Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

#teams365 #3097 Collaboration In Focus – Revisiting Week 40

6/28/2022

This week we’re reaching back to a blog series I did over at the Remote Pathways blog back in 2020. Collaboration was the week 40 topic, and is as relevant today (and probably more so) than it was then. As you read though this, what do you notice?
Focus Question: Where can 1 + 1 = more than 2?

Description
Virtual collaboration is an art form, and a requirement of exceptional work in the remote space. “No person is an island”. It is critical that we spend time focusing on what is important for those we work with.

Collaboration can be more complex in the remote space as we don’t always see the context our colleagues are operating within. With this in mind, it can be even more important to be intentional in designing our relationships This is a topic I explore in Chapter 12 of Effective Virtual Conversations.

In Effective Virtual Conversations, I also explore some of the core skills at the heart of great collaboration. Take a minute and think about how these skills are underpinning great collaboration for you.

At the heart of great collaboration is clarity around:
Why are we collaborating? Collaboration is not always the best strategy.

What’s our common stake? What are all parties committed to?

What do we each bring to the table?
Activity
#1 – Where are you collaborating?
Map out the different collaboration partners you currently have? What makes them work?

#2 – Skills for Collaboration:
What skills do you lean into? What could use attention? Some of the more common skills needed for collaboration, which I outline in Chapter 12 of Effective Virtual Conversations, is listed below.

Complete the chart below:
For more on this topic check out: Chapter 12 – Effective Virtual Conversations and multiple sections in PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder.

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

TEAMS365 #2622 - Collaboration in the Virtual Space

3/5/2021

I thought it might be interesting to see what I was writing on this time last year. Here’s the post from March 10 2020 – Collaboration in the Virtual Space:

In my book, Effective Virtual Conversations, I share seven skills needed to make collaboration work well. These are particularly important in the remote and virtual space where collaborations need to be more intentional and are often characterized by touch points which are much more infrequent.

The seven areas we want to be building skills and capacity around are:

Trust
Candor
Connection
Flexibility/Adaptability
Self-Awareness
Working Across Differences
Relationship Development

(Page 385 – Effective Virtual Conversations, Britton, 2017)

What do all of these skills look like in your virtual work?

If you were to give each one of them a rating, what would they look like?

Having introduced these categories to hundreds in speaking engagements over the last few years, I often will poll the audiences I speak with about which ones are most important. By far, the one which most frequently gets raised is TRUST.

What does building trust look like in your virtual relationships?

It may include:

Being present – and not looking like you are multi-tasking
Being reliable – following through with promises made to send something out
Participating in chat and/or annotation and/or verbally
Showing up on camera (even if that’s uncomfortable)
Asking questions out of curiosity

Consider recent calls you were on. What does building trust look like in your context?

For more on other topics check out:

Differences When Working Remote
Listen into Five Ways to Strengthen Team Relationships here

Remember that things are magnified in the remote space.
If you are collaborating remotely, consider how some of the 7 Enablers of Great Remote Work fit in, including:

Communication
Clarity
Consistency

What’s going to support better conversations and results in the remote space?

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 #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!