Category: Back-to-the-basics

TEAMS365 #2414 - Week in Review

8/9/2020

Welcome back to another Sunday week in review. This week we’ve explored:

Enjoy the review!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

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TEAMS365 #2407 - August Focus and The Week in Review

8/2/2020

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This month here at the Teams 365 blog, we’re going to continue with our back to basics focus as well as more on what’s needed to thrive in the remote and digital space. Here at Potentials Realized, we are not only focused on working with leaders, but also helping all remote professionals thrive. Well known for our work in the area of coaching, we’ve also become really well known for helping organizations explore how remote teams can do their best work through focused virtual workshops and also team days. From large established firms to small start-ups and solopreneurs, we provide solutions for remote organizations of all kinds in the areas of talent management, leadership development and teamwork.

If you missed some of the blog posts this week, here’s where we’ve been:

Saturday’s Month End Review
Friday’s Flashback Friday on 10 Core Skills for Remote Organizations
Thursday’s - Team Building Tip: What will help you get grounded?
Wednesday’s - Stand Out Virtually
Tuesday’s Back to the Basics - The Energy of Your Remote Call
Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip - Messy Middle

Enjoy your reflection and have a great start to the week!
Jennifer

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TEAMS365 #2400 – Week in Review

7/26/2020

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It’s Sunday which means that we’re taking a look back at the week in review. Here are several elements to catch up on:

Enjoy your Sunday reflections!
Jennifer

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TEAMS365 #2396 – Back to the Basics: Virtualize and Digitize

7/22/2020

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This week’s back to the basics post takes us to an area you might not have considered “foundational” a few months ago, but may now. 2020 has been the year of this in a tremendous tsunami of professionals, businesses and organizations moving to the virtual and digital space. It’s been amazing to see different people and organizations pivot, joining us in innovation.

As many readers may know I’ve spent the bulk of my career since the early 1990s leading virtual teams and businesses. When I opened the doors of Potentials Realized (metaphorically, of course, as I’ve never had a brick and mortar location), I’ve always been fascinated to think about how I could adjust and evolve in-person events to the virtual space.

My driving force was not just a fatigue with travel, having spent most of the 1990s and early 2000s either flying around the world, or having the privilege for many years of adventure travel as part of my everyday body of work, but it also was in response to some vision loss I encountered in 2003 from an eye infection which quickly got out of control. While my vision was impacted, it’s been an ongoing driving force for my creativity and advocacy that virtual events can be just as interactive and impactful IF we incorporate great design. I’d invite you to take a look at the many, many posts here at the Teams365 blog which link into virtual conversations, or pick up a copy of two of my more recent books – The PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner for Virtual and Remote Professionals OR Effective Virtual Conversations.

Today we have the opportunity to continue to virtualize and digitize a lot of our work. Here are some of my favorite types of virtual events:

Core Elements when we think about virtualization include some of the many ideas I shared in my post yesterday – Stand Out Virtually. From clarity, to visuals, to leaving a pause, these are core elements.

Another foundational element of standing out and creating value is making sure that you engage. Engagement means involvement. It doesn’t mean just talking at people. Be sure to leave space for people to interact with others, or even interact with their own thoughts. If it’s a big call, what can people do to take a pause and note things down for themselves? Or share with another person in a breakout?

Some of the favorite virtual events I like to run are virtual business planning retreats, annual groups like the Learning Lab and Design Studio I host throughout the year and also Get it Done afternoons where we get our work done!

In times of physical distancing many are yearning for connection and collaboration. What can you do to create more connection in your next digital offering? In your next virtual conversation?

Please share with us what’s important for you to note!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

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TEAMS365 #2393 – Weekly Round-Up

7/19/2020

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It’s Sunday and a chance to catch up on this weeks’ content. Check out these posts:

Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt – What gets your in flow? Read it here.
Friday’s Flashback of the 7 Remote Enablers. Read it here.
Thursday’s Team Building Tip of “What needs to be collapsed?” Read it here.
Wednesday’s post on 5 areas to explore. Read it here.
Tuesday’s post on Back to the Basics: Feedback. Read it here.
Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip which takes us back to the Six Factors of High Performing teams. Read it here.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Jennifer

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TEAMS365 #2388 – Back to the Basics – Feedback

7/14/2020

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This week we are heading “back to the basics” again. This week’s focus is feedback. Out of so many areas teams could focus on, feedback doesn’t always make it to the top of the list. We know from research (Gottman’s work and Barbara Frederickson’s work), that teams that excel are good at both giving constructive and positive feedback.

In the work I do, it’s important to help teams build muscles in both areas.

First, constructive feedback is critical, especially if we are in a virtual and remote team and can’t see each other regularly.

When we provide constructive feedback, which helps people explore WHAT they can do differently or better, we want to make sure our feedback is.

Specific - Don’t talk in generalities. Talk about specific examples and behaviors.

Relevant – Make sure it’s relevant to the work they are doing.

Timely – Feedback four months after the fact is not useful. Be sure to provide feedback as close to the time frame as possible.

Two way – Trust is a reciprocal relationship and feedback requires trust. Are you inviting those you are talking with to provide feedback back to you?

Feedback isn’t always an easy place or things to do and we need to make sure we do provide it regularly.

Consider what else is important about feedback. In Effective Virtual Conversations, I share the REVET model of feedback – you can find it in part 3 of the book.

While constructive feedback is needed, positive feedback is also important.

Some research has found that teams which excel give 5 x positive feedback to every constructive piece.

What are you doing to provide feedback opportunities?

What are you doing as a team to give both positive and constructive feedback?

Best,
Jennifer

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TEAMS365 #2374 – Back to the Basics: Teamwork Skill: Listening

6/30/2020

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We’re heading Back to the Basics as today is Tuesday. This week’s teamwork skill in focus is listening. How are your listening skills on your team? Are you doing a good job of listening to each other?

Listening in both the in-person realm and the virtual space can feel like a bit of a lost art form sometimes. Here are a few things to consider as you think about listening:

What are you doing to signal that you are listening?
What are you listening for? Are you listening to really hear what the other person is saying or are you listening to figure out how to phrase your reply?
What are you noticing about the energy of the conversation? Are you listening for how fast they are talking? The words they are using? What’s really important to them?
What is not being said in the context of this conversation?
What are the elements which are not being talked about?
What do you notice about the tone and energy of the conversation?

As a team, it may be interesting to share what you each notice about listening. My guess is that everyone will be listening in different ways.

What’s important to note as a team around this?

And so, this wraps up our June posts. This month I brought in the new Tuesday series around going Back to the Basics. This joins the Thursday Team Building Questions and Friday’s Flashback Friday series. This month continued a focus on teamwork, a core focus of my business. I hope you got tips for both your remote and in-person teams, especially for those that are returning back to face-to-face work.

Best,
Jennifer

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Teams365 Blog

TEAMS365 #2414 - Week in Review

TEAMS365 #2407 - August Focus and The Week in Review

TEAMS365 #2400 – Week in Review

TEAMS365 #2396 – Back to the Basics: Virtualize and Digitize

TEAMS365 #2393 – Weekly Round-Up

TEAMS365 #2388 – Back to the Basics – Feedback

TEAMS365 #2374 – Back to the Basics: Teamwork Skill: Listening

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