Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

#TEAMS365 #2070 – Weekly Journaling Prompt 65

8/31/2019

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets you to consider the question, “If I won the lottery tomorrow I would…”

As we go to wrap up the month of August, it’s likely that you may have had some time away this summer. Perhaps it provided a bit of space from the daily grind, enabling you to think about “What could you do differently” or “If you were able to… you would….”.

Several years ago, I was lucky to take a course called Coaching for Compassion from Richard Boyatzis. His research has found that asking people to explore the question of what they would do if they won the lottery, can have an impact on “opening up” parts of the brain which they have called the PEA – Positive Emotional Attractor Network.

I am excited to see that he has released a new book entitled “Helping People Change” which explores this topic. Be sure to check it out.

And for now….enjoy your weekly journaling prompt.

After you complete this week’s prompt, what do you notice about what you have written?

Enjoy your reflections!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #2069 – Flashback Friday: 4 Areas to Consider as You Gear Up for Fall

8/30/2019

For this week’s Flashback Friday post, I am reaching back to a post I shared this time last year – entitled: Four Productivity Hacks to Consider as You Gear Up For Fall”. Check out the original post here.

Here’s what I wrote in Late August of last year, just after the release of Coaching Business Builder, and before the launch of PlanDoTrack for Remote Professionals.

“[I recently launched the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner and later this year will release PlanDoTrack for Remote and Virtual Professionals]. In the workbook section, I touch on a variety of productivity tools, or hacks, to consider. These are things that I have seen transform the work of business owners and leaders I have both coached and worked with over the years. As we gear up for back to work next week, I thought it would be useful to share with you four productivity hacks and frameworks I think might be useful for you. These include:

1. Schedule in time for your regular planning. Whether it’s daytime or night, the act of scheduling time to identify, note and focus on your own tasks which are upcoming can save a lot of time. An old project management adage has said that for every 10 minutes of planning you save 60 minutes of unfocused effort. Think about how having a list every day can help you navigate the changing waters of tasks and priorities, as they shift. When do you want to schedule in planning? Daily planning? Medium term planning? Long term planning?

2. Consider what time of day works well. One of the key learnings which still stands out for me almost 30 years after being an undergrad science student at McGill University, is the importance of our circadian rhythms. Research continues to show how we each have a different internal clock, helping, and hindering us to get things done at different times of the day. This concept has been revisited and revived recently with books such as Daniel Pink’s When, where he explores the concepts of larks and owls.
When are you are your peak (morning/night/another time)? What can you do to tweak your schedule to leverage those windows?

3. Build in pockets to get things done without interruptions. Interruptions are everywhere in today’s working world – from the bings of emails, to phone calls, to people dropping in. Research by Gloria Marks and her team have discovered how every interruption has an extended impact. She has found that after an interruption it can take upwards of 25 minutes to get back on task. 23 minutes and 15 minutes to be exact. Look at her research here. What can you be doing to build in pocket to get things done? Minimize interruptions?
Check out this article from Inc entitled “Six Tips to Maximize Productivity on Remote Working Days” from Inc here.

4. Finally, consider what the priorities are – yours, your bosses and/or your teams. Schedule in time for this in your calendar and get it done! Covey’s Urgent/Important Matrix constitutes to be a valuable framework to help us all take into account what is truly important and urgent. Check out a past blog post I have done on this here. What would you like to focus on this fall? Which one area would make the biggest impact on your work?

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #2068 – Team Building Tip 251

8/29/2019

This weeks’ Team Building Tip gets you to consider the question: Where could you enhance your range? As professionals, mentors, leaders, business owners and coaches, we all have the opportunity to expand our range. Whether it’s via experiences, or challenge, expanding our abilities to grown and stretch, allows us to bring more to the people we are working with.

Expanding our range may also mean “getting out of our ruts”. Whether it’s due to always doing the same thing one way OR shaking things up or doing things in reverse order, it can be useful to do things differently. This may provide a new perspective OR create new energy around projects and tasks.

Our range can also be expanded by exposure to new ideas or new possibilities.
Consider these questions:

What are the things you could do to enhance your range?
What projects need a fresh injection of something?
Where could your work benefit from a new or wider perspective?

Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #2067 – Remote Work: Setting Yourself Up for Success

8/28/2019

In yesterday’s Teams365 post (#2066) I shared several tips around organizations setting themselves up for remote work success. In today’s post, I explore it from the employee’s perspective and what employees who want to work remote can do to be successful in their role.

Have clear shared expectations with your leader and organization around what is expected in terms of work – not only hours, but output and what success looks like. When we work remote, it’s key that we know what’s expected as OUTPUT. Because we cannot be seen in terms of how we work, it’s the end product, and the way we collaborate which often boosts trust and provides security that remote work arrangements are working.
Have dedicated space to work – If you work from home (WFH) or Work From Anywhere (WFA), having what you need, in a secure way, is key to work success. While this may only mean a laptop and small bag for some, for others working remote will mean a dedicated space for files, work and focus. Make a list of all the things you might require to work effectively. And stay tuned for a post next month on the same topic
Minimize distractions – From kids coming into your home office, to trying to work on the road, distractions are a constant for remote workers. What can you do to minimize these, whether it’s changing your work hours, or work location, or adjusting HOW you work. Identify the top 3-5 distractions that could take you off course this month and work to minimize them.
Be clear with boundaries – Boundaries take many forms - from official working hours, to negotiating around when and where you are available for meetings. Given that things are not as visible in the remote space, it’s likely that those you support may not understand if you are being pulled from one task to another. The skills of negotiation and influence are key in the remote work space. What are the boundaries which are going to allow you to collaborate AND get work done?

Wishing you the best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #2066 – Setting Yourself up for Remote Work Success This Fall: 4 Things Organizations Can Do

8/27/2019

A tipping point around remote work seems to be starting to occur - with more and more organizations realizing that a key part of the talent equation is more flexible working arrangements. With large and small companies embracing remote work arrangements, we are seeing very compelling research and data around how remote work can support employee engagement and productivity. Read about what Craig Thornton of Telus shared recently about how remote work benefits both employer and employee.

This was a focus of my 2017 writing in my book Effective Virtual Conversations and continues to be a significant part of the work I am focusing on with teams and organizations today.

As someone who has supported remote workers and teams for several decades now, it’s great to see the tide turn again back to putting the flexibility in workers’ hands.

Today’s post and tomorrow’s post will explore what organizations and teams will want to do in setting themselves up for remote work success this fall.
Today’s post looks at it from the macro, organizational level. Tomorrow’s post will look at it from the employee’s perspective.

Four things organizations will want to ensure they do are:

1. Specify expectations around work output and quality – What gets measured in any work space should be the work output. Unfortunately, what often gets equated with success is how much time goes into making something happen. In the remote space, the success unit is OUTPUT.

Therefore, consider questions such as: What will success look like with work output for each employee? What are the expectations in terms of work, use of materials, security etc.

2. Provide connection with the office and other team members. Collaboration is just as important – and sometimes even more so – in the remote space. Be sure to spend time focusing in on orienting people across the organization and provide virtual events so people can get together. Invest in remote team development.How are you connecting people formally and informally?

Beyond meetings, are there virtual events people can join – lunch and learns; co-working opportunities etc?

3. Adopt the mantra that “out of sight does not mean out of mind”. One of the pitfalls to the transition to a remote work environment is that people can feel that they are not connected. Out of sight does not mean out of mind. Look at how you communicate and value connection and teamwork. Think about how communication and meetings can become more intentional and focused. Think about how you are bringing people together and connecting them with the communication which is needed.

4. Provide the tools and resources to make this happen – The transition to working remote arrangements takes time. It also requires a mind shift in many instances. What tools and resources are needed? What changes in the way you work is required?

For more tips on working remote be sure to check out my 2017 book Effective Virtual Conversations. Part 1 focuses on the ecosystem of the virtual space where conversations take place (from education to coaching to teams), Part 2 explores HOW you can work more effectively (meetings, program design etc), and Part 3 focuses on virtual leadership, and virtual teams in the remote space.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #2065 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #108

8/26/2019

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip takes us into the landscape of coaching. Coaching is one of the many varied conversations which are taking place in the virtual space today.

Coaching has been leveraged by organizations and individuals for several decades now. Similar to sports coaching, business, executive and team coaching, supports individuals and systems to get their best work achieved. A coach is there to help a person/group/team tap into their knowledge, and create the conditions for success.

Whether it’s a business owner looking to accelerate their business, a leader to help their team be successful, or someone in career transition looking to land their next best role, coaching is a collaborative conversation, supporting the client to set goals, take action, expand their awareness and benefit from enhanced accountability. Together, these areas fuse to create the conditions to more focused and informed actions.

Let’s look at each one in turn. Coaching is grounded in helping the person or group/team being coached, get clearer on the results they want. As philosophers have written for millennium, without a clear destination it’s hard to get there. Work around vision as well as goal setting, and resourcing is foundational to the coaching processes.

Coaching is also about supporting informed action and also enhanced awareness. Many times, the things that help and hinder us are “below the waterline”. As I share in my recent workbook planner “PlanDoTrack”, it’s the habits, assumptions, values and beliefs which shape our behaviors and then results. Shein first published on this decades ago in his work from Harvard.
Think about it. As a team, if you have a belief that you will succeed with a task and have your leaders blessing to do what you need to do to make that happen, you are more likely to experiment, take risks, innovate, share information etc. If there is a belief that only one person will succeed, it’s likely that information won’t be shared, competition will ensue, and potentially you won’t be successful.

In coaching, we may spend a bulk of time “Going below the waterline” to explore, and make explicit these assumptions, beliefs, values which are driving and shaping decisions, behaviors and results.

Coaching is also beneficial due to the accountability between the coach and client. In today’s disrupted world, enhanced accountability can mean that we do keep our eyes on what’s important, rather than feeling whiplashed from bouncing from one marker to another. Peer accountability can play a key role when the coaching conversation is expanded to many, as in group and team coaching.

Where might coaching benefit your organization or your self? What results are you looking to achieve in the next 12 – 18 months?

Set up a call to discuss how we can support your organization with coaching services, or training of your leaders in coaching. Reach out with an email to me at [email protected].

I look forward to hearing from you,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #2064 – Weekly Round Up

8/25/2019

This week we’ve explored a number of different areas including:

Enjoy checking out this week’s posts and take note of what’s important for you to explore further this week, or next month?

Have a great Sunday!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #2063 – Weekly Journaling Prompt 64

8/24/2019

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets you to make a list of ten things you are grateful for. For many us, we are starting to wind down the months of summer and a slower pace of doing things. The last few months may have been focused on travel or learning or new connections. What are the things you are grateful for?

Taking time to regularly reflect on what you are grateful for many boost happiness and satisfaction. Seligman (2005) found that making a list of three things people were grateful for had an impact on happiness scores. Research by Emmons and McCullough also have found impact from people expressing gratitude.

Check out this article from Harvard Health which goes into more details about these studies and the impact on gratitude. You can read it here.

Enjoy your reflection today on this question and consider what you might do to reflect on this question more regularly.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #2062 – Flashback Friday: Productivity Tips to Amp Up Your Meetings

8/23/2019

This weeks’ Flashback Friday brings us back the January Productivity Tips. Series. During the first 19 days of the year I covered 19 different areas for boosting your productivity. Given that many of us will be stepping into what’s commonly known as “the second new year” or the back to school time of year, it might be useful to take a look at the 19 Productivity Tips for 2019.

In addition to posting these as blog posts, I also created two related resources:

An eBook which you can pick up over at the Teams365 store.
And a short on-demand video-based course which you can follow here.

As a reminder, here’s what I wrote in the 9th of the 19 tips around amping up your meetings.

Tip #9 – 8 Essential Meeting Questions

"The majority of meetings should be discussions that lead to decisions." -Patrick Lencioni

We can spend upwards of 40% of our time in meetings. Spending time to get focused on what make meetings work well can mean the difference between things getting done and decisions made, versus a sense that things were not working well.

In Effective Virtual Conversations, I shared 8 Essential Meeting Questions to ask at the start or end of any meeting. These include:
1.      What’s the purpose?
2.      What takeaways do we want?
3.      Who needs to be on the call?
4.      What preparation is needed for us to be most effective in the meeting?
5.      What pace to do we want in order to keep it engaging?
6.      What will help keep the focus?
7. What’s absolutely essential? (What’s essential, versus what will be nice to cover? If you can’t cover it, where can people go for more information around topics?)
8.      What follow up might be required?
(Reference: Jennifer Britton, Effective Virtual Conversations, pp 304, 2017)

Meetings don’t have to be an ineffective use of time. In fact, a verbal meeting or call (face to face, or one held virtually) can replace a series of less effective emails.

Activity:
Consider the upcoming meetings you have. Work through the 8 Essential Meeting Questions. Note any changes you want to make.
·        What is working well about the meetings you hold?
·        Who do you need to be meeting more frequently with?
·        What meetings need to be retooled?
·        What follow-up would be more effective?
·        Are you always clear on next steps?
·        What meetings do you need to say NO to?

Track how much time you are spending in meetings on a regular basis. What changes would you like to make?

Conversation Sparkers:
·        What changes do you want to make to your upcoming meeting?
·        What changes do you want to ask your meeting participants to make?
·        What is your commitment to making meetings more effective this year?

Enjoy your conversations!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #2061 - Team Building Tip 250

8/22/2019

This week’s Weekly Team Building Tip brings us to the question of “What could use more percolation time?”

Like coffee, creative, new and innovative ideas sometimes need more time to percolate and simmer before they are ready, or complete.

As you consider your work right now ask yourself:

What could benefit from you stepping away for a short while?
What needs more time to simmer?
What needs more time before it is ready?
What might be pre-mature in your thinking or actions right now?

Consider what is going to benefit from a little more time BEFORE it’s ready!

It might be a creative project, a final report, or even a new idea you want to float by your boss.

Enjoy the reflection and space created by a bit more percolation!
Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.