This week’s Team Building Tip brings us to #209 of the series. Aligned with our shift to a focus on year-end, this week’s question to surface with the team is the question:
What needs to get completed by year end?
As you think about year end, here are 14 common year-end activities you will want to budget time and space for:

1. Reporting
2. Financials
3. Projects
4. Planning for new projects
5. Meeting with stakeholders (internal and external)
6. Communication planning for next year
7. Team development
8. Performance Reviews
9. Coaching Conversations
10. Learning for 2018
11. Learning for 2019 (individual and team level)
12. Peer Meetings
13. Meeting with our bosses
14. Meeting with other key internal partners

What else would you add to the list?
​
Enjoy!
Jennifer

As we step into November the wave of year-end activities, celebrations and push may be rearing it’s head. Today’s post is a reminder of five key things to get in your team calendar for 2019 right now. As we’ve explored here at the Teams365 blog over the last 5 years, certain skills are critical for success – teamwork skills, coaching, difficult conversations, team development and reflection time.
Five different things you may want to get into your calendars right now for the next year are:
 
Team meetings – Whether the entire team, or some of the team, attends, spending time on a regular basis to plan, and update, is key for alignment, communication and noticing what’s working and what’s not. Even if the team is remote, team meetings do need to happen on a regular basis.
For further ideas on team meetings, check out the post on 8 Questions to be asking before any team meeting.
 
Team development – Regular team development meetings are critical – not just for
 
Feedback conversations – Once a year performance reviews are being replaced in many organizations with ongoing feedback conversations. With this shift, it’s common for organizations to be experiencing:

1. A sense on the part of the leader that coaching and feedback conversations are happening more frequently than they really are. Block in time to your schedule for these key 1-1s, being clear on whether you are coaching or providing feedback.

2. Feedback and coaching are often getting blended together under the same umbrella. These are actually two separate activities and the danger of them being lumped together is that the staff member may not know what type of conversation they are part of.  Regardless off whether performance is good or not, it’s key to indicate when a performance conversation is a performance conversation. If changes are needed, this should be clear and non-negotiable.

On the other hand, coaching is voluntary initiative. The person being coached is the one “at choice” in terms of what they want to do. Coaching is about encouraging change. If a leader wants to prescribe change for the employee, coaching is not the right modality. That’s telling!

​Like other activities, it is important to get key 1-1 time and conversations into your calendar. What have you noticed about what’s worked in terms of time, availability and openness to these types of activities? Block out some time right now.

3. Mentoring – Mentoring is beneficial to us at all stages of our development. Having a variety of formal and informal mentoring relationships is key to ongoing career progression. Whether we are mentoring or being mentored, it’s common for both parties to benefit from a balanced mentoring relationship. Have you scheduled mentoring into your calendar for 2019?

4. Team development – Beyond team meetings, we all benefit from formal and informal team development opportunities. Some research, including the 2016 Culture Wizard Survey, found that only 22% of virtual and remote teams benefited from team development. What are the activities you have scheduled for 2019?  

5. Skill Development and ongoing learning – Whether we are a leader, or a team member, ongoing learning and skill development opportunities are key to keeping us equipped for the ongoing landscape of work. As I explored in Effective Virtual Conversations, the Virtual Learning Ecosystem today is vast. From attending MOOCS (Massive Online Open Courses) at Universities for Credit, to micro-learning modules, from webinars, to virtual team development, skills development and ongoing learning can take many forms.  
​
As a team have you discussed what skill development and ongoing learning each team member wants to undertake in the next year?
What doesn’t get scheduled, doesn’t get done. Be sure to block dedicated time in your calendar for these five activities during 2019.
​
Best wishes,
Jennifer

​This week’s FlashbackFriday post takes us to the territory of two past posts which explored the teamwork skills of Listening and Working Across Differences. If I had to categorize the different areas teams prioritize as wanting to get better in, or develop, it’s often in these two areas.
​
Let us take a look back at two posts I’ve written – one on Listening, and one on Working Across Differences.
 
First, here’s what I wrote in Teams365 #1103  on Listening. Read it here or below.

“Exceptional teams don't usually emerge as exceptional. They develop over time skills in different areas.

​The first area we are going to look at is Listening. In a team context listening is of utmost importance - it's listening on multiple levels. Listening to what the other team member is saying, and also listening for how it connects with your work. Listening is also hearing the emotional and requests behind the words. When teams are in conflict, there is usually a request behind each complaint that exists.

​In listening we want to listen on multiple levels:

​1. To the words that are being shared. This in fact only comprises about 8% of the message.
​2. To the tone, pace and pitch of the statement - what do you notice about the energy and impact of how the words are being spoken? This comprises more than 30% of the message.
​3. To the body language. What do you notice about the person's gestures? How they are standing? What does their body language say about how open or closed they are? Body language comprises about 55% of the message when we are in face to face settings.

​One of the challenges with team communication today is that so much is done by instant messaging or text in which we have no tone or body language to help make sense of what the words really mean. The impact of this means that words and the way they are interpreted are heavily influenced by the levels of trust and connection that exist within the team. You may be interested in checking out these two posts for boosting trust and connection in your virtual teams:

​Teams365 #258: Create Connection within Your Virtual Team. Read it here.

​Teams365 #610: Four Ways to Build trust in your team.

​There are some past posts I've written on listening, which is also a paramount skill in coaching. Take a look at these past posts related to listening:

​Teams365 #914: The Foundations of TeamWork - Listening - Read it here

​Teams365 #192: Listening And Coaching as A Leader. Read it here”
 
Working across differences is another challenging area for many teams today. The differences which exist on a team are often the greatest strength. However, how do we become more effective at working across differences? Consider what I wrote in this post – Teams365 #1110 – Working Across Differences.
 
“Today's teamwork skill in focus is the ability to work across differences. In today's world of ongoing collaboration and teamwork, this skill set is essential.

​Some tips for working across differences include:
​
​* Knowing each member's unique strengths and what they bring to the table. StrengthsFinder 2.0 is a wonderful tool to help people understand more about their unique strengths. Click here to read what I have written in the past about the benefits of leading from strengths, and supporting the team in understanding their strengths.

* Creating an environment where differences are celebrated and encouraged

​* Understanding the different styles which exist on a team. I usually use the Everything DiSC with the clients I work with. This helps to provide insights around people's natural working style, to support individuals in learning more about their "go to" approaches, especially when under stress. Understanding this also helps to adapt their style for working with others.

​What other ways do you want to support individuals on the team in working across differences?”

As you step into the weekend, what’s one concrete thing you can do to support your team in enhancing their skills in either listening or working across differences this month?

Best,
​Jennifer

It’s likely that this month your team is coming back together after months where not everyone may not have been around. September is an important time to get back to routines and habits, as well as creating new ones that may work better. Consider what you are doing (as a team, and as a professional) around these key areas:
Meetings – with meetings taking upwards of 40% of professionals times, what are the ESSENTIAL meetings to schedule this month? What can be deferred? Which ones do you need to negotiate your presence at? Where do you need to be, where you are not already? What’s going to make your meetings more effective?
Coaching Conversations – “Coaching is a conversation with intent” is what I wrote back in 2013 in my book “From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching”. What are the focused conversations you want to have an on a REGULAR basis this fall? What needs, and warrants, attention? What type of conversations are going to support different team members?
Email and Communication – What’s working with communication right now? What’s not? What can be streamlined (think email)? What are people’s preferences?
FOCUS – What are the interruptions that are pulling you off course? As you think about the last few months, what’s helped with your focus? What’s hindered? In today’s workspace focus is at a premium. What are the pockets where you can create more focus to get the important things done?
Renewal – The field of high performance sport shows that renewal is just as important as running. What are you doing to build in times for FOCUS and Renewal?
 
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 Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) 
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

In the shift to more autonomous and remote work, supporting team members with tools and processes to help them make decisions on the fly is critical. Today I am connecting with what are commonly known as Cartesian Questions, attributed to the work of Rene Descarte. 

​The Cartesian questions are useful to help people think through possible change, and decisions they are making.  This in turn can boost productivity in the long run. 

​The four Cartesian Questions are:

1. What WOULD happen if you DID make that change? OR What WILL happen if I DO this?
2. What WOULD happen if you DIDN'T make that change? or WHAt will happen if I DON'T do this 
   
3. What WOULDN'T happen if you DID make that change?
   
4. What WOULDN'T happen if you DIDN'T make that change? OR What Won't Happen if I DON'T Do this?
   

​Each one of these questions helps a person look at different angles of the decision and change process.

​The first, "What would happen if you did make the change?", allows the person to visualize or forecast themselves in being successful with the change. There is a range of research which shows the importance of visualization - from Olympic sports training to personal productivity. 

​The second question "What would happen if you didn't make that change?". This question helps us explore lost opportunity. If I did not do it, what then....

​The third question "What wouldn't happen if you DID make the change?" will be popular for those who like to mitigate risk. This gets us thinking about what we might avert.

​Finally, the fourth question "What WOULDN"T happen if you DIDN"T make that change?" or 'WHAT WON"T Happen If I DON'T Do this?" helps us gain further clarity.

​Have you used Cartesian Questions? If so, what impact have they had?

I hope that you will try them out and see how useful they are.

Best
Jennifer

​

This week's video brings to life Teams365 blog post #784 where I explored four flags which may signal that coaching is not the right approach for the conversation. in a coaching conversation, the person being coached must want to be coached. They are the one who needs to set their own goals, and take the action towards the changes they want. In this video I cover four common flags around "coachability" and suggest a couple of resources you may want to check out to learn more about coaching.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

As part of this week's #FlashbackFriday I am reaching back to a couple of older posts I wrote in 2014 on Peer Coaching. This is an area which is often overlooked in workplaces today, especially in team-based environments.. Are you equipping your team with skills in the area of peer coaching?

Here's what I wrote back in Teams365 post 199:

"Over the last couple of weeks  we’ve been focusing in on coaching skills for leaders. A reminder that we can also build coaching skills on the part of the team members we work with. In fact, peer coaching can be a powerful tool for teams, and groups, to leverage.

Core peer coaching skills to foster:

1. Asking great questions. You may want to revisit the Baker’s Dozen post earlier this week or some of the many questions we’ve posed over the past six months. Powerful coaching questions are typically short (5-6 words), are open-ended, and seek to expand understanding or support action.

As I’ve written in past posts, WHAT questions often open up the largest terrain. How questions may put people into a process mindset (HOW CAN I DO THIS) which may get people stuck. WHY questions may put people on the defensive.

2. Listening deeply - Really being present and listening to their colleagues, with out judgement and interruption

3. Knowing when to jump in with advice - Coaching is not advice giving. As peers you may have valuable insights to offer.  If you are tempted to jump in with advice, ask if this is wanted/valued.

4. Really being present - In today’s pressure pot of business, it’s invaluable to have a moment to pause and reflect and also be heard. Really being present is key for success.

5. Support for accountability - Peer pressure can be a positive thing when used as a support for accountability around goals you, yourself, have set. How can you hold each other accountable for the actions and commitments you have set for yourself?

What other peer coaching skills would be useful in equipping your team members with?"

Questions to consider:
What can you do to boost skills in the areas of listening, presence, questioning.?
What opportunities do team members have in coaching their peers?
When is coaching appropriate in your organization? When is it not the best way?

For those interested in this topic of peer coaching, I would also invite you to check out a longer article I wrote on the topic entitled "Leveraging Peer Coaching for Better Results". You can view it at Teams365 #1149.

Have a great long weekend,
Jennifer

Fostering strong team connections where team members can take turns to lead and offer their expertise to others on the team is essential in today’s VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) environment. Helping team members improve their coaching skills with each other is an important part of creating a more collaborative environment.

Several of the core skills we want to cultivate in moving to a peer coaching environment are:
Questioning – the ability to ask open ended questions which will hep the other person widen their knowledge, explore options, gain clarity or create assumptions. In boosting our questioning skills it is also important to consider Are you leaving enough time for the person to reflect and then respond?

Designing the conversation – helping peers be in dialogue around what they want to purpose and outcome of the conversation to be is important This could include asking questions such as:
What do you want as an outcome for this conversation?
What would be most helpful to you? To brainstorm? Be asked questions? Consider solutions? Other?

Listening – Being able to listen deeply is important. The ability to listen on multiple levels is key to peer coaching. Listening around
One of the biggest stretch areas for peers is learning not to give advice but lead from questioning and listening

A starting point for peers to experiment with their sills is dedicating 20 – 30 minutes a mot to peer coaching conversations. Pair team members and have them bring a current business challenge or opportunity which they want to explore. Give them one to two minutes to outline what that is to their partner and then provide 7  minutes to coach and then one minute to identify specific next action steps. Rotate to the next person.

Peer coaching can be done virtually with virtual teams as well, using breakouts or separate calls between the session. Consider how you could integrate peer coaching into your upcoming conversations and team development