Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

Teams365 #2690 - 10 Things To Be Happy About

5/12/2021

As I’ve shared here at the blog, one of my favorite books as a teenager was “Things to Be Happy About…”. It was always in my bag with camp materials and inspired my Things to Be Happy About when I travelled. Creating a resource which makes you smile can be powerful in moment of transition or change.

Here are 15 random items which make me smile and are in my journal about things to be happy about. What is in yours?

Spending time with loved ones.

A full moon over the horizon.

The smell of cut grass.

The first warm day of spring when you can leave the house without a coat.

Finding out that the deadline you thought was tomorrow, is actually next week.

Finding a parking spot close to a building on a rainy or snowy day.

When a stranger opens a door.

The neighbor’s snow fort, decorated with food coloring.

Fresh cut flowers.

Getting the last slice of your favorite pizza.

The smell of bread in the oven.

The smell of your favorite perfume.

Room service or delivery.

Receiving a surprise in an order you made.

Finding a new trail to explore.

Spending the day at the beach.

What are fifteen things on your list?

Enjoy the reflection,
Jennifer

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

Teams365 #2689 - Quotes for Motivation

5/11/2021

Motivation is a key topic or professionals at all stages of their career. What are you motivated by? What gets in the way of you feeling motivated?

Here are ten quotes to get you thinking about motivation:

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

“Your passion is waiting for your courage to catch up.” – Isabelle Lafleche

“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” – Lou Holtz

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it.

"The time will pass anyway.” – Earl Nightingale

“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller

“Go the extra mile. It’s never crowded there.” – Dr. Wayne D. Dyer

“Never regret anything that made you smile.” – Mark Twain

“You don’t need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“The adventure of life is to learn. The purpose of life is to grow. The nature of life is to change. The challenge of life is to overcome. The essence of life is to care.
The opportunity of like is to serve. The secret of life is to dare. The spice of life is to befriend. The beauty of life is to give.” – William Arthur Ward

“Begin anywhere.” – John Cage

What is your favorite motivational quote? Let us know by sharing it here in the comments!

Enjoy your week,
Jennifer

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

Teams365 #2688 - Remote Pathways Podcast – 5 More

5/10/2021

In keeping with my Monday focus I thought it would be interesting to spotlight three more episodes of the Remote Pathways podcast. Every two weeks we explore the people, pathways and places to remote work.

Here are links to three recent episodes I think you might be interested with:

Clark Jacobs – CEO of FlexDesk – Freedom to Work Anywhere – Episode 33 – Listen in here: www.remotepathways.com/podcast/ep33-freedom-to-work-from-anywhere-guest-clark-jacobs-co-founder-ceo-of-flexdesk

Top 10 Tools to Get Things Done in the Virtual, Remote and Hybrid World –
Episode 32 – Listen in here: www.remotepathways.com/podcast/ep32-top-10-tools-to-get-things-done-in-the-virtual-remote-hybrid-world

The Power of Designing and Communicating with Community – Episode 30 – Listen in Here: www.remotepathways.com/podcast/ep30-the-power-of-collaborating-and-designing-with-community

What’s been your favorite podcast episode? What other topics do you want us to explore? Let me know by dropping an email to info@potentialsrealized.com

Enjoy the start of your week,
Jennifer

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

Teams365 #2687 - Week in Review

5/9/2021

Monday Reflection back on several past Remote Pathways podcasts

Tuesday’s 21 Feedback Quotes

Wednesday’s Focus on Hybrid Meetings

Thursday’s TBT 290 – Time for a Post: Stock Taking

Friday’s Flashback Friday with a focus on …. Feedback!

Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt

Sunday’s Week in Review

Enjoy your conversation!
Jennifer

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

Teams365 #2686 - Weekly Journaling Prompt 150: What are you thankful for….

5/8/2021

Welcome to another weekly journaling prompt!

This weekend I’m thinking a lot about what I am thankful for. As a mom, I’ve had a lot more joy (and adventures) than I would have imagined. As we move through Mother’s Day weekend. I hope that you will join me in thinking about what you are thankful for, for you as a mom, or with your own mom.

Enjoy the reflection!
Jennifer

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

Teams365 #2685 - Flashback Friday – May 2020: Feedback in the Virtual and Remote Space

5/7/2021

A key issue facing many teams today is the lack of feedback. After a year of working remotely, many times feedback conversations aren’t happening. One shift that has been positive in ensuring that feedback happens has been the focus to more focus on objectives and outcome-based work.

What are you noticing about feedback in your setting?

Here’s what I shared at the end of the Foundations of Feedback series I hosted a few years ago. It created the foundation for a significant amount of coaching work I then undertook with leaders in organizations. It’s that focus which is so important right now, whether your organization is returning to the workplace or not.

Here’s what I wrote in Teams365 1617: https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-1617-shifting-to-a-culture-of-feedback-and-performance-conversations

As I wrote a few years ago, many organizations are making the move to a culture of more frequent feedback, shifting from the once-a-year formalized process.

In making this shift it’s critical to make sure that:

· Feedback is regular, and specific;
· People understand when they are having a performance conversation rather than just a check-in;
Feedback is provided two ways – to the leader and from the leader;
All staff are equipped with skills and experience in enhanced communication (listening, questioning);
· Performance and coaching conversations are documented in different ways;
· Feedback is followed up on;

What are the key issues for you as an organization in shifting your culture around feedback and performance? What’s working, and what’s not?

There are a wide variety of feedback models which exist – from the ever popular, SBI model from Center for Creative Leadership, to the Sandwich Technique, to Fierce Conversations and Difficult Conversations. The recent book - Thanks for the Feedback - by Sheila Heen and Douglas Stone is another great read.

Enjoy your reflections!
Jennifer

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

Teams365 #2684 - Team Building Tip 290 – Time for a Post: Stock Taking

5/6/2021

“We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey
This week’s Team Building Tip is an invitation to take a pause and do some stocktaking. If you did not complete your month end planning, take a moment to head back to the May 1st post and do that.
As a team, it can be valuable to build in regular micro-pause points to look at what you’ve done, and what the learning has been. Like Dewey’s quote reminds us, it is in the reflection that learning really happens.

What are you noticing about your shifts as a team?

Enjoy your reflections!
Jennifer

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

Teams365 #2683 - Making Hybrid Meetings Work

5/5/2021

One thing that became very clear during the pandemic was how effective meetings were, or not. Prior to the pandemic it was estimated that a leader would spend upwards of 40% of their time in meetings. During the pandemic this number increased exponentially, with many manager’s days feeling like an endless blur of one zoom meeting after another.

As things move into a hybrid workspace, what are the factors to keep in mind in terms of making hybrid meetings work?

First, consider what hybrid meetings are going to look like? Are you going to revert back to having multiple people huddled around in a meeting room, with those calling in remotely a second thought, OR are you going to reinvent what meetings can look like in a hybrid world? There are several options:

Moving everyone into a virtual space so that each person has equal voice and presence
Reducing live meetings in favor of asynchronous ones
Placing an emphasis on moving to regular meetings in person on a regular basis (where feasible)

Key to making meetings and communication in general work, is making it consistent and ensuring that we can be as inclusive in bringing all voices into the room as much as possible.

Second, what is the purpose of the meeting? Clarity around your meeting purpose is essential so you know who needs to be at the table, and what pre-work needs to be completed.
Be sure to check out the 8 Essential Virtual Meeting Questions as you prepare.

Third, what’s going to make the hybrid meeting effective for everyone. Intentionality is key with meetings in the virtual space. It is also important to ensure that you explore meetings from the vantage point of both in-person and virtual.

Finally, use all the tools available in both the virtual and in-person world to activate people. This can include one or all of the Five Engagement Levers – Breakouts, Polls, Whiteboards, Annotation, Chat. What is going to boost your conversation?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

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

Teams365 #2682 - In Focus: Powerful Questions for any one on one

5/4/2021

One of the most important conversations you can have in today’s workspace – whether it’s hybrid, in-person or remote – is a one-on-one conversation with your team member or even peer. As someone who works each week with groups and teams, I know how important it is for everyone to become better at listening and coaching.

In the last few weeks, I have been working with a range of different types of groups and teams. As they get more familiar with the coaching process, they are working on focusing on becoming better coaches themselves. Here are 12 of the questions we’ve been working on including: What do you want to focus on today?

What’s the most important opportunity or challenge facing you right now?

What is important about that?
Where are you now with that issue?
Where do you want to be?
What will success look like?
What are the enablers (things that can help you get there?)
What’s getting in the way?
What’s another way of looking at that?
What mindset do you need in order to make the change?
What milestones are there?
What else is important to factor?
What will you do to get feedback?

What are your favorite questions?

Share them with us using the comments below!
Jennifer

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

Teams365 #2681 - Six Layers of Connection on the Remote Pathways Podcast

5/3/2021

Whether you are working remotely, in-person or hybrid, connecting in with your co-workers is critical. And it is not just about connecting in with co-workers it’s also about sharing other things like “what’s happening outside of your screen” or what’s going in on in your context.

Our most recent Remote Pathways podcast episode #35 is entitled Six Layers of Connection. These six layers are something I have been talking about a lot in the last year, as each one can benefit from a focus as you go to build our relationships and results.

Check out the Six Layers of Connection Remote Pathways podcast, https://www.remotepathways.com/podcast/ep35-six-layers-of-connection) and also check it out in my upcoming book – Reconnecting Workspaces. It’s now listed on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0993791557)

Enjoy the podcast and the upcoming book – available in mid-June!
Jennifer

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