Earlier this month in the September 2020 Remote Pathways podcast community call, I shared the 8 Layers of Remote Work. These are nuanced areas which can be important to learn more about as it relates to your colleagues, stakeholders and work.

In yesterday’s Teams365 blog post, I covered the first four of eight layers of remote work – Digital, Decisions, Delegation and Distractions.

Today’s post is going to explore the final four layers – Design, Dialogue, Do and Depth.

Let’s look at each one of these in turn:

Design – Design skills are increasingly needed by remote professionals of all kinds, given that the way we present our information and ideas may be even more visual and graphical. Likewise, in the remote space it may be likely that you are designing more meetings and programming and presentations. We will be looking at the elements of exceptional virtual design tomorrow, September 17, at the one-day Stand Out Virtually Studio Day Masterclass. Learn more and join us here. 

Dialogue – Talking at people is not communication. With collaboration being an essential, and overlooked, skillset in the remote space, dialogue is critical for success and partnering. The word Dialogue comes from the ancient Greek world of dialogus – which means two way. Dialogue is a two-way conversation. With many remote professionals feeling like they are constantly being communicated to, but not being talked with, fostering a culture of dialogue is critical. This may mean earmarking certain calls for discussion as well as focusing more on using breakouts and other key strategic areas.

Do – The 7th layer of remote work is simple. DO. Get things done. There’s not a lot of time or space for procrastination in the remote space. If you create and lead programs, what can you do to build in more time for people to get things DONE during your time together? Will they pay you to do things for them?

Depth – The final layer is Depth.  As broad as the remote working space is, it is important to have depth in terms of your relationships, levels of trust, connection and clarity around your goals and results. Spending time going deep around agreements, processes, and how you are going to operate is also important.

Be sure to check out the September 1st Remote Pathways Podcast Community Call – you can find it here.

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Happy Saturday! This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt is “Collaboration Means”. As you get back to a fall routine (sort of…), what does collaboration mean for you? In fact, in the virtual space, collaboration is even more important and can be trickier. As I share in Chapter 12 of Effective Virtual Conversations,

“Knowing when to collaborate and when not to is an art form.”

• What does collaboration mean for you?
• Where will collaboration lead to a result where 1 + 1 does equal more than 2?
• What skill sets are important to add on to what you can provide?
• Where is partnering (another type of collaboration) key in your work?

Take a look at these past blog posts for more information:

• Audio – Five Ingredients for more Successful Collaboration 
• Six Barriers to Collaboration – Teams365 1165

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

A few months ago, I did a series of posts on “What’s Different When Working Remotely”. There was a series of several of them, which I thought would be interesting to revisit as remote working has been happening for many for many months and may be extended into the future for many more months. My invitation is for you to do a pulse check in your next meeting around these items:

1. Autonomy
2. Skills
3. Connections with others
4. Matrix relationships
5. Focus
6. Motivation
7. Inner drive
8. Relationship building
9. Visibility
10. Boundaries

 
Here’s what I wrote in Teams365 #2242 - 

Yesterday’s Teams365 post explored four key differences when working remote – Autonomy, Skills, Connections with others and the Matrix.

In today’s post, I wanted to share four additional differences when working remote – focus, motivation, and inner drive, to relationship building and visibility.

In general, many things get magnified in the remote space – from clarity, or lack of clarity, around communication, processes, roles, goals; to what we actually see on the screen. This means that we may need to be more intentional in sharing information, checking assumptions and confirming that our messages were understood in the way they were communicated.

Motivation - When working remotely, a lot of us need to rely on our own inner motivation and self-direction to get things done. For those who like to work autonomously, it’s great! Being clear on what we need to excel as a team member, leader or business owner is key.

As I wrote yesterday, “No person is an island” and we do want to make sure we are clear on our strengths, and style preferences. It’s also key to note that when we over leverage our strengths, that they can become a blind spot. In the remote space this may mean that they get over magnified. So, if I have a love of learning I may keep learning, rather than getting work done. What are the strengths you are able to leverage? What’s important about your work? What drives you? What do you need to be aware of in case it gets over magnified?

For more on Motivation and Remote Work, check out some of the episodes of the Remote Pathways Podcast. 

You’ll also want to check out Week 6 of the 52 Weeks of Remote Work.

What is important for you about motivation in the remote space?

Context - One of the major challenges in the remote space is that we see each other usually only through the small window of the screen. As I write in Effective Virtual Conversations, a great activity to undertake is “what’s outside your screen”? What can we do to share more about the context of our work? That might include:

• Sharing a little more about your desk
• Sharing what’s outside your window
• Talking about what is a priority in your work
• Sharing more about the way work is done, or preferences are in your location (especially if you are a virtual team)

What context pieces are important to share?

Visibility and proactivity - Visibility and proactivity is key in the remote space. Some remote workers feel that their careers get stuck because they aren’t visible like those in an office space. I would invite a perspective that visibility is less about where you are, but how you approach work. What are you doing to be visible, to bring people together, to connect with peers and other stakeholders, to be proactive in connecting on a regular basis with your boss and team?

Regular co-working sessions may provide an opportunity for learning more and connecting with your peers, as well as hearing what you are working on. These sessions may run for an hour, half day or more. 

What is important for you to explore around visibility? What do you need to be more proactive about?

Focus - For many remote workers, productivity can actually increase when moving to work in the remote space. A study by Stanford Business School, headed by Professor Nicholas Bloom found a 13% increase in productivity by those who WFH (Work From Home). You will find a copy of the original publication here at Prof. Bloom’s site.
 
For another interesting article on the same topic check out Scott Mautz’s Inc article.

Even though there are differences with remote work, it’s still important to focus in on the basics of high performance. Be sure to check out the posts I have written on the Six Factors of High Performing Teams. How are we being clear about the ROLES, GOALS, PRACTICES of our work, in addition to connecting in with our vision and mandate, and being clear bout what success will look like?

Tomorrow, we’ll explore another remote working ingredient for success – managing boundaries! (LINK to 2243)
Where are you as a team as it relates to clarity around these ten areas? BE sure to do a pulse check and focus in those areas that need attention.
 
July in Review
Thanks for Joining us this month! This month’s posts have continued to take us through the landscape of remote work , and have included these posts:

Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tips – Messy Middle, Remote Skill: Working Across Differences; Appreciations; Six Factors

My Tuesday Back to Basics Posts around Feedback, Listening and also the Energy of Virtual Calls

Wednesday’s focusing on Stand Out Remotely; Digitize and Virtualize; (LINNK) and Remote Team Builders (LINK)

Thursday’s Team Building Tips – with questions to spark you around getting grounded as well as what you need to say no to, and what needs to be collapsed.
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Historically July has been a month of taking some time to pause and renew. What are you focusing on right now? What’s the support you need to keep doing your best work, and having your best conversations?

Best,
Jennifer

This week’s Weekly Team Building Tip gets you to think about the question: “Where do you want to get more grounded?”. 2020 has been characterized by uncertainty, massive changes and a lot of disruption. What can be really important in these moments is being grounded. Like a piece of bamboo or a flexible pole, while the outward edges may need to flex, our grounding can help keep us anchored.

Getting grounded may involve several different practices. It might entail:

• Focusing on our routines.
• Taking time each day to reflect on what’s working, and what’s not.
• Reflecting on what things to keep and what things to adjust or iterate. As a team this may involve: Regular conversations about priorities, collaboration and also what to say no to.
• Practices like meditation, or mindfulness techniques where you become more aware of regular activities.
• When working remotely or as a distributed team, focusing in on your practices.

What are the things you want to do to get more grounded? To stay grounded?

Please share with us your favorite resources in the comments below!

Best,
Jennifer

Back in early March, before most countries went into lockdown, I released a Remote Working Whitepaper. It’s been downloaded hundreds of times. Make sure to download your copy.
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I thought it would be useful for today’s FlashbackFriday post to explore the different remote work enablers or what I call the 7Cs in my writing. Check out this past post here. 

In the Remote Working Whitepaper, I released earlier this year, I summarized seven of the areas I consistently see as things that help, or enable, exceptional performance in the remote space. As a former remote leader myself for many years, I knew that these things were always areas to check in around first, to see if perhaps, one or more needed attention, clarity or modification.

Whether your team is now working remote all the time, or for just this period of time, it can be useful to focus in on these 7 areas which I like to term Remote Enablers – The 7 Cs. Here’s an excerpt from the Whitepaper which you can pick up a copy HERE.
 
What’s different in the remote space?

Copyright 2020 – Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized. All Rights Reserved

Remote teams operate across distance, time and culture. This usually requires enhanced skills in communication, boundaries, clarifying assumptions and being able to navigate the diverse preferences, cultures and ways of working of a global team. What is not clear or visible can become a challenge or pitfall for a remote team.

What ingredients enable exceptional remote work? I like to call these the 7 Cs which anchor exceptional remote work – Communication, Clarity, Connection, Culture, Consistency, Community, and Collaboration.

Communication is likely to take place along different channels, and at different times of day. The communication realm of the remote space may include phone, text, instant messaging, email, video streaming calls, and messaging across multiple apps like Slack and Trello.

The challenge with communication is that is often has no context - we don’t see “what’s beyond the screen”. Many times, we don’t have the visual cues that tend to make up the majority of regular communication messages.

On top of this, communication can vary across both geographic culture (some cultures are more direct than others), and industry culture.

Finally, we have our own individual preferences to communication. As a Gen Xer, I may prefer to have communication bundled and emailed to me, rather than up in the Cloud. Taking time to understand each team member’s focus and preferences is critical to remote work. Conflict may emerge for a variety of factors including different styles, lack of clarity, misunderstanding or interpreting instructions differently.

Connection with others helps remote work and includes connection to others inside and outside the team and understanding their work. Remote team members are likely to be part of matrix relationships, where they report to, and are part of, multiple teams. Matrix relationships offer another layer of complexity and opportunity in this work. Connection also means understanding how our work fits into the bigger picture, as well as fits into the bigger context of others work. Given the isolated nature of remote work, proactively focusing on connection is important. Take a look at the Remote Working Myths for more on this.

What can you do to create more connection across the team? Beyond the team?
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Clarity is one of the most important enablers. This involves clarity of focus, clarity of priorities, clarity of expectations, clarity of roles and clarity of responsibilities. In the remote space, we need to make things EXPLICIT, and be regularly exploring our ASSUMPTIONS.

What clarity is needed for team members to do their best work?

Team culture becomes even more pronounced or diluted in the remote space, so a focus on this can be really important, especially when people are part of multiple teams. Culture is “how we do things here”.

Culture encompasses both visible (behaviors, language, artifact) and invisible manifestations (norms, values, basic assumptions or beliefs).” – Rosinski, 2003, p 20.

In shaping a culture there are the things we can see and help to define us (our taglines or the way we start meetings) and there are things that we don’t see. Team culture can remain very diffuse and not clear in the remote space. Taking efforts to clarify and intentionally shape what team culture is, and how we do things, becomes paramount for remote team performance.

Consistency is also key when we are dispersed or operating in different locations. It’s consistency of messaging, practices, and the way we do things. For example, every Monday we meet at 7:30 am ET, regardless of how many people can attend live.

Community – Remote Workers are hungry for connection and community. What are you doing to build a sense of connection and identity across your team or organization?  Community can range from boosting communication across internal social platforms to interactive virtual lunch and learns.

Collaboration – Collaboration is an essential skill set when we work remote. As you’ll see in the remote work myth of “no person is an island”, we still need to place an emphasis on relationships. Who do you need to collaborate with in order to get things done? What can you do to collaborate better? Where are those collaboration windows and requirements?

Connection – Beyond community, how are we connected? What are the process pieces which help us do our best work? What type of communication exists? What helps bring people together on a regular basis both formally, and informally? Across a team and between teams?

End of Excerpt – Remote Working Whitepaper: When You Need to Get Up to Remote Working Speed Quickly. Copyright 2020, Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized
 
Pick up a copy of the Remote Working Whitepaper for yourself here.

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

Remote teamwork is here to stay for a little longer in many organizations. While team development may not be the first thing on everyone’s mind, it’s likely that teams will require some attention in the upcoming months. Research continues to indicate that teams of all kinds need both a focus on results as well as relationships.

Several months ago, in early March, before the pandemic hit North America, I released a Remote Working Whitepaper. In it, I explored 7 Different types of Remote Enablers, things that help us do better work in the remote space. While many have become experts in remote work in recent months, this has been the landscape I’ve led teams, programs and businesses in for almost 30 years.

A few weeks ago, I launched a new on-demand program entitled “Remote Team Builders” which covers a couple of activities in eight different areas which remote teams can benefit from. The areas I cover in the nine-part program are:

Module 1 – Remote Team Enablers
What helps remote teams thrive? I dig more deeply into what I call the 7 Cs or the Remote Team Enablers.

Module 2 – Openers for Remote Team Building – Two Activities
We remember the start and end of things. Having a strong start to a virtual meeting is key, signalling that this is not just going to be “Any call”…

Module 3 – Creating Connection in Remote Teams
What can you do to quickly connect remote teams? Check out these two activities and think about others you might have at your disposal.

Module 4 – Working with Goals – 2 Frameworks
Goals are key to alignment in the remote space. Listen and watch the short video I share about creating SMART-E Goals.

Module 5 – Strengths and Remote Teams – 3 Activities
What are the strengths your team members bring to the table? How are you harnessing these? What blind spots might they be creating?
Don’t know what yours are and want to learn more? Contact me to discs a Remote Team Day and/or some 1-1- coaching for yourself.  You can reach out by phone to 416-996-8326

Module 6 – Collaboration in the Remote Space – 2 Exercises
Collaboration is key in the remote workspace. What are some of the essential ingredients for collaboration? Check this out.

Module 7 – Styles – 2 Areas to Explore
What are the different preferences of those on the tam? What do you know about how others like to communicate, make decisions, and what they prioritize? Being clear on this is critical.

Module 8 – Closers in the Remote Space – 2 Exercises
What are the different was you want to create a solid ending to a call? What will support ACTION and RETENTION after the call? Check out these two closers in the remote space.

Module 9 – Now What? Putting This into Practice in Your Work!
What are the areas your teams might benefit from? If you’d like to explore these eight areas more in depth, check out the Remote Team Builders on-demand course. It’s normally $129 US and save $32 by using the code TEAMS365 until July 15th. 
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Enjoy the focus!

With best wishes,
Jennifer

This week’s teamwork skill in focus is one that has become critical, especially when teams my not be physically working together, or even having to social distance – collaboration.

Over the last seven years collaboration has been a core theme here at the teams 365 blog, you can view other posts on this topic here:

What makes remote collaboration different:

1. We don’t see each other’s contexts regularly. What I know of your work is something that is shared, or made reference to, given that I only see the elements on the screen.
2. In the remote space it’s likely that collaboration and the skill of influence is the only way I will get things done, unless there others that are joined with me.

 
What great collaboration requires:

• Trust
• A knowledge of each other – who we are as individuals and who we are collectively
• Clarity around the purpose – why are we doing this. As Morten Hansen writes “Bad collaboration is worse than no collaboration at all.”
• Regular touchpoints (which could involve conversations, chats or electronic updates) and feedback loops
• Focused on learning – regular identification of what’s working and what’s no
• Intentional relationships - collaborative partnerships benefit from international focus – focus on The WHY we are doing things, how we are doing things and what’s at stake If it doesn’t work well

What’s important to note as it relates to your collaboration?

Best,
Jennifer

It’s Tuesday which means that we are heading “Back to the Basics” with teamwork. One of the areas which gets really magnified in the virtual and remote space is that of roles. With matrix relationships being the norm for many teams who operate remotely, it’s not uncommon to have two, three or four different line managers. Someone who might be your “main” boss, someone who supports you on one project, and another who supports you technically.

At the same time, it’s likely that in addition to having different bosses, you also likely inhabit different roles. On some teams you might be a project lead, on others an activator and on others a person who gets things done.

With membership on so many teams, it can be important to clarify ROLES as well as be really intentional with building out the culture of your organization. Tomorrow we will look at the different components of building out a vibrant remote team culture where people feel connected with their team and help to shape the culture of it.

Spending time focusing on the roles which exist in a team is important. It’s important on several different levels:
 

• First, what are the roles needed in order to get things done?
• Second, who is ideally suited for each role. Consider who might be good at setting a vision, versus executing things and getting things done. Who is better at the granular detail versus the strategic view of things? Consider who is best placed for which role. Consider who gets put in a role by default – they do it just because they can, not because they want to. While this will work in the short-term, what happens in the long term?
• Third, how do the different roles connect and fit together? Where is there overlap? Where are their gaps?
• Fourth, what are the different roles and responsibilities? Who needs to do what, when? What happens if this doesn’t happen? Helping team members understand the bigger picture is essential for performance.
• Fifth, what are the feedback loops from one part of the team to another? Take a look at Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip on Team Feedback. What can you be doing to amplify your team feedback?

Roles are an often-overlooked part of team experience. What’s important to note?

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

Check out our Digital Resources to support you in your work and conversations 
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Welcome back to this week’s Week in Review. It’s been a full week here at the Teams365 blog.

Some of the posts we’ve explored this week are:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt on LEARN
• Friday’s Flashback posts on Virtual Co-Working
• Thursday’s Team Building Question around “What do you want to practice?”
• Wednesday’s focus on Better Virtual Meetings
• Tuesday’s post on 5 Types of Team Meetings to Focus On - Virtually
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip around “What’s Going to Make it Memorable?”

Enjoy your reflection!

Have a great rest of the weekend,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

What co-working have you been undertaking virtually in the last few weeks? While remote work can feel isolating, it’s valuable to create windows where we do get to work with others.

For today’s Flashback Friday post, I thought it would be useful to revisit this past post – Teams365 1729 – focusing on creating co-working opportunities:

As we move into fall, it can be very useful for teams to continue to put attention around getting things done WHILE connecting. A favorite activity I continue to facilitate is GET IT DONE afternoons, which really become Virtual Co-Working Sessions. They are a derivative of the virtual retreats I have been offering for teams, business owners and leaders since 2007. 

Virtual co-working sessions may range from one-hour sprints, to four-hour blocks to full day sessions.

Three considerations to making a virtual co-working session work include the following:

1. A platform where you can all meet, see each other and converse for periods of time.

• Streaming is often best, however, others may appreciate the ability to take their work on the road and call in at a time.

2. Focus – collectively and individually. Consider these questions:

• What’s bringing you together today?
• What’s the focus – is it to do something collectively or individually?
• What outcomes do you want?
• How do you want to break it down – meeting every hour for check ins? Meeting more frequently?

3. Scheduled Checkpoints - A way to share and keep the momentum going throughout the day. I have found that virtual group and team sessions have been the seeds for some amazing new ideas and cross-pollination. Be sure to build in blocks where people are not only checking in around what they are doing, but also consider the value of building in some time for sharing of learning or insights.

Looking for inspiration on what you might do in a virtual co-working session? Consider these ideas – they are all real programs I have facilitated over the years:

• One-hour virtual sprints for planning on the team or individual level
• 30-minute brainstorming/innovation sessions geared to create new product and or service ideas
• Four-hour Get it Done sessions where groups of solopreneurs connect virtually to take focused action once a month on things on their list. Check ins are once an hour.
• Four to eight-hour Virtual Retreats, where each hour has a dedicated focus and theme to explore and/take action on. For example, an hour dedicated to creating a business plan, an hour to marketing approaches, an hour for project work).

Looking for a facilitator to host your next virtual co-working session? Contact me to learn more about this service I offer. 

Read the post here.

Best,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​