Today’s Effective Virtual Conversations prompt is “Who is driving the bus?”. Some of the most common questions I receive from virtual leaders are “Am I coaching? Am I training? Am I facilitating?”.
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While the focus on this question for the people we are hosting the call for is usually “it doesn't matter as long as I am learning”, it can be important for the person who is leading the call to be aware of what they are doing - training, coaching or facilitating. A key question the “facilitator” can be asking to dig a little deeper is  - “Who is driving the bus?” Who is the one that is shaping the direction, and content of the call?"
 
While this may be overly simplistic, a great starting point for understanding the “director” of the call is to consider who is “driving” and shaping the conversation.
 
In coaching, a fundamental premise is that the person being coached should create with the coach (and others) the direction of the call, and their content knowledge should form the foundation of the conversation. The coach is not there to share a lot of content, but rather use any content to “Spark” the conversation. Coaches focus deeply on Goal Setting, and supporting the deepened awareness around “things below the waterline”, things like values, beliefs, assumptions, perspectives. Coaching is rarely a one-off conversation, and usually has multiple touch points.
 
In training, or a webinar in the virtual space, we lean into the content we bring. We are measured on this, and while we want to poll our group members for what they want to learn, the content may also be shaped by the organization. Training is typically content-rich, and in that respect the trainer may be driving the bus a majority of the time, handing off the “wheel” as new skills are acquired, so that bus members get practice.
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Facilitation comes from the Latin word “facilis”. It means “to become easy”. Part of the facilitator’s role virtually is to help people clarify the focus of the conversation, and how they want to move from a to b. A facilitation may be more apt to be a one-off conversation, and usually uses process to help engage the conversation, especially with bigger groups.
 
Who is driving the bus in your virtual conversations? Are there any changes you want to make to this?
 
For more on these distinctions between coaching, training and facilitating, check out any of my first three books – Effective Group Coaching (2010), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) or From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). 
 
Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

Welcome back to another Monday Effective Virtual Conversations tip. This week’s post gets you to consider “Out of sight does not equal out of mind”. One of the common fallacies of virtual teamwork and leadership is that we think that it’s not important to connect with others who are far away. In fact, “out of sight should mean more in mind”.
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Consider the impact of not:

• Holding meetings where people can see each other
• Holding meetings consistently because some people are not there
• Recording meetings and/decisions made
• A lot of misunderstanding occurs when we don’t become proactive in connecting with all team members, as visually as possible.

You will want to consider all the ways you can make things visible and visual for the team. This could include:

• Ensuring meetings are streamed and people can see each other
• Capturing agreements and decisions in chat so you can then circulate the chat log as meeting notes  for everyone (who is there and not there)
• Rotating meeting times and organizers, so even if the leader is on the road, or engaged the team has a strong enough process to be able to follow through and meet around.

Virtual teams can leverage the best of technology so that they can see each other, record, and share information.

What are the ways you can keep the team and it’s focus top of mind this month?
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What will make things visible and visual?

Have a great day,
Jennifer

​Welcome to the month of March! This month we are focusing on teamwork, skills, foundations and what’s important in today’s virtual space.
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I write about virtual teamwork, virtual facilitation and collaboration in two of my more recent books – Effective Virtual Conversations which was released in 2017 and the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner (2019).

If you didn’t catch it, be sure to check out some of my earlier calls this year including:

• 5 Virtual Team Builders
• Collaborating in the Virtual Space – February’s Effective Virtual Conversations Call. 

If you didn’t hear, I’ve created an entire on-demand course around the 19 Productivity Tips series. It is now available as a video-based program, where each tip is accompanied by a short video with me, and a one to two-page worksheet/resource guide.

I will also be hosting two live calls a month which started mid-February, to answer questions and also share additional resources. These calls will also be uploaded to the program resource site.

It’s a great value and I hope you will find it beneficial and join us!

It’s the start of a new month, so here are this month’s planning questions-
Reflecting back on the month of February:

• What were my major achievements last month?
• What do I want to celebrate?
• As I consider my goals (and resolutions) I made at the start of the year, how am I doing with these on a scale of 1-10? Which ones are becoming new habits or something I can check off?
• Which goals need to be let go of or changed?
• What habits have supported me this month?
• As a leader, what have I noticed about my team?
• As a leader, what notes should I make about performance issues? (if I haven't done it already!)
• The thing that has helped me be most productive in February was ______
• The thing that has helped me be most successful in February was ______
• The thing that has helped me be happiest in February  ________
• How I’m doing with my theme of the year (how I am living it, embodying it).

Here are some questions you will want to consider as you step into the new month –
Looking ahead to March:
My priorities this month are:

• The one thing I want to make sure I get accomplished before the end of this quarter is….
• The one thing I want to check off before the end of winter is….
• The project(s) I want to get started...
• The project I most want to wrap up is...
• I want to leave ______ in the month of February.

Our team priorities this month are:
My top 3- 5 goals this month are ________.
My teams goals this month are ________.
I'll be really happy at the end of March when ________.

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Today’s post focuses on tips for boosting collaboration in the virtual space:

1. Be proactive in terms of what relationships are important to build. Are you taking time for regular outreach with a purpose?
2. Be systematic in discussing key elements of collaboration – what is the end result you are aiming towards, what will success look like? Who is in charge of doing what? When will you meet to review how things are going and make adjustments?
3. Agree on regular feedback loops. Feedback can be a challenge when you don’t know each other too well. What are the touchpoints you are dedicating to feedback? Creating formalized quarterly or mid-point check-ins can be valuable to earmark. Take a look at some of the mid-point or evaluation questions I have pointed to in the past.
   
4. Be clear on what you are each bringing to the relationship. What are the things that are going to help your next collaboration thrive?

Best of luck!
Jennifer

This month our focus is on relationships and team work. What are the things we can do to help build relationships? Here’s what I shared in the 2016 post entitled “Four Keys to Building Stronger Relationships at Work” in Teams365 #771.

In light of this week's focus on relationships, today's post focuses on Four Keys to Building Stronger Relationships at Work. Even if we work virtually it is key to have a strong network of people around us, to collaborate with, and who have our back.

Four keys to building stronger relationships at work include:

1. Put a focus on it - In today's busy world what doesn't get focused on, often doesn't get done. It is important to put a focus on relationship building and dedicate time towards it. What does building relationships mean for you right now? Getting to know your team members better? Widening your network? Getting to know a person's role you are collaborating with?
Consider what your goal is in building stronger relationships at work and focus on it - schedule in some time this week around it.

2. Consider what is the win-win - Many of us don't just build relationships for relationships sake. Consider how your work/roles connect and how a stronger relationship can boost BOTH of your work. What is the common ground of your worlds of work? What would a win-win look like for both of you? Really get to understand how your roles align, overlap and how you can support each other.

3. Be Genuine - Building stronger relationships should not be seen as another "to do" on your list. Be genuine in fostering connection. Be interested in who the other person is. I think we can all think of people who build relationships without being genuine....

4. Consider how the sum is greater than the whole of the parts - In true collaboration and synergy today the sum is greater than the whole of the parts. Key to collaboration is knowing when to collaborate and when you are better doing things yourselves. Get clear on each of your relationships and when it is important to lean into them, and when it's important to go alone. What can you create/accomplish in collaboration? How is this greater than when you go it alone? When is important to go it alone?

What other tips do you have for others around building relationships?

If you prefer, take a look at the short video I created around the same topic in Teams365 #1503 here. 

Best wishes,
Jennifer

This month’s focus is on building relationships. One type of team which often does not get attention is virtual teams. Today’s post goes into 5 ideas you might incorporate around boosting your virtual team. This could include some of the following activities:

1. Creating a set of peer partners who you are paired with for the course of a year. Peer partners may be invited to connect on a regular basis – i.e. quarterly to share information and resources and generally share best practices.
2. Hosting co-working sessions.
3. Providing the opportunity for part of a quarterly or regular team meeting to focus in on having each person share what they are working on and/or what their portfolio is all about.
4. Hosting a weekly or bi-weekly team huddle to update each other on what you are focusing on. Huddles are generally short and quick in nature (15-30 minutes). Done regularly they benefit from bringing the team together on a regular basis to share their focus, build connection and notice interplay.
5. Another option is to have people share a photo or resource with each other every month via the team’s communication channel – this could include a series of threads in Slack or part of your Leaning Management System or a Community Portal like Mighty Networks.

What are the activities and events which will benefit your team right now?

You might also be interested in checking out the January 2019 Effective Virtual Conversations call I hosted where I cover 5 Virtual Team Builders.

Wishing you the best,
​Jennifer

The business context today is increasingly calling for collaboration – many times across time, distance and culture. What can get in the way of great collaboration? I thought it would be interesting to go back to Teams365 #1135 to explore six factors that can get in the way of collaboration. Let’s take a look at what I wrote back in this 2017 post. 


"Politeness is the poison of collaboration." - Edwin Land

“Let’s collaborate more” is commonly heard in organizations, and it may be easier said than done. As part of our February posts around collaboration, today’s post explores six barriers to collaboration, along with some possible ways to address these topics:

The six barriers we are going to explore in today’s blog post are:

1. Ego
2. Power
3. Lack of Candor
4. Inability to work across differences
5. Different End Goals
6. Lack of Trust

 
Barrier #1 – Ego – One of the biggest barriers which can get in the way of collaboration is our ego. In collaboration it is important to “park our ego” as much as possible so that we can truly be listening and hearing for what is needed to really synergize. Another commonly used term for parking our ego is “becoming unattached”. When we become too attached to our end result we may not hear or see possibilities which will actually end with a greater end result.

Barrier #2 -  Power – When power differentials are too different it can be very difficult to collaborate. In those instances where one group/person may have more “power”  whether due to resourcing, or information, it is important to design the boundaries of collaboration and be clear with intent.

Barrier #3 – Lack of candor – Candor is defined as “the quality of being open and honest in expression; frankness” in the Oxford Dictionary. Candor is a critical ingredient for collaboration. Without it there will be  a lot of wasted effort, and the true essence of collaboration will not be possible. Being able to share ideas without concern for judgement, the ability to be frank and open with feedback are all essential ingredients for collaboration

Barrier #4 – Inability to work across differences. In collaboration synergies, and differences, are usually harnessed. The ability to work across differences, making changes with one’s own style, is another essential ingredient for collaboration.

Barrier #5 – Different End Goals – When end goals are too different it can be very difficult to have collaboration. For example, if one member is aiming for an end result that is about quality and the other solely on speed, it may be more challenging to find the middle ground amongst the two. In these instances the end result needs to become an AND rather than an OR. So A AND B, rather than A OR B.

Barrier #6 – Lack of Trust. The one essential which will usually arrest collaboration before it starts is lack of trust. When trust is low, or non-existent, it is difficult to collaborate. Collaboration requires honesty, feedback, listening, candor, and bringing your best work to the table, in service to something greater. When trust is low or non-existent, these skills are usually not present.
As you consider your upcoming collaboration, how are you doing with these ingredients?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

This week’s Team Building Tip #223 gets you to explore the question “Together we can…”

• What are you able to do together better than doing as individual contributors?
  
• What is possible when you collaborate?
• What is feasible when you partner with others?
• What are you able to magnify?

Best,
​Jennifer

Earlier this week I hosted the February 2019 Virtual Book Club call for PlanDoTrack - my latest publication for virtual and remote team members and leaders. The focus was on Collaboration and 10 Questions to Ask When Collaborating virtually. You can view it here.

With this focus in mind, I thought it would be interesting to loop back to one of last February's post on Collaboration and a quote from me. Here's what I wrote in Teams365 last February 24, 2018:

Today's quote comes from me - "When it's uncertain, complex and changing, collaboration is needed".

One of the themes I work with teams and leaders around is the ability to become more fluid in approaches to help them with the ongoing complexity and change of their work. What once was more isolated to the type of work I did with the UN - ongoing change, ambiguity, ever changing situations, is now becoming much more common-place to everyone in the work force. It requires a different way of working, and a culture shift, for many organizations. This is not easy, nor is it quick. The change may take years to really take hold and be "lived" at all levels of an organization.

For teams and leaders, learning how to collaborate more effectively and efficiently, can be part of the shift to a more fluid working style. It's more likely that you may not have all the information you need, or can access yourself. It's likely you don't have all the relationships needed to get something done. Being able to liaise with, and work through others, is a critical skill set for today's workforce. A leaders' role, particularly one who is supporting a virtual or remote team, often becomes one of liaison - connecting others to resources and people.

What type of collaboration is needed? What is the level of skill around collaboration in your leadership? Team? I hope that you will take some time looking at the posts I've written on collaboration this month and in my earlier years of the blog. Check out past posts on collaboration here.



What is important to note about collaboration for you in your work right now?

Enjoy the conversation,
Jennifer

Happy Groundhog Day!

​This week’s weekly journaling prompt #35 is “The team needs….” As a leader it can be very important to take time to take stock of where you are at – individually as a leader and also as a team.
This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets you thinking about “THE TEAM NEEDS”…
Take some time this weekend to:
Take note of needs around:

• Resourcing
• Information
• Support – from you, from peers, from others, from _______
• Connection
• Collaboration
• Projects
• Elements

What are the things you want to note as a leader or team member?
What’s important to put in place?
What’s important to share?

Best,
​Jennifer