a number of different levels - from noticing body language and alignment with what is being said, to really seeking to understand and hear what the person is saying. So often in leadership conversations we are thinking about how we are going to respond and what will we say next that we fail to listen deeply. What do you notice about how you l listen in one-on-ones? What changes would you like to make?

2. Focus - We don't always have a lot of time in a one on one conversation so creating a focus for our time with our staff can be important. You may ask questions such as "What would you like to get out of our conversation today? OR "What would be a useful takeaway?"

3. Minimize Distractions - Creating a pause point can be easier in some contexts than others. Consider how you and your staff can minimize distractions during your 1-1s. This might include turning off your phones, moving the conversation out of the office or to a different floor. What will minimize distractions for you?

4. Use powerful questions - Powerful questions invite people to explore, expand or sometimes focus. Powerful question are open ended questions, inviting the staff you are talking with to elaborate and share their ideas. We can build trust by asking great questions to our staff and giving them time to speak and share. Note that WHAT questions are usually the most "powerful" in opening up the space for dialogue. WHY questions in low trust can put people on the defensive.

5. Suspend judgement - It is important to note how and where our judgements are surfacing and how even subconsciously our bias can come through. What do you need to do to become neutral or as unbiased as possible in your one-on-one calls? What happens when you are able to do this?

6. Watch body language - In face to face conversations body language can make up more than 50% of the message. What does your staff's body language say? How does this  compare to what is being said?

7. Create an action plan - One of the reasons why I chose to do more training and have a focus on coaching almost a decade ago was because coaching focuses on having a "Conversation with intent" and having a specific action plan which we can loop back on. In your one on ones what are the next steps for the staff member? How will you check in together around these next steps?

​What opportunities do you have coming up around one-on-ones? What notes do you want to make for yourself about important things to keep in mind?

I have written quite a bit about one-on-ones here at the blog. You can view some of these posts here.


Best wishes,
Jennifer

Commitment - that ability to go the extra mile. The stake in the ground. Having each other's backs. Commitment is critical for performance today.

As a team this is one area which many teams struggle with. Team members may all say YES at the end of a planning meeting, but is there follow-through?

Commitment is often about asking "Are you going to do it, no matter what?" or as my parent's generation would say "are you going to do it, come h*** or high water?".

In organizational cultures where lip-service and nods have become common place, commitment  and follow-through become a definer of sustainable, and thriving organizations.

This week's question for you as a team to discuss is "What are you committed to?". This month I have shared a lot around goal setting. Goals are great, they look great and sound great, but we need to get into action to move them forward. As a team what are you going to do no matter what?

As I was starting my business almost 14 years ago, one of my business mentor's shared with me this quote which is attributed to HM Murray of the Scottish Himalayan Expedition of the 1800s . In my own work I continue to see the difference in results when I have fully committed, and when I have partially committed.  I'll wrap up today's blog post with that quote here, which was our quote on Teams365 999.Enjoy!

Jennifer

Different ways to work with goals – Making them SMART-E

At this time of year it's quite common for individuals and teams to throw a number of goals down on paper - grow sales, expand the team, get more organized. Get healthier. It can be useful to drill-down into these goals by making them more SMART-E. The benefit of this is that these goals then become more concrete and  we can tell when we are moving closer to completing them.

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A - Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Time-bound
And I like to add an E – for Exciting.

Take a look at this past week’s Teams365 video for a 2 min overview of the SMART-E framework.

An example we commonly hear is that  “we’re going to grow the business”. What exactly does that look like? When do we know we have gotten there?

To make it SMART-E the team might decide:
This year, we are going to grow our sales in digital products (specify products) by 100% each quarter by increasing our outreach efforts, developing an affiliate program, and doing more targeted online marketing.
 
Is this SMART? It definitely is more specific, but, is it measurable and achievable? If you increase your sales 100% each quarter that’s pretty significant. Can you do that four quarters in a row?

What are the measurable steps  - what does more targeted mean? What goals do you  have around outreach or affiliates. Measurable steps help us know where we are along the path. It might be to create 100 new affiliates each quarter or create new daily outreach opportunities.

Action Step: Take one of your goals and make it SMART-E. Don’t forget the E for excitement. What is exciting about your goal? How will you celebrate the milestones? What is the bigger picture of why you are doing this?

Have a great Tuesday,
Jennifer

Peer learning can be even more powerful than learning from a leader or formal instructor. In 1995, Griffiths, Housten and Lazenbatt from the University of Ulster identified 10 different models of peer learning. These included: peer learning cells, to mentor-mentee relationships, collaborative work, buddy systems and others. Check out Boud's article here which makes reference to them.
  
A 2017 study from Michigan State University[1] found that those undertaking an online course, learned better when hearing from their peers, than the instructor’s rationale. They scored 92 on an online test compared to 86. (Michigan State University. "Peers, more than teachers, inspire us to learn." Science Daily. ScienceDaily, 21 March 2017. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170321110341.htm)
 
As the study states, “"We found that receiving the instructor rationale led to lower final grades than both the peer rationale and no rationale conditions," Roseth said. "This gives support to the idea that, motivationally, the fact that instructors control grades, tell the students what do to, and so on, may be working against their efforts to increase their students' appreciation of why the class is important."
 
In the virtual space, building in both formal and informal peer touchpoints can be invaluable for learning and engagement. Every time I put people into breakout they come back energized.
Peer touchpoints could include:

• Breakouts  - see this recent Teams365 post on using breakouts
• Peer partners who meet in between the formal peer touch points
• Mastermind groups where you learn from each other
• Reading groups
• Social Media Communities (Facebook Groups etc)

What enhanced peer connections can you create in your virtual programming?


[1] Tae S. Shin, John Ranellucci, Cary J. Roseth. Effects of peer and instructor rationales on online students’ motivation and achievement. International Journal of Educational Research, 2017; 82: 184 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijer.2017.02.001


Have a great start to your week,
​Jennifer

This week's Sunday video explores SMART-E goals. As we continue to roll through January with new habits and new goals, are your goals specific, measurable, achieveable, realistic and timebound? More importantly, are they EXCITING? If they aren't exciting, it's unlikely that they will get done.

​Enjoy this week's short Teams365 Video on SMART-E Goals, something I have been writing about for several years now since my second book - From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013).

Have a great Sunday,
​Jennifer

Today's quote comes from Victor Hugo who wrote: "He who every morning plans the transactions of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the labrynith of the most busy life"

​This month's focus at the Teams365 blog has been on planning and goals. If you have not checked out the 2018 Kickstart questions, check them out here.

​Taking 5-10 minutes a day to develop a plan for the day can save a lot of unfocused effort. What are you noticing about your own habits of planning and goal setting? What's working for you as a professional? What changes do you want to make?

​

Just before the holidays I posted "Key Skills Virtual and Remote Team Leaders Needed this year and will need again in 2018". You may not have seen it, so I wanted to share it again during this week's Flashback Friday. It was originally published as Teams365 #1457. Think about what skills you are noticing that you and the team need this year - does it include prioritization, relationship management, emotional intelligence, systematization and automation?

Here's what I wrote in Teams365 #1457:
 With the rise of virtual and remote teams, skill bases are changing. No longer do team leaders only need skills, all team members can benefit from enhanced skill sets in influence, decision making, prioritization etc. Given that team members in a virtual and remote team are usually more self-directed in daily operations, supporting team members with these three skills can be very important.

Prioritization – In a business context where it’s feasible to work 24/7 if you are connected into a global network, learning to prioritize means the difference between thriving or surviving. Does everyone on the team know what the priorities are – for you? For the team? For additional stakeholders they work with? For different matrix leaders and teams they interface with? One of the more common frameworks many of us return to time and time again is that of Steven Covey’s urgent/important matrix. Read about it here in this Business Insider article , or Teams365 #121 (https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams-365-121-what-is-your-priority-this-month)  for a very abridged version.

Relationship management – In my book, Effective Virtual Conversations, I remind people that “no person is an island”. The skills of relationship management and networking take on an even greater importance in the virtual space as work still continues to be done through others. What is the state of your virtual networks? Who do you connect with regularly? Who could you benefit from building more relationships with?

Going hand in hand with relationship management is the skill set of influence. When working remote and/or virtually we are constantly working through others we can only influence and likely have no line responsibility with. Check out Teams365 #495 about Emotional Intelligence and the skill of influence. Read it here: https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-498-emotional-intelligence-influence

Systematization and automation – learning to systematize and/or automate can also help in navigating the uncertainty and variability of today’s work place. Systematization involves developing systems which help you with efficiency and productivity. For example, if you work remote, what systems do you have in place to allow you to:

• Easily access main files and information you use. This could entail having files in the cloud, on a VPN or via an Intranet
• Seamlessly update file versions and editions you are working on
• Easily access your contact details – phone numbers and email addresses – which synch across appropriate devices

 
Automation can mean many different things to team members including:

• Distributing and updating meeting requests, agendas and notes
• Filing receipts

On a personal level, Livewire notes these 10 areas professionals can benefit from getting automated in. Read their July 2017 article here. What could use a tweak in your world?

As you consider your team focus in the upcoming year, what do you know about the skills which will be required?"

With best wishes,
Jennifer