Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

#Teams365 #882: Month End Check In

5/31/2016

It’s the end of another month and time to take stock of major achievements made during the month, as well as do some planning for the month ahead.

Consider these questions:
What were my major achievements this month?
What were the team’s major achievements this month?
What was our key learning this month?
What team practices supported learning and performance?
What practices got in the way?
Where did we get off track?
What helped keep our focus?

For the upcoming month consider the following:
What are our key goals this month?
What relationships need attention?
What areas need laser focus?
What do we need to do more of?
What do we need to stop doing?
When are we checking in around goals and accountabilities?
What will help us be successful?

Have a great last day of May!

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
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#Teams365 #881: Goal Foundations - Part 7 - Apps

5/30/2016

I get asked to speak regularly on topics related to goal setting, time management and personal productivity. Recently at a session I was giving to an organization a great question came up about good apps you can use to support you with goal setting and also time management.

This got me doing some research and what I found was that there were already some amazing posts written already about some of the most popular ones which seem to be Coach.Me, GoalsonTrack, Habit List

Here are three different posts from other bloggers who have done a fantastic job tackling some of the different options in the market place:

Michael Hyatt's 7 Apps to Help you Achieve Your Goals and Build New Habits - Read his post here.

Lisa Evan's post on Entrepreneur on 6 Apps that Help you Stick to Your Goals - Read it here.

Tech Co's article - 7 Best Goal Setting Apps. Read it here.

If you use a goal setting or tracking app, let us know what you use.

Have a great start to your week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Join us this summer for a Teams365 Coaching Group
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#Teams365 #880: Sunday Quote - Goals

5/29/2016

Today's quote continues along our current focus on the Foundations of Goals.

Keeping Goals visible helps to focus action, and serves as a reminder of what's important. - Jennifer Britton, Teams365 from Potentials Realized

Making and keeping goals visible through post-it notes, reminders on screens, white boards etc. is a key part to goal success for many, especially if you have a preference for visual learning, which approximately 60 percent of North American adults have.

Keeping goals visible helps to focus action by reminding us of the most important things we are working on.

How are you keeping your most important goals visible right now? Where do they need more visibility?

Have a great Sunday,
Jennifer

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

#Teams365 #879: Foundations of Goals - Resources

5/28/2016

Today's post shares with you a number of great books and interesting web resources to support you in further deepening your insights around Goals. Here are a number of resources you may want to check out:

Three books:
Get Things Done -David Allan
First Things First - Steven Covey and Roger Merrill
Stever Robber's Get it Done Guy's 9 steps to Work Less and Do More

Goal Setting Methods:
A great article from the SMART as Hell blog on 13 Goal Setting Frameworks that Aren’t SMART : http://smartashell.com/blog/2013/02/25/13-goal-setting-frameworks-that-arent-smart/
7 Goal Setting Tips and Strategies - https://blog.bufferapp.com/goal-setting-strategies
From my Biz Toolkit blog in 2013: http://biztoolkit.blogspot.ca/2013/11/leadership-z-g-is-for-goal-setting.html

Have a great weekend,
Jennifer

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

#Teams365 #878: Goal Foundations - Questions

5/27/2016

As we continue on our journey with goal foundations, today's post brings us to six core questions leaders can be asking regularly of themselves and their teams. These are:

What goals are important right now? In the future? (Set different milestones to explore what is important at different stages - For example: 3 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, a year, 3 years etc)
What will success look like? (Get granular on this. What will it look like? Do a SMART-E test on it)
What do you need in order to be successful? (Be specific. What resources are going to help you)
What needs to be communicated about goals to others? (Again, be specific, who needs communication - what type, what amount, and when?)
What are the individual goals of team members? What are the collective goals of team members? How do these intersect? (spending time on this can help with goal achievement. Lack of clarity on the intersect of individual and collective goals can hinder goal implementation and execution)
What will you do to celebrate goal achievement (For bigger goals taking time to acknowledge and celebrate goal success is key. What's the culture in your team around this?)

Have a great weekend,
Jennifer

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

#Teams365 #877: Team Building Tip #85: Slow Down to Speed Up

5/26/2016

Today's Team Building Tip is an encouragement for you and the team to consider the question: Where do you need to slow down in order to speed up?

In today's wired world, where many of us are constantly on, we often shirk time spent planing and in a slower mode. In my former work as a Program Manager and Director, these moments of slowing down and planning and strategizing were critical to success with programming that impacted communities and nations.

This week consider your most important goals (see yesterday's post on Execution) and consider where you need to slow down in order to speed up.

Have a great Thursday,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2016)
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 best
(416)996-8326

#Teams365 #876: Goal Foundations Part 3 - Getting It done

5/25/2016

This week we are taking a look at the Foundations of Goal Setting and Action. Today's post takes a look at Execution or Getting It DONE!

Key to goal success is implementation. As we see year after year with personal goals being set through new years resolutions, if we don't execute on goals we won't succeed. Part of goals success also involves making sure we have adequate resources to get things done, and the proper support system. Having a framework of accountability where we have to check in with others also supports goal success.

Questions to consider this week as you think about getting things done:

1. What is your most important goal this quarter?
2. What's working in terms of moving the needle on this?
3. What's getting the in the way? What can you /do you need to do about this?
4. What time have you allocated for the key tasks?
5. What support could you benefit from?
6. Who are you accountable to around this goal? When did you last check in with them? What do you need from them?
7. What else will it take to be successful around this goal?

Have a great

#Teams365 #875: Foundations of Goals: Goal Frameworks Part 2:

5/24/2016

There are several different goal frameworks or different goal setting models. Several years ago at my BizToolkit blog I wrote the following as part of a 2013 post as part of another Leadership a - Z for that year's National Business Writing Month. Here's what I wrote:

"Today we are at G in the Leadership a-z. A central focus of coaching conversations, whether working with individuals, teams or groups, is on goal-setting.

Many of us are familiar with SMART goal setting, on a personal or professional level. In this framework the acronym reminds us to ensure that our goals are:
S- Specific: What exactly are you going to achieve? What are you aiming for?

M - Measurable: How can you measure your progress towards this goal? This might be a specific number, percentage or other.

A - Achievable: Is the goal achievable, with a stretch? What do you need to make sure you achieve it?

R - Realistic : It is realistic with the resoruces you have?

T- Timebound: What is the timeframe on these goals?

In my book, Effective Group Coaching, I add an E on the end, to stand for Exciting. If our goals are not exciting to us, what happens? The chances of them being fulfilled goes down.

Another useful goal framework is the CLEAR goal framework introduced by John Whitmore in his book, Coaching For Performance. Whitmore's CLEAR stands for:
C- Challenging
L - Legal
E- Environmentally Sound
A - Appropriate
R - Recorded (as many of know, what doesn't get written down, doesn't get done)

Coaching Questions:
1. What is the status of your current goals professionally?
2. How do they connect with your team or departmental goals?
3. What might get in the way of goal completion during 2013? What do you need to achieve them? What changes might be needed to the original goal?
4. As you look towards next year, what are some possible goals for your work?
5. What goal framework with work best for you?
6. What will support you in keeping your goals in mind?"

You can read the original post here.

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2016)
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 best
(416)996-8326

#Teams365 #874: Foundations of Goals: Part 1

5/23/2016

This week we turn our attention to the Foundations of Goals. Following on to last weeks focus on feedback, goals are critical for performance in organizations – for individuals and teams. If our goals are not clear, it is hard to provide feedback of quality and relevance.
Over the next two weeks we’ll be looking at goals, and accountability, throughout our various posts. As we get started, today’s post gets you thinking about goals and goal setting.
In goal setting there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

How are the goals being set SMART? (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound?
What goals are important in the short term? Medium term? Long term?
Who else needs to be involved in the goal setting?
Who needs to have goals communicated to?
Where do goals intersect? Do team members know how their goal success ties into another’s success?
How often do we revisit, or check in, with goals?

Up tomorrow - Goal Frameworks

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2016)
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 best
(416)996-8326

#Teams365 #873: Sunday Goals Quote

5/22/2016

This week we've just wrapped up our two week focus on Feedback. Starting tomorrow we will turn our attention to the topic of Goals and Accountability. Today's quote comes from Lao Tzu who wrote centuries ago:

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step"

Sometimes we hesitate to take the first step towards many of our larger goals because goals feel so big. Think about a project or task you have been procrastinating on. What would the first step look like for you? What would a series of daily first steps look like for you? Breaking down bigger projects and goals into chunk sized pieces is key for success. We'll be looking at this, and many other topics over the next few weeks in our focus around goals.

Have a great Sunday
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2016)
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 best
(416)996-8326