rWhatA few weeks ago a foot infection had me unable to make a trip to a conference in Arizona. With a couple of extra days on my hands I found myself heading to the library for some quiet time for research and also clearing out some of the TO-Dos which had piled up over the summer.

I found myself browsing throughout the business section and walked away with five really fun reads for fall. I wanted to share these with you as I have enjoyed reading each of them:

1. The Sweet Spot - Christine Carter. An ideal book for those of us who are continually juggling hats and tasks between our professional and personal realms. Carter introduces the science behind becoming more efficient and focused on what's important.

2. The Ideal Team Player - Patrick Lencioni - Another must-read business fable by Lencioni. A great read not only for team leaders, but team members. AS you may have noted from reading our posts here at the Teams365 blog - team members play a key role in today's leadership context.

3. Unplug and Play - 50 Original Group Games by Brad Berger. As someone who is regularly facilitating group and team initiatives, it's great to pick up a book that gives you a spark for some new ideas. This is a quick read with some really good ideas/games which could be used as energizers or warm ups in retreats or even team meetings.

4. Scaling up Excellence: Getting to More without Settling for Less -Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao - Another good read focusing on innovation and how teams can get better.

5. One I picked up at the bookstore the same weekend - Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five days by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. A fascinating read and process from Google Venture Lab's experience of working with teams, projects and start-ups. For those who facilitate, lead projects, this is a must-read into an iterative process you can apply to your own business challenges!

What books do you have on your bookshelf right now? What books are you enjoying reading?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

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

Today's post is all about assumptions.

​As Henry Winkler once wrote "Assumptions are the termites of relationships". Assumptions can be deadly as a team, and surfacing these so you can explore them and own them is critical for success. Just like termites, assumptions when not checked can seriously weaken key internal and external relationships.

​As a team identify what assumptions you are making. It may be around work, priorities, goals, clarity, relationships, communication etc. How are these assumptions grounded? How are they not?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

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

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Yesterday we explored five faux pas for virtual team leaders - mistakes that they can slip into. Today we're going to look a few more. Consider these slips which are very easy for virtual and remote leaders to make:

​1. Assuming that everyone has received and read all the pertinent communication. Sending an email today does not guarantee that it will be read and understood. As a virtual and remote team leader take extra time to communicate key messages in several ways. It might include mention in an email, a team meeting and a one on one phone call.

​2. Not bringing people together on a regular basis - Just because people are remote and separate does not mean they don't benefit from regular meetings. Consider the frequency which will work best for the team (bi-weekly, monthly) and the purpose of the team meetings. What are topics each team member can benefit from. As I've written in other posts on virtual team leadership, it can be very useful to have team members share more about their work/reality on a rotational basis.

​3. Believing that no feedback about your leadership means it's all going well. As virtual team leaders it is important to cultivate a regular environment of feedback, and two way feedback which also includes conversation about how your leadership support is working for each team member.

​4. Not being proactive in being visible with each person -  out of sight can equal out of mind. What can you do to keep visible with each person?

​As you consider your work as a virtual or remote team leader, what else do you want to keep in mind?

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

As we move into the next millenium of posts here at the Teams365 blog I wanted to continue my focus on several of the key themes that we tend to do a lot of our work around - namely virtual teams, virtual facilitation, coaching, mentoring, time management, and productivity issues.

​Today's post focuses on several faux-pas or mistakes virtual team leaders can fall into. Consider these:

​* Assuming silence from team members means everything is ok;
​* Not taking time to reach out to other stakeholders and leaders who support your virtual or remote team members. Matrix management is very common in virtual and remote leadership situations. Who else is involved in supporting your team members on a regular basis?
​* Assuming everyone is clear on the entire team's priorities. Given the broad focus with virtual teams, it is even more important to communicate core team priorities, giving each team member time to consider how their work impacts the team's priorities  (or not!)
​* Not taking time to understand the priorities, pressures and opportunities of each team member's portfolio. Taking time to really understand each person's context, and being open to listening and learning about this, is critical to success for virtual team leaders. Assumptions which may not be founded are dangerous!
​* Assuming things are not changing as quickly in each location as it is for you. One of the challenges of team work today is how rapidly everything is changing. What feedback loops have you put into place so your team members can keep you, and the rest of the team updated?
​* Not connecting new team members with others - Just as in a face-to-face team connections, relationships and networks are critical. help newer team members connect with a variety of different resources. Virtual team members may need to be more proactive in reaching out to their network. Ask them who they think they may need/want to connect with to be most effective.

​There are many other faux-pas that are possible - stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

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

Today marks the thousandth posting here at the Teams365 blog. When I started this journey almost three years ago I would not have envisioned the journey or writing this adventure would have taken me on. From exploring strengths, to high performing teams, mentoring, coaching, and virtual team leadership issues, the Teams365 blog has become a regular reading item for leaders, coaches, and professionals of all stripes.

​Many of you have enjoyed our cartoons, our articles, or Jo the new team leader,

​IT has been a pleasure creating this daily focus on all things team leadership.

​As we look to set the remaining posts for 2016 and what the blog will look like in 2017 I hope that you'll take a moment and let me know what you have enjoyed here. I would also love to capture some of your stories of how you've used the materials.  I've heard from many handfuls of team leaders who are incorporating the questions into their work and team conversations, as well as new team leaders who have read and viewed the videos we have created on new virtual team leadership.

​More to come! Thanks for joining us on this journey. Do let us know how we can support you in your own leadership, coaching, mentoring, and teamwork initiatives. Email me to set up a conversation today.

Have a great start to your week,
Jennifer

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

Today's Sunday quote looks at the topic of commitment and comes from the Scottish Himalayan Expeditions of the 1800s.

​What do you notice around your levels of commitment and what happens when you really put your stake in the ground?
​What do you notice when you have half-heartedly committed to something?

​This weekend take a moment to think about commitment in your world of work and teams.

Enjoy!

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

This week's LinkedIn Post includes 4 Tips for Virtual Leadership You Can't Go Without. As frequent visitors to the blog know the focus on exceptional virtual team leadership is a key focus in our work. This week's article explores four areas you as a virtual team leader, or virtual team member, will want to think about.

​If you enjoyed that, you may want to check out our A-Z of Virtual and Remote Team Leadership series from earlier this year, which has now been made available in a new form of an ebook. Each of the 26 a-z tips around virtual and remote team leadership is accompanied by a quotation, and some coaching questions for you to use in your own support of your team.  It's available for immediate download at our store.

​Have a great weekend,
Jennifer

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


Have a great Saturday,
Jennifer

Whether we are mentoring virtually or in person, having a number of questions in your back pocket as conversation starters can be a great resource for mentors and proteges alike. Today's post includes 20 different questions you may want to use to get your next conversation going or deepen where you are going already:

​1. Tell me about a time when you learned the most?
​2. What was a challenging leadership situation you encountered? How did you approach it? What did you learn?
​3. What advice do you have for me around the goals that I am working on?
​4. What goals are important for you right now?
​5. What do you do to maintain focus?
​6. What do you do to find balance as a leader?
​7. Who would you recommend I connect with?
8. Who provided you with the best advice as a leader?
​9. What would you say is a "must do" for leaders?
​10.  What advice do you have for someone starting out on their career?
​11. What resources help foster success in today's business context?
​12.  What resources would you recommend for someone in my position?
​13. What was the most challenging move for you in your career? What was the easiest?
​14. What's the biggest learning of your career?
​15. What legacy do you want to leave?
​16. What do you see the biggest challenges for our profession in the next 5-10 years? The biggest opportunities?
​17. What is a business issue I should be looking at more closely right now?
​18. What trends are important to take note of at the moment?
19. How do you stay current or ahead of the curve?
​20. Knowing what you know of me now, what advice or recommendations do you have?

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

Creating harmonious teams can feel like a lofty ideal for teams that are not able to work across differences. Sometimes, conflicts can go on for a significant amount of time without being resolved.

​Whether it's due to resource issues, perceived lack of compatibility around goals, priorities or personalities, protracted conflict can have serious implications. From lowered productivity to a toxic work environment, it's important to get people thinking about  "What's at stake if you don't resolve your conflict?". Could it mean a shift to a toxic team environment? Impact on your customer base? Impact on results?

​At the same token, asking "What's the cost of not resolving conflict?" is another key question to be asking.

​Conflict is an area which many professionals struggle with in today's workplace. Becoming more aware of our own conflict style and skills to work around and across differences is a core competency for all team members today.  T his is especially true for global and virtual teams where we have additional layers of differences - language, priorities, timezones etc.

​Take a look at past posts I've written on conflict and working across differences. 

​Contact me to discuss how we could support your team in becoming more proficient in working across differences, and conflict, starting with becoming more aware of your own styles, strengths and communication practices. Email us here to discuss.

​Have a great week,
Jennifer

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

Today's the day we move into a new season and whether you are moving into fall or spring it's a great day to do some reflection and planning for the season ahead.

​In today's hectic world of VUCA - an acronym which stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous - it's even more important to find these micro-moments for planning. While we may not be able to undertake a full-blown planning process, short moments to reflect on  how things have been and where you are going, individually and collectively can help with alignment, engagement, and focus.

​This summer I was working with a great group of professionals in Australia, which really brought home how on a global basis our work patterns can be varied according to seasons. As such, please feel free to adjust the season here today.

​Here are some questions to consider as we move into a new season:

​What worked well in the last quarter/over the summer or winter was....
​What didn't work so well was....
​Key accomplishments over the summer/winter were....
Key learning was....

​Looking ahead:
My priorities this summer are....

Key focus areas are....

My team's priorities this season are....
Something I want to do more of is....Less of is...
One habit I want to hone this fall/spring is....
One thing I want to stop doing is.....
I will know we have been successful at the start of winter/summer when....
I will know I have been successful at the start of winter/summer  when....
Key relationships to focus on this fall/spring are...
Key projects to focus on this fall/spring are....

Enjoy the colors of the season!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

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