Many virtual calls lack the visual cues of face-to-face discussions. As such, our language, or word choice, can have even greater impact in the virtual world. 
​It is important to take the time to create more cues to clarify your message and also set the context. Some of the things we an do in virtual calls to make sure our message is  understood, and we are understanding others are:

• ​Make sure to use streaming services where you can. The added benefit of "seeing" the other person, helps to clarify tone, meaning and alignment of message.
• ​Check for understanding - check back to make sure you do understand what the message is.
• Create visual anchor points where possible - handouts, diagrams help to anchor the conversation.
  
• Check the assumptions you are making. Unspoken assumptions can be even more profound in virtual calls. Be sure to check the assumptions you are making.

Questions to consider:
​What visual anchor points can you create to communicate key messages?
​How, and when, will you check for understanding?
What assumptions are you making?

Have a great start to your week,
Jennifer


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Feedback is one area which both experienced and new team leaders struggle with. I thought it would be appropriate to bring to life our recent Flashback Friday post on 4 Essentials for Feedback given the importance of this area. You can read the original post here, or take a minute to view this one minute video. 

​What are your next steps around feedback? What feedback are you looking to receive?

Enjoy your weekend,
​Jennifer

This weekend's quote comes from Alan Alda. He wrote "You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.".

​Much of what we do as leaders involves growth, and stretch zones. As Alda writes part of this involves moving out into those stretch areas or wilderness areas. 

​Where are you growing as a leader? What are your current stretch zones?

​Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Jennifer

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

​Connect with us to be the first to know more about launch events around my newest book - Effective Virtual Conversations - coming out later this summer.

As a former team leader myself, I know how it can be to rack your brains for something different to do with your team during team meetings or other conversations. One of our posts earlier this week was about Team Development (Check out Teams365 #1303) and the different stages teams go through. 

​I thought that it would be interesting to reach back to #Teams365 #407, a post I did which included brief instructions to four different activities you might undertake with your team. Here it is:
For this post, I wanted to share four quick ones you can include in your weekly meetings. These are all short activities which may take 10 minutes or less, and can be useful in strengthening team relationships.

Activity #1: The Coin Share. This one comes from a colleague of mine Jason, who shared it recently at the Facilitation Skills Intensive . Using loose change in your pocket, give each participant one piece. Ask them to share one key story about the year that the coin is from. It's a pretty interesting activity helping each of us learn a little more about each other, but also encouraging us to think about what happened to us that day.

Activity #2 - Question of the week. We are now well into Week 20 of our Weekly Team Building Questions. Print them off and use them as a conversation starter. Ive also created some BETA card decks with the questions for those that might be interested in having a hard copy yourself. If you are interested in trying out one of the five sets of fifty cards with your team, and would be willing to share your story and photos about their use, please email me. No cost to you other than your feedback!

Activity #3 - Photo Cards - Pictures can create a new doorway into meaning. For this activity you will want to have a series of photos of your own  or you may want to look into purchasing a photo deck of your own like our Conversation Sparker Card deck. A colleague did this recently using some calendars from a dollar store and they worked quite well. Have about 2 cards for each team member, so if you have 7 members have approximately 15 cards. Lay them out, and have team members select the card which responds to your questions. You might ask them to select the photo which represents:
1. What they bring to the team
2. Their vision of where they see the team going
3. The values the team stands for
4. The strengths (or challenges) the team is facing
5. What the priority should be
Cards a  great way to connect with more complicated issues, giving a "picture" to the situation. It can also be less threatneing for people to raise issues around. I go into more than six ways to use photo cards over at my site - ConversationSparker.com.

Activity #4: What's important to us - A - Z
As a quick activity the A-Z of what's important to us gets the team to quickly collect items/ or name items from a-z which are important to you. for example, a team might indicate that action, bountiful, cheerfulness, diversity and effort are key to them. They can draw these out, or collect items which represent these.  After doing the activity, post them or take a photo of the item to remind you of the adjectives which are important.

What other team activities do you think you could incorporate into your meetings?

​Have a great weekend,
​Jennifer

Regardless of if your team is face-to-face, virtual or a project team, all teams benefits from focused time for their development. Team development is one of the major focus areas of our work. From leading offsite retreats, to day-long DiSC sessions, to ongoing team coaching engagements, teams of all stripes can benefit from a focus on relationships and the results they are moving towards.

Every Thursday I focus on  a different team development question, short questions which you can incorporate into your own team meetings. When you go to think about team development it is important for us to consider where the team is at.

Teams move through a series of developmental stages, and need different things at different times. Often referred to as Tuckman’s model, I have seen teams of all stripes move through the forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning stages. In brief, here’s what the stages are:
Forming – Teams which are forming are looking for safety and connection, as well as clarity as to why they exist. Team leaders should be fostering conversation, and helping people get to know each other and their roles, as well as working to create/co-create expectations and why the team exists.
Storming -the  honeymoon phase ends as the team moves into the storming stage. This stage can be characterized by overt, or subtle conflict, as the team starts to figure out who they are, why they exist, and what the different roles are. Conflict can be a sign that the team is gelling, and it’s important for the team to be comfortable in working across differences.
Norming – In norming teams start running together, figuring out the different roles which are going to best serve the purposes the team exists. As the team gets clearer here they can start to really soar. Further support around the goals and roles can be useful.
Performing – Finally, the team moves to the performing stage and is moving forward. Regular communication and iteration around what’s working and what isn’t helps the team flourish. Focus on what’s needed in terms of resourcing (time, IT, people, other) also helps teams continue to thrive in the performing stage. Be aware of changes which might move the team backwards to some of the other stages.
Adjourning – Most teams come to a close (at least in one iteration) at some stage. In the adjourning stage is it important to give the team time to focus on celebration, and sharing their learning (what worked, what didn’t) as well as identifying things to carry forward into the work, and future teams.
 
For more on team development, check out our weekly Thursday Team Development Tips. You can find many of them here.

​Enjoy your Wednesday,
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 leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

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.

Have a great start to your week,
Jennifer

Welcome back to a new week! Here's our fifth Effective Virtual Conversation tip. On page 100 of my upcoming book, Effective Virtual Conversations, I write "As virtual facilitators we may become chameleon-like over time, as we look to adapt and adjust our styles and approaches for different contexts".

Hopefully, as we gain experience with different groups and different platforms we learn from each experience. Being able to be fluid and adaptable with our approaches is critical for this work, in order to meet the needs of diverse groups and teams.

This week consider these questions:
1. How would you describe your natural facilitation/leadership styles?
2. How would your groups/teams/clients describe your natural style?
3. What are your biases? (i.e. what's your natural style even if it's not in service to the group you are working with?)
4. What style might be more in service to the people you are working with?
5.  What is a stretch point for you?
6. What does chameleon-like mean for you?
7. When have you been fluid in your approaches? What impact has it had?

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Today we mark the 1300th daily blog post here at the Teams365 blog. If this is the first time you've visited, welcome. For those that have been following for a while, I hope that you will raise a cheer with me today.
​What started as an experiment on January 1st 2014 to see what daily blogging would be like, and what impact it would have, has evolved into an important writing practice for me, as well as a business calling card, and relationship builder. While I was an early adopter blogger, starting back in 2005 with other blogs, I have much more intentional in my writing and planning here at the Teams365 blog. I continue to hear from team leaders, coaches and other facilitators, how  useful the blog posts and content is, which is what I was aiming for!

​Over the last 1299 posts I have covered a range of topics of interest to leaders and their teams - coaching, goal setting, global teams, mentoring, team building tips, and of course, virtual facilitation - the topic of my upcoming book, Effective Virtual Conversations. You will notice that Mondays focus on Effective Virtual Conversation tips, Thursdays on Team Building tips and this year we've been revisiting past posts through #FridayFlashback. Weekend posts are usually geared to quotes and for the next while short videos with conversation sparkers.

​I've fit writing in around busy client work, surgery and vacation time, thankful for the ability to auto-schedule, and be able to write in intensive bursts. 

​I'm planning to continue with daily posts for a little bit longer and am thankful that you have taken some time out of your busy schedule to join us here. As always, I look forward to your feedback and comments  - here or at our Potentials Realized Facebook page.

​If you have suggestions of potential blog focus areas for leadership and teamwork issues, please contact me. Also, if there is a way we can support you and your teams in your results and conversations, please let me know.

​Cheers to more!
Jennifer

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Each Thursday over the last couple of years I have focused on a team building tip. We are now at more than 145 of them. The intention is to give team leaders and their teams a question which they can integrate into their own conversations - at team meetings, or in one-on-ones.

​One of the things I continue to get positive feedback on in the programs that I run is our use of media, and the inclusion of videos and audios to supplement lectures, readings and/or PowerPoint. It's led me to start revisiting some of our Teams365 posts and converting them into short 1-2 minute videos. I hope that you will find these useful and may consider bringing them into your own team conversations. They are intended as a virtual conversation sparker!

​Here's the first one of our series, bringing to life last week's Teams365 #145 tip on relationships. Enjoy and I would welcome your feedback and comments on how you use the video in your own team conversations. I plan to convert 3-4 of these a month and will include them here, as well as at our Teams365 Twitter site, and Potentials Realized Facebook page.