Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

#Teams365 #3130: End of Week Review

7/31/2022

This week we started diving into Chapter 18 of Reconnecting Workspaces (insert Amazon link), which focuses on Meetings and Presentations in the Remote Space. As I shared, I have spent a lot of time in the last 3 years in offering Virtual Facilitation Essentials program.

In case you missed it, take a look at the following:

July 30th – Month End Review of July and Planning for August

July 29th – Flashback Friday: Five Virtual Meeting Mistakes or Faux-pas

July 28 – A Deeper Dive into the Six Layers of Connection

July 27th – The Six Layers of Connection

July 26 – What are you doing to get things checked off your list?

July 25th - The Myth of Multitasking - Dopamine

Have a great weekend and I hope that you are getting to enjoy a beautiful summer day (for those in the Northern Hemisphere!). For those in the Southern Hemisphere – the days are getting longer!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

#Teams365 #3129: Month End Wrap up and Planning session

7/30/2022

We’re at the end of July – can you believe it! It’s an opportunity to do some stock taking around how the month went. I hope that you will enjoy these questions:

As you reflect on July, what have been your successes and accomplishments?
As you reflect on the summer (or winter) so far, what have been your successes and accomplishments?

What are you most proud of?
What successes this month do you want to duplicate?
What top 3 learning have you head that you want to carry forward?
What key relationships have helped you so far this year? Which ones need more attention?
What has helped your successes?
What has hindered or gotten in the way?
What does your team need to be acknowledged for?

As you look to August, consider these questions:

What are your key priorities for August?
What are the key goals?
What are the major priorities?
What will you need to place attention on?
What changes do you want to make next month?
What habits do you want to leverage
When will you check in to explore your progress, and make changes?
What resources do you want to tap into?
Who can help you be successful this month?

I hope that you do take 10-15 minutes to grab a pen, and your journal to undertake this activity. If you have a copy of PlanDoTrack the Coaching Business Builder, you will want to use the monthly planning pages to capture your ideas. Also take a look at your trackers and metrics. What do you notice?

Enjoy your reflection and planning!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

#Teams365 #3128: Flashback Friday – Five Virtual Meeting Mistakes or Faux-pas

7/29/2022

Today we are heading back to Teams365 #211, and a great post that is as relevant today as it was when I first wrote it back in 2014 – Five Virtual Meeting Mistakes. Think about which one of these mistakes you’ve seen (or even undertaken) recently

Today's post covers five faux-pas or mistakes you can make in a virtual meeting:

1. Faux-pas #1: No agreements or baseline on how to meet. Many virtual facilitators are hesitant to create a structure and agreements around how to make the meeting most effective. Standard agreements like starting and ending the meeting on time, having an agenda, with timelines help to keep the meeting on track. Circulate these before by email so everyone is aware. Notice the impact of this in your next facilitation.

2. Faux-pas #2 - No agenda. It's important to maximize the time you have together in virtual meetings. Create an agenda, with timelines and circulate these in advance of the call so the final agenda can be created and circulated. That way adjustments are made BEFORE the program.

3. Faux-pas #3 - Trying to update those who dial in late. It can be very time consuming to stop and try to update those who may be calling in late. A better practice is to let people know about what will happen if you are late. Provide all callers with a few summary points as you go.

4. Faux-pas #4. - a Loose Hand on Time. Virtual meetings can go awry when facilitators do not keep to time or ask the group where time should be spent. If facilitators are not comfortable managing the time, assign a time-keeper role to one of the other participants.

5. Faux-pas #5 - Not coming to decisions. Before moving onto new items in the agenda, make sure you have come to a decision, or have assigned responsibility with clear next steps to someone in the group. If not, you run the risk of circular meetings with no firm takeaways.

What virtual meeting mistake gets you going?
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

#Teams365 #3127: Going a bit deeper into the Six layers of Connection

7/28/2022

Yesterday I shared about the Six Layers of Connection we can activate in any virtual call. Today I thought it would be interesting to go a little deeper into what can we do to activate these layers of connection. This takes us back to an older Teams365 blog post on Activating the Six Layers of Connection from summer 2020. Let’s look at what I was writing about two years ago at this time – this was originally published as Teams365 #2584. Here’s what I wrote:

“This past year as I’ve brought the Stand Out Virtually brand and programming out into the world, many I’ve spoken with have been intrigued by the notion of the Six Layers of Connection. Consider your most recent conversations and what helped you create connection. Likely it included connection to these five layers.

These of course, are beyond the first and most important layer, connection to themselves. Helping people connect the focus of the call with their WIIFM, or what’s in it for me is paramount for a great virtual experience. What are the elements which are important for you?

Connection to the Topic – First, what’s the connection with the topic. Why is it important to them? How does the topic have relevance in their life?

Connection to You – What is the connection with you the Leader or Facilitator of the Call.

Connection to Others on the call – Without a connection to others on the call the learning process may not go as deep as it could.

Connection to the Content – What is the connection to the content you are engaging in? What are those elements which are important to you?

Connection to the Platform - What is the elements of the platform (Zoom, Teams or other) which will help you in moving the call forward?

Connection to your Context – What are you doing to connect what you are leaning and talking about to the wider context? It’s key that we spend time focusing on the wider context, and not leave learning on the screen.

What is important for you to put a focus around?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

#Teams365 #3126: The Six Layers of Connection in the Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Space

7/27/2022

Over the last few years I’ve spent a lot of time training others to hold more effective, engaging conversations in the virtual space. We’re not just talking a few hours, we’re talking thousands of hours of train-the-trainer work.

Not all virtual meetings are equal. One of the areas which we can activate more is the connectivity in meetings. A little goes a long way.

Here’s what I share in Chapter 18 of Reconnecting Workspaces:
“Over the course of a given day we may engage in multiple conversations, moving from one meeting to another. What are you doing to connect people along the way?

In the virtual, remote, and hybrid world, you can help team members navigate the Six Layers of Connection™, namely, connection to:

• You
• Others
• Their context
• The content of their meetings
• The technology
• Application of their learning beyond the screen

What are the specific activities you can undertake throughout your presentation or meeting to
connect people?”

(End of Excerpt, © 2021 Jennifer Britton, All Rights Reserved)

Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

#Teams365 #3125: What are you doing to get things done?

7/26/2022

I open up Chapter 18 of Reconnecting Workspaces with a great Seth Godin quote:

“There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them.” – Seth Godin

What are you doing in your business or work to leave time to get things done.

Meeting time has increased dramatically in recent years, sometimes to the detriment of focused time in getting things done.

One of my favorite quarterly activities is hosting a Get It Done Day for the coaches who work with me in our annual programs – The Learning Lab and Design Studio and the Coaching Biz Growth Lab.

Get it Done Days are a four-hour block of time where we work together on getting those important tasks done in our businesses. From work on clearing up financial records, to working on administrative tasks, or even getting blog posts done (guess when I am working on this post?!?), Get it Done days are an opportunity to get the smaller tasks which can carry a lot of weight in our heard.

What are you doing to ensure that you are not only working ON your business, but IN your business?

This fall I’ll be adding on a new high level coaching program which will give access to me in both lab programs as well as some individual 1-1 coaching time, and coaching supervision time, along with structured group experiences. I hope that you will consider joining me for the Amplify Momentum group. Space is limited to 10 coaches.

Join us!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

#Teams365 #3124: The Myth of Multi-tasking and Dopamine

7/25/2022

I wanted to share one of the time management tips from Chapter 17 of Reconnecting Workspaces, the myth of multi-tasking and dopamine. Here’s a quick excerpt from the book:

One of the fallacies of time management that has been debunked is that we can get more done when we multitask. In fact, it’s estimated that when we multitask we may actually reduce our productivity by 40%. When we shift from one task to another, we experience a heavier cognitive load. Energy gets expended in order to switch tasks.

In order to get more done while working across projects, think about these principles. First, batch similar tasks. Instead of switching from numbers to conversations, batch things like accounting and budgets together. Likewise, earmark blocks of time for deep work and focus. Chunk larger tasks down so you can gain some momentum.

Consider the times of the day when you are at your best, and leverage your circadian rhythms.
Sometimes time management means saying no, so notice when you are not getting things done as productively as possible.
Also consider your motivation. Dopamine plays a key role in motivation and gets released when:

• Things are unpredictable
• We are anticipating that a reward is coming
• We complete a task

The world of gaming is well known for its incorporation of this science of motivation and dopamine. Think about how your favorite game incorporates some or all of these principles.

As it relates to learning, motivation, and getting things done. Consider how you can enact the flow of dopamine.

In multitasking we may feel like we are getting more done, when in fact we may not be completing tasks. Dopamine is released when we complete a task, thereby boosting motivation.

Consider these tips that are integrated into the 21 for 21 Virtual Co-working Sprints:

• Chunk things down into smaller tasks that you can complete and check off your list.
• Create uninterrupted focus by reducing notifications and other stimuli. 21 for 21 sprinters
consistently note how surprised they are at how much they can get done without interruption.
• Reward yourself at key milestones, for example, at the end of the week.

What are you going to do to keep focused on the one most important thing right now?

Enjoy your focus,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

#Teams365 #3123: Week in Review

7/24/2022

Welcome back to another Sunday Week in Review.

This week we explored:

Teams365 #3122 – Saturday Weekly Jouraling Prompt – What do you want to FOCUS on?

Teams365 #3120 – Friday’s Flashback to Minimizing Distractions

Teams365 #3119 – Thursday’s focus on Consistency for More Momentum

Teams365 #3118 – Wednesday’s focus on Remote Pathways Season 3 Overview

Teams365 #3117 – Tuesday’s focus on Working Pulse Check

Teams365 #3116 – Monday’s focus on Five Areas for Better Time Management and Personal Productivity

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

#Teams365 #3122: Weekly Journaling Prompt: Where do I want to focus?

7/23/2022

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt asks you to consider the question “Where do I want to focus?”.

As you consider your work and your work right now, what’s important to note?

You may wish to consider the following questions as well:

Where do you want to focus your attention?
What type of focus will benefit you?
What will help with focus?

Enjoy the reflections!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

#Teams365 #3121: Flashback Friday- Minimizing Distractions

7/22/2022

Today we’re looking back at Teams365 #1470

Some initial ideas to minimize distractions may include:
Creating "focused work" periods. Whether it's 30 or 60 minutes a day, focused times, which have no immediate distraction allow us to get things done. Many studies find that our immediate productivity can be boosted by giving projects time windows and a time frame. The Pomodoro technique is one example of accelerating productivity. It posits that focused activity for 25 minutes can be followed by a 5 minute break. Read more about the Pomodoro Technique from its' creator here.

Become ruthless with meetings. Moving the needle on meetings may be a goal for many teams today. If you have not yet downloaded a copy of my bookmark for my newest book - Effective Virtual Conversations - on making virtual meetings more effective, download it here. It includes 8 Questions you will want to ask yourself before every meeting.

An initial question to ask yourself this year is "is a meeting the best way to communicate this information or is there a better way?

Closing email and other app windows at different parts of the day. While it may not always be possible to turn off email for extended periods, it is important to have blocks of time where we are able to focus solely on the task at hand. Providing small work areas for individual and/or groups to meet in for the important pieces of work are critical. It may take a few minutes to get into the flow of these projects, and scheduling in time on a regular basis to have focused work time, is useful in breaking the cycle of ongoing disruption.

Ask yourself if you need to interrupt someone before you immediately hit send on an email which could be delayed, or bundled with some of the other questions you have.

Where does your team get distracted at present? What small, but consistent changes would make a difference to the way you are working?

Stay tuned throughout the year for more productivity tips.

Enjoy your weekend!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon