It's the end of another month and time to do some stock taking and planning for the new month. Here are some questions to help you reflect and plan. I hope that you'll find 5-10 minutes to make some notes on these:

Here are some questions to consider:
1. As you reflect on May , what have been your successes and accomplishments?
2 What are you most proud of?
3. What successes this month do you want to duplicate? What has been some of your key learning items?
4. What key relationships have helped you so far this year? Which ones need more attention?
5  What has helped your successes? What has hindered?
6. What does your team need to be acknowledged for?

As you look to June, consider these questions:
1. What are your key priorities for June?
2. What are the key goals?
3.  What are the major priorities?
4. What will you need to place attention on?
5. What changes do you want to make in June?
6. What resources do you want to tap into?

Have a great Wednesday,
Jennifer

One of the main themes here at the Teams365 blog is helping team leaders and their team members thrive. Yesterday's post looked at six elements new virtual teams need in order to thrive. Today’s post covers several core areas new team leaders require for success as they assume a new role. These items include:

1. Support and dialogue around what changes might be required regarding their new role
2. Mentoring by someone experienced who can share best practices and their experience in leading virtual teams
3. Budget to travel out to meet with their team and bring them together on a regular basis. Out of sight does not mean out of mind, as just as we invest in co-located teams, investing in the development of virtual teams is also necessary
4. Necessary tech support for the team in order to connect effectively, efficiently and real-time. This might involve using a combination of Web Ex or Zoom for virtual meetings, and portals such as Slack for keeping people connected and sharing documentation/materials on a real-time basis.
5. Regular development opportunities and check ins with their peers and staff to share best practices and also to be able to enhance their skills

While we are often keen to offer more training for our leaders, in the case of virtual team leaders, consider how training can be supplemented by both mentoring and coaching (group and/or 1-1).

In today's business context many teams are moving to a mobile, distributed or remote work force. Whether it's because the talent pool is dispersed, or commute times are pressurizing employees, remote work can be as effective or more so, when virtual teams are set up for success. Today's post explores six things new virtual teams need in order to thrive. These elements include:

1. Clarity regarding reporting relationships. Who are they to report to on what issues? When is reporting required? If matrix reporting relationships exist, what do they report to whom? What issues need to be co-reported?
   
2. Clarity regarding expectations regarding working – hours, approaches, breaks, how to log and share work etc.
   
3. The technology and ability to connect with others in the team and across the organization. Working remote can be a lonely endeavor and just as social time is important for face to fae teams, so is face to face for virtual team.
4. Regular check ins and feedback. Regular check-ins and feedback may revolve around the questions:
   1. How’s it going?
   2. What’s working? What’s not?
   3. What support do you need?
   4. What are your current priorities?
   5. What resources do you need in order to get the results you need?
5. Platforms so they can see each other and connect with their team. This could include regular virtual potlucks where the tea actually connects for a meal from each of their locations. It could also include face-to-face time – quarterly or on a regular basis.
   
6. Clarity regarding how to flag issues: What issues to raise and when. Who should they be flagging issues to? When is the team leader available and how?
   

What other elements do you see as essential for new virtual teams to hit the ground running?

Enjoy the start of your week,
Jennifer

Today's quote comes from Maya Angelou who reminds us that people may forget what we say and do, but they will not forget how we make them feel. In today's business context relationships can be just as important as goals. Connections are essential for working through people. What is the culture you and your team or organization is creating? How do people feel?

Have a great Sunday,
Jennifer

Today's weekend quote comes from Albert Einstein who wrote "The only source of knowledge is experience". In today's VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) environment, we are being called on as leaders to support our teams in new and uncharted territories. Book sense is not always applicable. Experience can often help.

this weekend I hope that you will take some time to think about recent experiences you have had which have helped you to grow your leadership muscle.  Also consider what new experiential opportunities you are looking for to help you continue to grow as a leader.

Have a great Saturday,
Jennifer

As much as things change, some things do remain the same. It's FlashbackFriday and I'm reconnecting with a post from the first year of the Teams365 blog in 2014 (Teams365 #92 = Three Common Team Challenges), which actually pulls on a much older post from my BizToolkit blog. As you read through I think you'll see how relevant it still is. What do you see as some of the common challenges facing  your team, and others in your organization?

Here are three common team challenges, and a couple of questions to be in dialogue around with your team:

 
I came across an older blog post from my BizToolkit blog recently outlining three common team challenges. Although this blog post is a few years old now, it is still very relevant. Here is what I wrote about three common team challenges:

"New Leadership - In this era of change, teams encounter new leadership, sometimes more frequently than they would wish. New leaders bring the possibility of new opportunities and certainly a new history for the team. It may take 90 days for a new person to feel comfortable in their role, AND it may take a team even longer to feel comfortable with a new leader.

Ask yourself:
What are your plans to really get to know your team? Discuss expectations?
How is leadership having an impact on your team?
As a new leader what is important to recognize and acknowledge within this team? What changes do you want to make?

Matrix Management - A majority of my career existed against the backdrop of matrix management often across global boundaries. As a Program Manager and Director, it was very common for my own team to have several supervisors. How do you create a sense of team identify when operating in a matrixed environment? It is possible, and requires strong relationship building and communication skills. This team challenge is a definitely a topic for several posts. I hope that you will check out what I have said about matrix teams under our tags.

Ask yourself:
What communication channels need to be opened in your matrix environment?
What information needs to be shared?
What roles need to be clarified?

Silos - Silos are a common challenge in so many workforces today. Even as organizational change is designed to "bring down the silos" many times, new ones emerge or old ones become even more entrenched.

Ask yourself:
What is your organization doing to foster communication between different parts of the organization?
How is your team impacted by silos?"

Read the original post here.


Have a great weekend,
Jennifer

Today is Thursday and it's time for our 137th Team Building Tip...Our recent Thursday questions have focused on questions to help team members get to know each other better. If you've missed some recent Thursday team building tips, take a look at these recent questions.

​Given that teams which excel are connected and have strong relationships, today's team question gets individuals to share what their greatest success last year, or last quarter, was. Sometimes we are running so fast we don't have time to share or celebrate our successes. Take a few minutes this week having each person share one of their successes. In addition to it "feeling good" there may be some best practices which can be cultivated for future projects, as well as some natural peer mentoring partnerships which can be formed.

​What do you notice when you all connect around this question?

With best wishes,
Jennifer

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 Gallup has studied the realm of strengths for many years now and research shows that helping employees and team members leverage their strengths every day leads to significant gains. The Gallup Strengths Center mentions these as some of the benefits of strengths-based management practices in December 2016. 90% of organizations which incorporated strengths-based management practices found:

10% to 19% increase in sales

• 14% to 29% increase in profit
• 3% to 7% higher customer engagement
• 6% to 16% lower turnover (in low-turnover organizations)
• 26% to 72% lower turnover (in high-turnover organizations)
• 9% to 15% increase in engaged employees
• 22% to 59% fewer safety incidents

​Read Gallup's article here.


​So what are some practical and tactical ways team leaders can support their team members in bringing their strengths to work every day?

​#1 - Help you team understand what their strengths are - Knowing our strengths is not an intuitive process for many of us. helping team members understand what their strengths are is an important part of the process. There are several ways to explore strengths including the VIA Character Strengths Survey, and StrengthsFinder. Helping team members consider the question "When are you at your best?" also helps team members become more aware of their strengths.

​#2 - Get team members sharing more about their strengths - what they are and how they use them every day at work. This can be a great team meeting conversation touch point. Whether you make it part of a regular team meeting, or a special event, conversations like these lay the foundation for effective team building.

​#3 - pair people with different strengths - Teams which excel usually have complimentary strengths. Pair people on the team together who may have complimentary strengths.

​#4 - Pair people who have similar strengths - You may also want to pair people who have similar strengths so they can compare notes and get inspired from each other about how they leverage their strengths.

#5 - Find ways to utilize your strengths more regularly. When we are able to use our strengths more readily engagement goes up as does our satisfaction levels. If using your strengths are not part of your everyday work, have some dialogue with your boss about how you could take on special projects which would leverage your strengths, and/or explore other development opportunities. I can think back to how my participation in many special projects and committees allow myself to bring my best to work, while further building my own skill set and opening up new opportunities where over my career progression I could use my strengths more on a regular basis.

​What other ways do you see as possible for people on the team to leverage more of their strengths?

Enjoy your Wednesday,
Jennifer

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One of the main ingredients for team effectiveness continues to be clarity on team goals. Even in a context of ongoing uncertainty and change, having a shared line of sight on goals is critical for success.  This includes a focus on:
​* What are our key goals collectively and individually
* What does success look like?
​* How does each person's work/focus connect with each other?
​* What does shared success look like?
​* What feedback loops are needed to ensure we continue to move as needed?
​* What feedback loops do we need to ensure we can make changes as quickly as possible?
* What do we do when we run into challenges?
​* How much span do we have if we need to make a decision without others?
​* What else is critical to ensure that we can continue to move as needed?

​For more on goals, check out other past Teams365 blog posts.

It's Monday and the start of a new week. What is going to be your stretch this week?

​Today's teamwork quote comes from Simon Sinek - how are you going to try? Experiment? Iterate? Fail? And try again?

​Have a great start to your week,
​Jennifer