As we move towards the end of the year, it’s an opportune time to focus in on the systems in your work. Systems help us automate routine tasks and also create consistency. Systems help us with information sharing and leveraging tasks and processes. This is key when people and projects may move not only in an office but move to different locations.

As we move to year end, it can be an important time to dedicate some focus on anchoring in the systems we have been using, developing others and/or making sure systems and focused.

This year I’ve mentioned systems several times. They are an important part of keeping a remote or global business running consistently, ensuring that our customer or clients experience is the same from location to location.

In larger organizations, systems are likely to be well established, but in start ups or smaller organizations it’s likely that they are not as well developed.

You might consider the systems you have as it relates to sharing of information around projects, special initiatives and tasks. One of the challenges as teams move into the remote space is that information flow may not be as smooth. If you have people needing to access information and work on shared documents or with shared information what needs attention. This may involve nomenclature around how documents are saved and where things get digitally filed. IT may also involve a mindset shift around how items get documented and shared.

• Communication (Internal/External, team communication)
• Performance
• Goals
• Projects
• Marketing/Business Cases/Case Studies

What else?

If you have not taken a look at this month’s Effective Virtual Conversations call which I held on November 4th around Remote and Virtual Team Tools, do take a look. In the 25-minute call I share five key areas you will want to explore and possibly incorporate with your team – from communication tools, to team development tools, to project management tools.

What is the one tool you know you can’t live without? For me, I would say it is Zoom. Whether I am leading a group session or hosting an individual coaching session, Zoom allows me to seamlessly move throughout calls all day long, seeing my clients without having to travel  (sometimes thousands of miles to see them!). While travel is a passion for some, having spent the better part of my first decade plus of my working career travelling for a living, I so appreciate getting to reconnect with places without having to physically go there.

Wishing you the best,
Jennifer 

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, get your 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.

From the time we get out of bed to the time we turn off the light, we are faced with a slew of decisions which need to be made every day.

Creating enhanced focus in the last six weeks of the year (what is often referred to as the “last mile”) can help a team, and organization, soar through the last part of the year, rather than frantically work to the end. This has been a focus of three of the annual coaching groups I host - The Learning Lab and Design Studio, the Coaching Biz Growth Lab, and the Teams365 Leadership Lab

Today’s post gets you thinking about several areas you may have some level of control over:

#1 – Decide and communicate what the key priorities are for the end of the year. What is an absolute MUST complete? What can be let go of (if anything) in order to make sure this can be completed.

#2 – Weed out the elements of work which are distractions and/or not adding value. This may be part of a wider discussion and review of your results for the year/decade. In the bigger picture, what could be let go of, in service to the work that really needs to get done?

#3 – Consider who is best tasked to do the work. There is often a fallacy that “everyone needs to be involved” or everyone needs to collaborate. We don’t want to collaborate for collaborations sake. Who is best suited to run with which tasks? Does everyone involved understand the timelines and contingencies (i.e. what needs to get completed first, next etc.?).

#4 – Consider questions around AMPLIFICATION and/or x ing your work (as in 10xing). What’s going to help to ensure success? What will that take?

#5 – Where has scope creep occurred? It’s inevitable that projects expand during their life cycle. Sometimes they expand too much. Where has scope creep occurred and what needs to be brought back into focus? Is there need for an extension or a part 2 of the projects you are working on?

#6 – Where can digital distractions be minimized? Recently, I shared a post on digital distractions – Teams365 #1933.  Read it here. What are those distractions and where can these be minimized?

What’s going to help you thrive through the last part of the year?

Wishing you the best,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success focusing on the Remote Space
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​
Coming soon - the Remote Pathways™ Podcast

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip takes into Part 3 of Design. Over the past few weeks we’ve covered additional posts around Design in EVC Tip 117 and EVC Tip 116.
​
Virtual Facilitation and Virtual Learning have become the norm and “go to” in recent years. Whether we are expanding our skill base via a webinar, or whether we are attending a MOOC to learn the latest in a field of study, leveraging virtual learning opportunities is key.

As a provider of virtual learning services for the last fifteen years and having been involved with leading virtual learning as a leader, there are several things that we can do to enhance the learning involved. This is the focus of my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations, and is also the focus of a five week virtual train-the-trainer I lead called Virtual Facilitation Essentials.

You can also read through posts related to Effective Virtual Conversations in my regular Monday series.

To simplify (key in the remote space), five things that we can do consistently in our Design, include:

#1 - Consider and build in regular and frequent engagement touch points. We’ve all been on calls where the facilitator drones on and on in monotone. We know that creating frequent engagement touchpoints for people to engage with others in the virtual space can boost retention and interest. Different engagement touchpoints could involve inviting learners to:

• Comment via chat
• Annotate on the screen
• Reflect or comment on a question
• Input via a poll

While many of us (educators/facilitators/trainers) used to aim for engagement every 7-10 minutes in the in-person realm, in the virtual space this pace may be even more frequent.
 
# 2 – Create reflective pauses for people to write, and/or note what they are learning. Are you leaving a few minutes for people to note what actions are they going to take? How they are going to apply their learning?

The experiential learning model is grounded in exploring the WHAT? SO WHAT? NOW WHAT? Of a topic. In a virtual session, how are you helping your learners explore all three of these layers?

WHAT – What is this topic all about?

SO WHAT – What is important about this for you? What is the connection for you with this topic?

NOW WHAT – Now what are you going to do?

We’ve all been on calls where there was no time to note what application opportunities there are, and what next steps can be taken. Consider building in reflective pauses to deepen the learning.

#3 – Invite people to share/articulate their thoughts. Many of us create learning via speaking and/or sharing. What opportunities can you build in to create a sharing of information and learning? This might include using a breakout and having people connect with one or two other peers, going around and hearing from each person, and/or using chat or annotation to share their thoughts.

What can you build into your call, or after your call?

#4 – Consider virtual learning in its entirety. While in the “in person realm” it’s often possible to do everything in the room, virtually we may want to consider how to break up the learning process with structured activities coming before and after the learning. I commonly call these “pre-work” and “field work”. Check out an earlier blog post I did on different examples of these at my Group Coaching Ins and Outs blog: Six Ideas for Field work in your next coaching engagement.

Questions to consider:

• What are the different touchpoints people engage in as part of your virtual learning?
• What should they do, read or listen to, before the experience?
• What time should they build in afterwards to focus on application?
• What else is important to note with your programming?

All the best,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Recent books include: Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​

Working with strengths is another powerful antidote for teams operating in today’s VUCA context. Helping people bring their strengths to work everyday boosts engagement and can be a powerful motivational factor which we know is a key component for virtual teams today.

In this week’s Flashback Friday I wanted to link back to Teams365 #1240. 

Here’s what I wrote about different ways to support a focus on strengths with your team:

Gallup has studied the realm of strengths for many years now and research shows that helping employees and team members leverage their strengths every day leads to significant gains. The Gallup Strengths Center mentions these as some of the benefits of strengths-based management practices in December 2016. 90% of organizations which incorporated strengths-based management practices found:

• 10% to 19% increase in sales
• 14% to 29% increase in profit
• 3% to 7% higher customer engagement
• 6% to 16% lower turnover (in low-turnover organizations)
• 26% to 72% lower turnover (in high-turnover organizations)
• 9% to 15% increase in engaged employees
• 22% to 59% fewer safety incidents

​Read Gallup's article here.

​So what are some practical and tactical ways team leaders can support their team members in bringing their strengths to work every day?

​#1 - Help you team understand what their strengths are - Knowing our strengths is not an intuitive process for many of us. Helping team members understand what their strengths are is an important part of the process. There are several ways to explore strengths including the VIA Character Strengths Survey, and StrengthsFinder. Helping team members consider the question "When are you at your best?" also helps team members become more aware of their strengths.

​#2 - Get team members sharing more about their strengths - What they are and how they use them every day at work. This can be a great team meeting conversation touch point. Whether you make it part of a regular team meeting, or a special event, conversations like these lay the foundation for effective team building.

​#3 - Pair people with different strengths - Teams which excel usually have complimentary strengths. Pair people on the team together who may have complimentary strengths.

​#4 - Pair people who have similar strengths - You may also want to pair people who have similar strengths so they can compare notes and get inspired from each other about how they leverage their strengths.

#5 - Find ways to utilize your strengths more regularly. When we are able to use our strengths more readily engagement goes up as does our satisfaction levels. If using your strengths is not part of your everyday work, have some dialogue with your boss about how you could take on special projects which would leverage your strengths, and/or explore other development opportunities. I can think back to how my participation in many special projects and committees allow myself to bring my best to work, while further building my own skill set and opening up new opportunities where over my career progression I could use my strengths more on a regular basis.

​What other ways do you see as possible for people on the team to leverage more of their strengths?
 
For those interested in learning more about this topic, do check out an excellent article by Courtney Ackerman. 

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​

The term VUCA has jumped out of the world of the army, into the everyday lexicon of business. I recently went back to some writing I was doing in 2017, and there it was in the first page of the manuscript!

What is VUCA and why is it important? VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.

Let’s break these terms down a bit:

Volatility – In volatility, things are changing, and usually changing rapidly. This might mean that market conditions are changing, regulations are changing, or dollar values are changing. What do you notice about volatility in your context?

Uncertainty takes many forms. From not knowing what’s around the corner, to not knowing what’s needed, uncertainty can paralyze teams. Becoming comfortable in operating without a lot of certainty is often takes a different mindset. It may also mean that we become “comfortable with the uncomfortable” and learn to make decisions based on the information which is available (and may not be comprehensive or may change).

Complexity is one of the biggest challenges to leaders and teams today. This may mean we need a variety of skills from across disciplines and/or a wider understanding of more things. Helping to simplify what we can, can offer an antidote to complexity.

Ambiguity occurs when things are not clear. This may be due to things changing regularly OR due to the complexity. What can you do to become more discerning, see the patterns which exist, or break things down into more discrete pieces?

In supporting teams and leaders in organizations today, four things we can do in support of operating at our peak in a VUCA environment:

#1 – Create consistency around process. With so much change around a team, consistency is key to success. Consistency can take several forms on teams including consistent meetings, consistent check-ins, regular one-on-one coaching sessions, regular reporting. Revisit these on a regular basis as contexts may change – what frequency is needed?

As a team discuss what does consistency mean? What’s important to you?

#2 – Connect people with the bigger picture. While the details may change (and do!) the bigger picture – where we are going, what’s important to us, what we are aiming for – is likely to stay more stable. Vision and mission create an anchor. They also provide an important marker when things do change.

#3 – Keep it simple. A VUCA context can paralyse and overwhelm. Keeping things simple does not mean simplifying. It means emphasizing what is core. Consider questions like “What’s essential? vs. What’s a nice to have?” OR “What are the three bullet points to emphasize?”. Help team members discern any patterns within what might appear chaotic.

#4 – Connect people with others. Part of ongoing change means that we often don’t know what or who we need down the road. Connecting members of the team with others supports them in knowing who they can reach out to, or where they can go for support. Connections may include both internal and external stakeholders.
​
For more on the topic of VUCA, check out these other Teams365 posts:

• Teams365 1770: VIDEO – Six Ingredients for Teams in Today’s VUCA World (2 min)
• Teams365 #1611: Teamwork in Complexity – Focus and Renewal 

Enjoy!
​Jennifer

​This weekend’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets to you answer the question “____Builds Trust.” Trust in today’s digital age is of prime concern. Trust is the factor that has the potential to bring people together. Without it, it’s likely that invisible barriers will get even more entrenched.

What are the things that are building trust in your world right now?

What are you doing to demonstrate trust or model trust?

What are the things that need addressing given that they are eroding trust?

For more on this topic you may want to read Steven Covey’s, The Speed of Trust. It’s an excellent book covering behaviors that build and erode trust.

If you haven’t had a chance to review the weekly journaling prompts, be sure to check them out here.

You may also want to take a look at Thursday’s post where I shared some questions for stock-taking of last month and prepping for the month ahead.
​
Have a great weekend!
Jennifer

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip takes us further into the landscape of the art of Design in Virtual and Remote Work (meetings, conversations, training etc). This week I wanted to zoom into the landscape of graphics which become such a powerful window and door opener for your conversations.

While I am not an expert with graphical design, and I rely on the trusted services of others to help me round out in this area, I am very cognizant in my own virtual presentations how much my own preferences and styles have changed in recent years.

For many years I used to teach a Presentation Skills training program and one of the things that always stuck with me was the importance t of not cramming too much content onto a slide. We used to call it the Six by Six rule. This rule stated that a slide really shouldn’t have any more than six words across and six lines of text. Today, the Six by Six rule leads to very bulky slides, and we’ve moved in many industries to a focus on minimalism.

Photography has become even more common place and we can create much more of our own imagery through our phones and cameras. If you do need to use someone else’s photos, be aware of licensing use and be sure to purchase commercial rights if you are a business. Unsplash has a great portal of stock photography as do other places.

For each of us, our market may be different and what is visually appealing to one group may not be attractive to another.

With this in mind, here are some questions to consider as you go about designing your slides for your next presentation:

• What is the message you want to communicate through your images?
• What are the main colors which represent your brand (or your messaging)?
• What are your clients inspired, touched, or moved by?
• What is the emotional message you want to communicate?
• What images would communicate these messages?
• What icons describe the story you want to communicate?
• What else is important to check out around color?

For more on color use check out:

• Canva’s Color Wheel
• Color Theory for Designers -From Smashing Magazine 
  

Enjoy the focus on color this week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​

Safety is an essential element for teams to thrive. Since the publication of her 2012 book, Teaming, I’ve been pointing people to the research of Amy Edmondson, as it relates to the trust, safety and connection teams require in order to operate. Her writing includes Teaming (2012), Extreme Teams and the Fearless Organization (2018).

You can view what she has to say on this topic in her TED talk on “How to Turn a Bunch of Strangers into a Team” here. 

Having a discussion with the team about “What would create more safety?” for the team can be seen as a risky conversation by some. At the same time, it’s useful to surface questions like these in creating the open dialogue which is needed in high trust organizations. The feedback received, AND ideas created by the various members of the team, helps to create shared ownership for the team experience.

Enjoy your conversation this week, and if you are looking for more on the topic of building trust, connection and safety be sure to also check out the series of posts I’ve included here at the Teams365 blog post around TRUST.

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​

This week’s Weekly Effective Virtual Conversations Tip takes us into the landscape of designing a memorable virtual experience. In my book, Effective Virtual Conversations, I share the PEBBLLES ETC model of virtual program design, in order to create a more memorable virtual learning experience.
​
For more on this model, check out the EVC community call I hosted on the same topic.

To paraphrase Suzuki - We remember things that are novel, memorable and attention grabbing. This is particularly important when we are leading a virtual call, given that it is likely that people will be moving quickly from topic to topic, and virtual meeting to virtual meeting.

When creating memorable programs for the virtual space it can be really useful to explore the following strategies to create more memorability:

• Stories – you own or harnessing the stories of the group you are working with. This is a quick way to help people tap into the WIIFM principle – What’s In It For Me? - quickly in a virtual call.
• Video
• Cartoon
• Poll about the topic
• Breakouts where people get to connect and share their personal stories around the topic

Consider 3-5 things you might incorporate to tap into people’s emotion, or capture their attention for your next call.

Curious about what PEBBLLES stands for? Check out the launch call I held back in the summer of 2017 for the kickoff of Effective Virtual Conversations. You can view it here along with some of my other virtual book club calls.
 
I’ll be doing a number of weekly focus areas around design with EVC Monday Tips, so do stay tuned to learn more about what design elements are included in PEBBLLES ETC.

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Each Thursday I provide a question for you as a team to explore and have a short conversation around. Typically, these are questions which may provoke new discussions you are not having or prompt a sharing of information that is not naturally available.

This week’s team building question might fall into the category of “provocative” for some teams.

The question is “What is not being spoken about?”.

We know from research that teams which excel are teams which are able to surface difficult issues for exploration, without fear of retribution. This is not easy and requires high levels of TRUST and connection with other group members.

When we don’t surface issues, or address issues which need to be raised, it’s likely that they will grow in magnitude and possibly FESTER, creating more toxicity for the team. Rather than being an issue which could be addressed quickly it may become an issue that gets charged with emotional and resentment.

When we are surrounded by an elephant in the room it can be refreshing to finally name it, even if we can’t address it right away.

As a team this week, how might it be useful to surface the issues which are not being spoken about? What do you want to do to capture these and address them in the medium- to long-term? When we open what might be perceived as a Pandora’s Box it can be useful to have shared clarity around what will happen with these issues. Are you looking to spark conversation and problem solving or provide a “release valve” on issues which need to be surfaced but may not change? Consider how you want to set this question up as a team.

Enjoy your conversations!
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​