Teams365 Blog - Potentials Realized

#teams365 #1781 – Team Building Tip 210 – What’s another way of looking at that?

11/15/2018

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you as a team in dialogue around the question – "What’s another way of looking at that?”

As teams and professionals it’s easy to get into our own rut of planning and action. Expanding our vantage point and incorporating different perspectives allows us a new vantage point. We may see things that are different, or were not visible before.

As I wrote last week around Focus, doing work in today’s context of ongoing change, requires us to challenge assumptions, and explore different perspectives. As a team how often are you taking time to ask yourself about the assumptions and embedded ways of working. Are they still current and relevant? Could they use an update?

Enjoy your conversation this week!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1758: Teamwork Skill - Change Management

10/23/2018

This month we have been exploring teamwork skills, taking a look at a range of them. One skillset which is critical for remote teams is that of change management. In supporting team members through ongoing change, it can be very stressful. It may be useful as a team, and as individuals, to explore questions such as:

What is your natural tendency to approach change?
How quickly do you approach change?
What do you find problematic, or challenging, as it relates to change?

We often think it’s enough to think about and speak about the changes required. In fact, what is important is also to consider what changes are required as you move forward and sustain the changes over time. This might involve new rewards, new habits and new accountability structures. What are the things that will support the changes you are going through as a team? What are the requirements you have to evolve?

For more on the topic of change management check out these past Teams365 posts.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1736 - Teamwork skills in focus – 9 Essential Skills

10/2/2018

It’s the start of a new month, and time for a new focus here at the Teams365 blog. This month we are going to focus on teamwork skills. Whether you work as an intact team, a project team or a remote team, teamwork skills are cross-cutting and help professionals at all stages of their careers do better work.
The context of teamwork has changed. In the past, teams were together for longer windows, with much more stability. Today most teams experience ongoing change and team composition. Researcher Amy Edmonston terms this “Teaming” and writes, “actively building and developing teams even as a project is in process, while realizing that a team's composition may change at any given moment.” (Teaming, Edmonston 2013)
She flags four behaviors as essential in the teaming context:

Speaking Up
Collaboration
Experimentation
Reflection

What are you doing to foster these areas?
The teamwork skills we are going to explore this month are:

Trust
Collaboration
Communication
Working Across Differences
Relationship Management
Conflict Management
Emotional Intelligence
Change Management
Influence

For each of the areas we’ll explore what the skill is about, why it’s important. What some of the differences are in the different types of teams today. I’ll also point you back to some of the many posts I’ve already written on these topics.
Looking forward to starting this journey with you this month.

Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1692 – Videos in Review

8/19/2018

It’s Sunday and time to shift our reading attention to video. This week I am pleased to take us back to a few of the past videos I have created around getting back to work which brings to life blog post #613: Creating Healthy Routines.

Here's another short video to watch with a pen or table in hand- Teams365 #1363:Fall planning and reflection. View it here.

Last year's #Flashback Friday which showcased several back to work routines to keep an eye on. Read Teams365 #1357 here.

What's important for you to notice as you move forward right now?

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1633 – Thursday June 21 – TBT 187 – Change and Teams

6/21/2018

Today’s Team building tip #187 gets you to ask yourselves the question “What’s so hard about ongoing change, as a team?”

Everyone reacts to change in different ways, with some team members embracing it, and other fighting against it. Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset work can provide a useful framework for us to consider what is easy for us to be open to change, and what is challenging.

If you have hear Dweck talk about her work on mindset, here is a video.

Enjoy your conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Looking to spark more conversation with your team? Consider the Conversation Sparker(TM) Cards
Set up a conversation about how we can support you and your team best
(416)996-8326

#TEams365 #1585: FlashbackFriday - Change and Emotional Intelligence

5/4/2018

One of the themes we are exploring is change and uncertainty. A core skill set to help us navigate complexity and change is Emotional Intelligence. I've done a number of different posts in the last few years, focusing on EI and thought it would be useful to reach back to Teams365 post #504 around Change and EI. Here's what I wrote:

"As we continue our journey through the Emotional Intelligence sub-competencies of relationship management, change catalyst is another key skill in leadership today. Today the norm for most leaders is working in ever changing contexts, and needing to adapt "on the fly".

According to Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, leaders high in this competency "are able to recognize the need for change, challenge the status quot, and champion the new order. They can be strong advocates for the change even int he face of opposition, making the argument for it compellingly. They also find practical barriers to change".

As you think about your skills, where do they reside in this area of being a change catalyst?

Part of being a change catalyst is also recognizing how people go through change. Roger's change model identified six different stages or ways people may approach the change process:. You may have members on your team who are innovators (those that are eager to create change), early adopters (those who embrace the change early on), early majority (those who get on the bus relatively early), late majority (those who slowly adapt/get on the bus with change) and the laggards (those who resist change). Being aware of who will be advocates for change on the team is just as important as recognizing those who might need more support, conversation/attention throughout any change process.

What do you recognize in yourself about how you respond to, and initiate, change?"

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

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations - Conference calls? Webinars? Virtual coaching work? Pick up a copy of my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, at Amazon.

#Teams365 #1584: Team Building Tip #181: This week's team question....

5/3/2018

Today's Team Building Tip #181 gets you to think about What is helping you navigate complexity? What are the things are going to help you grounded and focused as a team, even if things are ever-changing?

While this question was set a couple of months ago, when I laid out the first half of 2018 team building questions, it is fitting for this month's focus on change, and navigating complexity.

I hope that you will take a look at the various posts I'll be covering this month on change, complexity and collaboration. It requires trust, flexibility and open-mindedness.

Enjoy your conversation as a team,
Jennifer

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

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations - Conference calls? Webinars? Virtual coaching work? Pick up a copy of my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, at Amazon.

#Teams365 #1583: in Focus: Experimentation

5/2/2018

As I mentioned yesterday, the rapid changes being required of us in today's business context are calling for a need for skills in multiple areas. From enhanced listening skills, to cultivating curiosity, from experimentation to open-mindedness, from problem solving to prioritization, these are skills we want to cultivate in all of our team members.

Today's post explores the topic of adopting an "experimental" approach. Josh Kaufman explains the Experimental Mindset as:
""When improving yourself or your business, it’s often not clear what approach will create the intended result. That’s where the Experimental Mindset comes in handy.
Constant experimentation is the only way you can identify what will actually produce the result you desire. Often, the best (or only) way to learn things is to jump in and try. At the beginning, you may be over your head, but there’s no faster way to learn what works." Link to his site - Your Personal MBA here.

In my work with teams the experimental mindset can look like:

Putting shorter time windows on projects, with quicker checkpoints to see what is working, and what is not
Moving projects out of design phase and into beta more quickly so that pilots can be rolled out and/or early adopters can take the program for a test drive\
Looking at testing a couple of different strategies at the same time, with the notion that they may not be as fully developed as they have been in the past. Early results may inform what gets further developed and/or followed

Where would adopting more of an experimental mindset be useful in your work right now?
Where might you try out two different strategies at once?
What is your time window for experimentation and review?
What's it going to take to try out this way of working?

Have a great Wednesday,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Looking to spark more conversation with your team? Consider the Conversation Sparker(TM) Cards
Set up a conversation about how we can support you and your team best
(416)996-8326

#Teams365 #1582: May's Focus: Virtual Teams, Change and Complexity

5/1/2018

We're stepping into a new month and May's focus is going to return to virtual conversations and teamwork. This continues to be a key focus in my work and writing. It's very connected to key themes facing so many teams right now in terms of leading through complexity, change and challenge.

Over the month of May we'll be exploring the topics of change and challenge, against the backdrop of all things virtual. Whether it's virtual teams we are supporting or virtualizing our relationships and working with others many miles away - or just across the city - we're going to explore several of the key skills and themes we need to leverage. Be sure to also check out Monday posts which focus on Effective Virtual Conversations.
Over the course of the month we're going to be exploring skills required such as Listening, Curiosity, Experimentation and Open-mindedness. Problem solving and Prioritization also round out the set.

The first skill I wanted to look at today is the skill set of experimentation and rapid iteration which is being embraced by so many organizations and teams today. With the rapid pace of change, projects that used to take years, may now be scaled down to months, given the speed at which things are changing and becoming obsolete. Working in micro-windows vs. macro intiatives are becoming more common place. The role of "Specializing Generalist" is being sought out regularly within some teams. While the role may vary it is often defined as someone who brings expertise but can also work across functions or in different roles as a generalist would. Many virtual team members have already developed these capabilities, in part due to their autonomy and need to often rely on themselves, or a much smaller team, to get things done.

What are you noticing about change, complexity and how this is impacting your teams and work right now? How is the conversation changing? What is shifting?

I hope that you will enjoy our conversations this month,
Jennifer

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

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations - Conference calls? Webinars? Virtual coaching work? Pick up a copy of my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, at Amazon.

#Teams365 #1577: Team Building tip - Rapid Change

4/26/2018

Change is everywhere in many industries and our ability to stay grounded in order to make decisions is key. Today's Thursday team building question get you to think about the question "What is going to help you be successful within a context of rapid change"?

Teams explore different approaches to rapid change including:
Embracing ongoing learning - in a context of rapid change ongoing learning becomes critical. Figuring out what "good enough" looks like rather than mastery may be an important mindset shift if this is possible in your work.

Becoming more curious - When change is ongoing the context may be changing and what we "know to be true" may also be changing. Being curious and open become key skills to foster.

Shortening cycles - Think about what needs to happen in terms of communication and feedback cycles as things speed up. What about work cycles? If you are now seeing change every quarter, rather than once a year, what implications does that have for how you share information, provide feedback and change processes.

Simplify - Process is key in rapid change, AND older ways of working and processes may be cumbersome. Is it time to simplify different processes? Is it time to simplify other components. What does simplify mean for you as a team?

Empower - Empowering your team and providing them with the responsibility and authority to do certain tasks is likely to be critical. Everyone's eyes and talents may be required. Helping the team bring their best skills and use them is also key to success.

Create peer sharing opportunities- Going hand in hand with empowerment is making sure that you build in opportunities for peer sharing. Whether it is formal job shadowing and mentoring or peer partners who meet informally throughout the month, part of rapid change often means a reduction of the silos and barriers which can exist in teams and in our work.

What changes are needed for you as a team in becoming more fluid in light of rapid change?

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Looking to spark more conversation with your team? Consider the Conversation Sparker(TM) Cards
Set up a conversation about how we can support you and your team best
(416)996-8326