Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

#Teams365 #233: Team Leader Trust Builder #3:

8/21/2014

Teams365 #233: Team Leader Trust Builder #3:
Jennifer Britton, All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2014.

The third trust builder team leaders can focus on is fairness.

Consider these questions:
How equally are you treating your team members?
Are there any visible favorites?
How are you perceived in terms of fairness?
Are you rewarding poor performers and punishing star performers by giving them the work to do, instead of taking time in working with and being in conversation with poor performers?

Over the next week notice how fairness is perceived in the team. High performing teams are able to talk across perceived differences.

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Join us for an upcoming Teams365 Team Leader Coaching Group
OR The next cohort of the Team365 Leader Foundations program which starts September 11
(416)996-8326

Schedule a 15 minute phone conversation about our fall programs here

TEams365 #232: Team Leader Trust Builder 2 - Walk YoUr Talk

8/20/2014

The second team leader trust builder is Walking Your Talk.
One of the most important things we have as a leader is our reputation. Our reputation, good or bad, often precedes us in our work. Today’s Trust Builder is about Walking Our Talk.

How are you walking your talk?

If we encourage others to be on time, are we being on time ourselves. As leaders we are often held under a microscope, especially when trust levels are low. Every small lack of alignment with what we say gets magnified. As trust levels build, and we consistently walk our talk, when we don’t we are hopefully nudged back into place by team members.

This week consider how you are practicing what you preach.

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Join us for an upcoming Teams365 Team Leader Coaching Group
OR The next cohort of the Team365 Leader Foundations program which starts September 11
(416)996-8326

Schedule a 15 minute phone conversation about our fall programs here

#Teams365 #231: Team Leader Trust Builder #1: Leverage Strengths

8/19/2014

Today marks the start of a two-week series on team leader behaviors which build trust. One of the most critical issues which can face team leaders is trust, or low trust. Without trust, a team leaders work is impacted. This two week series will explore nine behaviors (as illustrated in our Teams365 Team Leader Cartoon #10) for team leaders to boost.

Team Leader Trust Builder #1 : Leverage People's Strengths
As we have explored in other posts, we know that team productivity gets increased when their leaders focus on strengths.

A significant part of the work I do as a team coach is around strengths, and team leaders often prefer to bring in an external facilitator such as myself to spark the conversation so they can participate in the conversation themselves. Drawing from a variety of strengths-based assessments, it is useful for team members to know their strengths both individually and collectively.

As a team leader consider:
What are the strengths that exist on the team? Individually? Collectively?
How does each person get to utilize their strengths in their work?
Where is it not being capitalized?
What would happen to motivation if people were able to use their strengths more often?

I would be happy to have a conversation with you about how you could work more around strengths with your team or the Teams365 series of programs - schedule a 15 minute call with me via Calendly - I will call you.

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Join us for our fall Teams365 Team Leader Coaching Group
OR the next Team365 Leader Foundations Cohort which starts September 11 with Stepping Into Your Team Leadership Foundations
(416)996-8326

#TEamS365 #230: Teams365 Cartoon #10 - Team Leader Behaviors that Build Trust

8/18/2014

#Teams365 #230 - Teams365 Cartoon #10 - Team Leader Behaviors That Build Trust
Copyright Jennifer Britton, 2014. All Rights Reserved

Today I am pleased to share our 10th cartoon in the Teams365 series, this one again from Ravensfeller. You can view our past Teams365 illustrations here.

Our focus last week was on organizational and team culture. Team leaders play a key role in culture. Strong cultures usually have high trust. Today's cartoon illustrates nine of the trust building behaviors team leaders can exhibit. Teams who excel have high levels of trust, and building that trust is one of the most challenging issues, and one of the biggest questions, for new team leaders. My posts this week and next will take a look at each one of these team leader behaviors in turn.

As you look at the illustrations, which behaviors do you undertake consistently? Which ones might need some attention? Does your perception match others? This may be an area you want to ask for feedback around.

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Join us for an upcoming Teams365 Team Leader Coaching Group on Friday September12
OR The start of the next Team365 Leader Foundations Cohort on September 11
(416)996-8326

#Teams365 #229: Team Leadership and WE

8/17/2014

As we wrap up the week a great quote from Peter Drucker on We and Team Leadership. How do you stack up?

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Join us for an upcoming Teams365 Team Leader Coaching Group
OR The next Team365 Leader Foundations Cohort starting September 11
(416)996-8326

#Teams365 #228: Essential Leadership Read# 2 - Jim Collins Good To Great

8/16/2014

One of the seminal business books for the last decade, Good to Great, outlines the characteristics that make organizations excel. Jim Collins and his researchers studied companies which outperformed in Good to Great, and followed later with a followups including Great by Choice (with Morten Hansen - author of Collaboration) and Built to Last.

I would assert that Good to Great has influenced business owners and leaders significantly over the last decade and a half with concepts such as the Hedgehog Principle which explores and pinpoints leverage points in business, and the metaphor of “getting the right people on the right bus in the right seat”.

Not a month goes by without me recommending Good to Great to Team Leaders.

You can access a number of videos and audios from Jim Collins at his website here.

As you read the book consider:
What concepts could you immediately apply in your work?
What concepts/ideas do you want to share with your team?
What difference could it make in your work?

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Join us for an upcoming Teams365 Team Leader Coaching Group
OR The next cohort of the Team365 Leader Foundations program which starts September 11
(416)996-8326

#Teams365 #227: Check It Off Tip #2

8/15/2014

It's Friday which means it is time for the Friday Check it Off tip - quick tips and reminders to support you in getting things done.

Today's reminder is to do the MOST IMPORTANT THINGS FIRST, even those you don't want to tackle. If combined with last week's tip of closing the door, what would it be like to tacklet your most pressing issue at the start of the day to get it checked off?

What's your most important issue today?

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Join us in September for the Teams365 Team Leader Coaching Group
OR the launch of the Team365 Leader Foundations program - 8 months of learning
(416)996-8326

Announcing the Fall 2014 Cohort of the Team Leader Foundations Program

8/14/2014

I am pleased to announce the launch of the Fall 2014 Cohort of the Teams365 Team Leader Foundations program. The Foundations program currently consists of 8 training modules. the program is geared for new and aspiring team leaders, as well as experienced team leaders who may not have participated in formal leadership training before. There are 8 modules in total and together they create a solid foundation for team leadership.

Practical and action oriented and resource rich, each program runs over a series of 4-6 weeks, and meets for one hour call or webinar. These are training modules. If you are interested in coaching, please check out our 4 and 6 month Coaching Groups for new and experienced team leaders. Class size is capped at 10-12 leaders per cohort or session. While you don't need to take all 8 in the series, we hope that there will be a core moving through each cohort.

Each Teams Team Leader Foundations(TM) module addresses a core skill area for team leaders including:
- Stepping Into Your Leadership Style
- Team Leadership Foundations
- Time Management
- Emotional Intelligence
- Coaching Skills for Leaders
- Conflict Management
- Facilitation Skills Foundations
- Relationship Management

Our first module will launch in September with the six week Stepping Into Your Leadership Style. It will provide you with a look at what you bring to as a team leadership. I'll also be incorporating the Everything DiSC so you receive information about your unique style. Calls will be held on Thursdays from 12 - 1 pm Eastern/New York running from September 11 to October 16.

Click here to read more about the first module in the program - Stepping Into Your Leadership and register here for module 1.

Click here for our Fall 2014 dates scheduled for the first four modules.

The Teams365 Team Leader Foundations(TM) program is being launched in the fall and winter of 2015 with introductory pricing on the 8 modules at $3500 US per student. Modules can also be taken separately. It can also be offered internally at your organization should you wish to roll it out to your own team leaders.

I hope that you will join us this fall for one of the Foundation programs!

You can schedule a 15 minute phone conversation with me here, email me or call me at (416)996-8326 with questions you might have about the program.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Join us for an upcoming Teams365 Team Leader Coaching Group
(416)996-8326

#TEams365 #226: Team Culture: Values, Practices and Habits

8/14/2014

Three key areas which make up any organizational, or team culture, are your values, practices and habits. Our values form the foundation of any team. Whether explicit or not they shape what we value, prioritize and how we make decisions. As we have explored in other posts this year, consider these questions:

What are the values of your team?

How do these align with the organization?
As you consider recent decisions and priorities, what values did those demonstrate?

Values are often under the waterline, invisible and not necessarily seen. High performing teams are well aware of their values and lead and act from these making them as visible as possible. Par of my work as a leadership and team coach is to help teams identify what their core values are, and make these explicit in their decisions, actions and communications.

What is above the waterline is our practices as a team. This may be a Thursday evening post-work hangout, acknowledging others in a particular way, undertaking a debrief/post-mortem after any project, or some other actions which are done consistently, and specifically by you as a team. Our practices are an important part of how we operate and communicate as a team. They are often a visible part of team culture. Once again high performing teams are intentional with the practices they undertake as a team, and are aware with how these connect to their values. In some respects, practices are values in action.

Consider:

What are the current practices of the team?
What is getting in the way?

Hand in hand with practices are habits. In fact you might ask what comes first, a practice which done repeatedly becomes a habit. It is these ongoing habits which really kick teams into high performance. Whether it is the habit of closing the door for half an hour or making sure a team huddle happens each Friday afternoon to review the week and prep for the next one, habits shape who we are.

Consider

What are the habits your of your team?
How are these supporting excellence and high performance?
How do these connect to your values and what you prioritize?
What habits are getting the way?

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Join us for an upcoming Teams365 Team Leader Coaching Group
OR The next cohort of the Team365 Leader Foundations program which starts September 11
(416)996-8326

Teams365 #225: Your Team Culture

8/13/2014

This week's focus is on organizational culture - what it is and how team leaders shape organizational culture. In continuing with expanding our understanding of organizational culture, I wanted to share with you a link to a great article by Michael Watkins entitled "What is organizational culture?" which appeared in the Harvard Business Review blog. In the article are a number of various definitions which show the range of thinking on organizational culture. You can view it here.

I also enjoyed reading Lisa Hanenberg's White Paper from 2009 on How Leaders Can Optimize Organizational Culture. You can download it here. Lisa's writing is always terrific and she has a number of great resources for team leaders including several of her books published by ASTD Press

As team leaders given our daily interactions with the front line, we play a key role in shaping the organizational culture through our practices, processes and fostering or challenging of beliefs. The values our teams develop can also align in support of the organizational culture.

Questions to consider:

If you were to describe the culture of your team in six words, what would those be?
What are the activities, habits and practices that shape your team culture?
How does your team culture align with the organizational culture? Where is it aligned? Where are there gaps?

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching Skills Training for Leaders
Supporting Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Join us for an upcoming Teams365 Team Leader Coaching Group
OR the next Team365 Leader Foundations Cohort which starts September 11 with Stepping Into Your Team Leadership Foundations
(416)996-8326