Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

TEAMS365 #2598 – Remote Team Collaboration Practices

2/9/2021

This month’s focus is all about relationships and collaboration at the Teams365 blog. With current challenges we are needing to collaborate even more effectively. How can we do that effectively in the remote space? Let’s go back to basics:

Consider the essential elements for success. As I shared in Effective Virtual Conversations, key to making Collaboration work are skills including trust, candor, connection, flexibility/adaptability, self-awareness, working across differences, relationship development. Which of these skills are well developed for you? Which ones needed further attention?

Consider where your focus areas overlap – What are the areas where you can synergize? What are the areas of common ground? Which areas can each of you run with individually?

Consider the best rhythm or cadence in your meetings. Any collaboration needs to be intentional in the remote space, so when are your scheduling it? What are you doing to make your meetings more of a routine, so you can see the progression as well?

The book, Yes, And indicates that ensembles (the highest form of teamwork) is contingent on three factors:

Being in the moment
Giving and taking
Surrendering the need to be right.

What are you doing to really “show up” for your conversations?

Enjoy your conversations,
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

TEAMS365 #2594 – Flashback Friday – Collaboration Ingredients

2/5/2021

It’s February which always is the month relationships and collaboration in my world. I thought it would be great to reach back to the following 2016 blog post around Ingredients for Successful Collaboration. Here’s what I wrote in Teams365 #1052 - https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-1052-team-building-tip-110-ingredients-for-successful-collaboration

Today's 110th Team Building Tip gets you and your team thinking about what are the ingredients for successful collaboration. For many teams today the ability to collaborate effectively is a differentiator between good teams and exceptional teams. Check out what I have posted on Collaboration here at the Teams365 blog in the past.

Before we look at five ingredients for successful collaboration it is important to keep in mind "Why are we collaborating? Is collaboration needed?
Morten Hensen in his book Collaboration poses this very question.

Once we have determined that collaboration (rather than another strategy such as going it alone, or competing etc) is the best route, we want to then think about a couple factors:

1. The Relationship - What's important about the relationship with that person or persons? Why is collaboration the best strategy. What are their strengths? What are yours? How can you together create more?

2. End Result - What will success look like? What is the shared responsibility for the end result? Why is this end result important? What do you each need to do individually in order to be successful?

3. What's important - When looking at the relationship, the results and everything else, we want to be asking ourselves "What's important about this". This question helps us get "out of the muck" connecting our actions with the bigger picture. It can support enhanced motivation or engagement, as well as also confirming at times that collaboration isn't the best strategy and shouldn't be undertaken.

4. What's at stake? - Another question to be asking is "What's at stake?". If this is successful - What happens? If you are not successful - What happens?

If you are using this as your weekly team question spend time asking yourselves these four questions around the issue(s) you are to collaborate around.

Enjoy your weekend!
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

TEAMS365 #2591 – Virtual Collaboration Tools

2/2/2021

Zoom and Teams don’t have to be just a one-way passage of interaction. They can be a great location for interactivity and collaboration if you leverage the tools that are available.

Consider using the Five Engagement Levers to co-create learning and insights –

From using annotation to share ideas and build upon each other to breakouts to discuss, dream and share. Whiteboards are another key way to share ideas.
I’ll be covering different ways to use them in tomorrow’s Teams365 post. Polls help to tap into the wisdom of the group, and can be leveraged on zoom as well as on related apps like Mentimeter, and Poll Everywhere. The back chat also provides a rich learning landscape which can harvest and harness the learning rom the group.

Finally, what are you doing to activate other platforms like Miro and Mural, if you want to leverage post-its?

Boosting collaboration is key when we are working remotely and are looking to solve complex challenges. What are you doing to help connect people across the silos of your organization?

Let us know what your favorite resources are.

Enjoy your conversations,
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

TEAMS365 #2543 – Hybrid Work 101 – Making It Work

12/16/2020

Not so long from now, as a vaccine becomes a reality for many, teams, organizations and businesses are likely to be making the shift back into the office for some. With hybrid work arrangements, it’s important to take a look at the following:

Head back to the basics of teams,

Remember the Remote Work Enablers – these are all still important as we move into hybrid work arrangements, the 7 remote enablers are still critical levers for successful workplace results and relationships. The 7 Remote Work Enablers includes:

Connection
Communication
Clarity
Community
Culture
Collaboration
And Consistency

Which area, or areas, could use more attention?

Revisit your processes - What needs to change when some people are in the office, and others are still working from home, what work processes need to change?

Keep everything simple - One of the mantras of 2020 has been to “keep everything simple”. The complexity is around us when we work remotely, and when we shift to hybrid work arrangements, new layers of complexity emerge – some people working at home/others in the office; a sense that things have returned to how they “once were” when in fact we may be a different business than we were before.

Keeping things simple involves simplifying our practices and processes.

What do you need to simplify?

Related to this is to ensure that there are ways to keep things moving in a way that works for the different styles. Consider bringing things online and moving things forward in a way that works for those who remain virtual and those who are in an office space.

It’s likely to be many more months before a hybrid workplace arrangement exists. What do you want to take note of?

Enjoy!
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

TEAMS365 #2536 - Wednesday Wisdom for Remote Teams

12/9/2020

It’s Wednesday and we’re going to start going back to the basics for remote teams. Given that we are moving into the last few weeks of the month, it can be valuable to return to our look at the Remote Enablers.

If you picked up a copy of the Remote Working Whitepaper I authored earlier this year, you may be familiar with the 7 Remote Enablers:

Communication
Clarity
Collaboration
Connection
Consistency
Community
Culture

As a team, where are you on a scale of 1-10?

What’s important about each of these for you?

What are you doing to support work in all of those areas?

What are the areas which may be a little weaker or not being focused on?

What else is key to have dialogue around? Share elements of work around?

All the best,
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

TEAMS365 #2580 – Remote Pathways Podcast – Pivot to Virtual Events

10/14/2020

It’s almost been a year since we launched the Remote Pathways podcast and little did we know how 2020 would the YEAR of REMOTE!

Our most recent episode brings on special guest Kristin Winkle-Beck to talk about her experience of pivoting a high profile in person event to the virtual space. With in person events being shelved for the mid-term, what type of virtual events are you exploring?

Catch up on our conversation with Kristin a few weeks ago as part of our October 1st Community Call

You may also want to catch up on Episode 21 – Virtual Co-Working, where we explore several different types of virtual co-working experiences. You will find the podcast here and then the related Community Call here (30 minutes).

What are your most important tips about remote work and virtual events?

Enjoy the conversation!
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

TEAMS365 #2571 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 170 – Mirror Neurons

10/5/2020

Welcome back to another Monday Effective Virtual Conversation. This week’s tip is all about Mirror Neurons, neurons which have been found to “mirror” those we are in conversation with. This is also related to the concept of synchrony, which has found to create stronger bonds and cooperative behavior. Take a look at this article from Scientific American on the concept of Synchrony here.

Or for more about mirror neurons, check out Psychology Today's blog here.

As one researcher indicated, quoted by Joshua Freeman, “Mirror neurons seem to be a bridge between our thinking, feeling and actions – and between people.”

In times of social distancing, cultivating connection is critical for conversation.

As a facilitator or leader, what is it that your behaviors and conversations are activating? If we do start to “mimic” those we are in conversation with, is this an important lever we can be leaning into to support change?

This week, consider what’s going to support you as a team? What’s the environment you want to create? What are the behaviors you want mirrored? What are you surrounding yourself with?

Enjoy the conversation,
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

Join us September 17th for the one-day Stand Out Virtually! STtdio Day Masterclass - Learn more about creating exceptional virtual presentations, meetings and programs, and leave the day with your next one sketched out!

TEAMS365 #2468 - Flashback Friday - #1976 - Teamwork in Uncertainty - Synergy

10/2/2020

Many teams globally are needing to continue to redefine how they operate, and one thing is clear; collaboration is essential. Part of collaboration is learning how to synergize. How to blend skills and fuse them together. How to break things down into different packets and weave them together.

This week, I wanted to reach back to a post I originally shared in 2019 – Teamwork in Uncertainty – Synergy. Let’s take a look at what I wrote then:

When situations are complex and uncertain, it may be difficult to bring all the skills required for success. Therefore, being able to focus in on leveraging the skills that are available to you as a group or team can help maximize your skill base as well as what is available to you.

As I wrote in yesterdays’ post, knowing our strengths is important on the individual and team levels.

In synergy, we are looking at how 1+1 equals more than 2.

If you have completed some strengths-based work, some additional questions to explore as a team are:

What the core strengths we bring as a collective?
What can we harness as a team?
Where might we be over-developed?
What is missing?
Where are the gaps?
When we think about current projects what strengths would benefit them?
Who is best suited to support which project?
What else is important to note?

In situations of uncertainty, it can be important to consider risk, and also contingencies. Given that contexts may be changing rapidly leading from strengths allows us to do things quicker and with less energy expended, freeing up focus and energy for other items.

What is important to note around synergy?

All the best,
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

Join us September 17th for the one-day Stand Out Virtually! STtdio Day Masterclass - Learn more about creating exceptional virtual presentations, meetings and programs, and leave the day with your next one sketched out!

TEAMS365 #2465 – Virtual Co-Working

9/29/2020

2020 – the year of the bubble. Physical isolation has led to many to feeling more isolated than ever. Just last week we released episode 21 of the Remote Pathways podcast, where we touch on the topic of Virtual Co-Working. You can check it out on your favorite podcast player OR here.

One thing I really love as a podcaster is hosting our twice a month breakfast calls. It’s open to all and I hope you will drop in for one before the end of the year!

In the most recent Remote Pathways community call on September 17th, Michelle and I talked about the many different forms virtual co-working can take.

Here’s a quick overview of the different types we talked about. What’s interesting is that between us both of us support programming virtually all these different types of co-working. Which ones might work best for you?

Zoom Call - Working real time for short blocks of time on Zoom
Virtual Retreat - While Michelle focuses on virtual retreats for personal development in her Anchor Your Heart Retreats, I focus more on virtual business planning sessions.
Lunch and Learn - Professional development opportunities abound for many professionals and breakfasts, lunches and dinners are very common. As I share in the call, it’s not uncommon for me to speak to a group of 20 or even 200 virtually over lunch. Contact me if you are looking for a speaker for your lunch and learn.
Social Time - Quarantinis became a popular 5 pm activity in the early days of the pandemic. Today that’s morphed into many different formats. What are you doing to create more social time with colleagues and friends and family, virtually?
Design (Studio Time) - For many of the clients I work with, design or studio time is important. Getting together with others can create more focused work and impact. What are you wanting to design and how might some virtual studio time support you? Again, contact me for upcoming virtual studio days AND sprints.
Conversations - What are the conversations you want to have this month? Who have you not reached out to recently?
Get it Done! - Getting things done are critical for success. One of the favorite activities with the annual lab programs I run is the Get It Done Days. What could 4 hours of focused work get off your list?
Games/challenges - Challenges are one of my new favorite activities. I kicked off the Stand Out Virtually Challenge in August and more than a hundred joined me. I’ll be hosting my next challenge in October so stay tuned and join us at the Virtual and Remote Visionaries Hub to keep posted.
Team Time – Finally, what is the time you have earmarked for your team for team development?

What are the types of co-working experiences you want to engage with?

Be sure to check out the September 17th Breakfast Community Call for more on Virtual Co-Working – You can view the 30 minute call here.

Best,
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

Join us September 17th for the one-day Stand Out Virtually! STtdio Day Masterclass - Learn more about creating exceptional virtual presentations, meetings and programs, and leave the day with your next one sketched out!

TEAMS365 #2464 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #169: Social Learning

9/28/2020

A key part of learning can occur when we learn with others. Consider the impact of peer learning in workshops, group coaching, masterminds and other collaborative learning experiences. Collaborative social learning experiences are something many are hungry for, especially in times of social distancing. What can that look like in your work, virtually?

One of the theories that have influenced social learning was Arthur Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. This has implications for how we design and lead learning conversations.

Bandura’s Social Learning theory is grounded in four main areas:

Observation (environmental) – Observing and learning from the context in which we operate?
Retention (cognitive) – How do I remember this?
Reproduction (cognitive) – How do I reproduce this? Use this?
And motivation (both cognitive and environmental) – Noticing what is motivational and not

(https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/social-learning-theory)

What can that look like when we are working with people virtually?

Environmental – When you are working with groups, what is the context the client is operating in? What is the culture the team is creating? What adjustments need to be made?

Linked to the discussions we’ve been having at the LLDS, this might include work around “Enshrining the team agreements and values” in something that is tangible.

A focus on retention gets us to focus in on the question of “HOW DO I REMEMBER THIS?” What are you doing to create different engagement touchpoints and adjust the pace?
This might include:

Breakouts so peers can connect together
Using annotation
Having group members verbally articulate “what I’ve learned and what I am going to do”
As well as writing it down
Selecting a card/image/icon around next steps

A focus on reproduction is HOW DO I DO THIS AGAIN? It may involve peer teaching and sharing as well as thinking about application in other areas.

Finally, a focus on MOTIVATION could lead to many conversations across the group or team, with a focus on intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for the team, group and/or individual members. Consider what are the motivating factors for each person.

What is important for you to take note on?

All the best,
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

Join us September 17th for the one-day Stand Out Virtually! STtdio Day Masterclass - Learn more about creating exceptional virtual presentations, meetings and programs, and leave the day with your next one sketched out!