Teams365 Blog - Potentials Realized

#TEAMS365 #2058 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 107

8/19/2019

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip gets you to think about how you can “prime” people for success BEFORE a virtual call. Is there something you can have people watch, read or do, so that they are ready to have the conversation?

Several ideas for pre-work could include:

Having people take a self-assessment such as StrengthsFinder if you are working on a topic such as strengths. Have them complete the assessment prior to the conversation so you can start the conversation there.
Have them review a reading on strengths
Create a video around strengths

What are the things which will set people up for a good conversation?

Enjoy!
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.

#TEAMS365 #2051 – Effective Virtual Conversations 106: Minimizing Digital Distractions and Creating More Focus

8/12/2019

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations post takes me to one of the areas I hear about the most from professionals of all kinds today – “How can I minimize my digital distractions and create more focus in the virtual space?”
Digital distractions are created by a variety of things. Consider:

The bing of your email
An “urgent” email which isn’t an urgent email as you are bcced in
An instant message that comes through via Slack
Having to toggle back and forth through different screens instead of being able to lay things out in one way
Having different people on your team using different frameworks/platforms for reporting

The cost of digital distractions is multi-fold:

Work doesn’t get done
Projects are not completed
People are frustrated because they are not able to finish tasks
Motivation suffers in the short term
Engagement levels drop
Turnover occurs much more quickly

There are significant human and business costs for both.

So, what are some ways to reduce digital distractions? Consider these items AS a TEAM. They need to be team based so everyone is doing them.

Be intentional as a team (and possibly as an organization) as to what the expectations are in terms of being “on” and when people can be off. It’s not uncommon for some organizations to have a block of global working hours where everyone needs to be available and meetings can be called.

Experiment with “offline” blocks of hours where people can engage in their deeper work projects. Deeper work projects might include proposals, new projects, addressing strategic issues, working on systems to ensure process and people flow.
Turn off the technology or close it off at certain times of the day (this will need to be discussed as a team/organization in terms of what is realistic and appropriate.)
Think twice with subject lines, ccing and bccing (which really shouldn’t be used widely, if at all).
Consider when having an analog copy of paper/hard copy might make a task move faster or be completed at a greater depth of synthesis. Deeper thinking of work cannot be completed with just cut and paste.
Provide workspaces and/or flex arrangements so people can work with less distraction.
Consider the best platform for the work.

What can you do as an organization or team to create more focus in the digital space?

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.

#TEAMS365 #2044 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #105

8/5/2019

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations post takes us to #105 in the series. The focus this week is on the skill set of Accountability. It’s much harder to track things in the virtual space, given that our time windows of synchronous moments when we are together can be limited. At the same time, our work may still be interdependent.

With this in mind, it is important to discuss what accountability can look like on your team, and how you want to support it.

Consider these ideas for supporting virtual or remote accountability:

Make it visible – Keeping things visible allows us to keep things top of mind. If there are key goals are there dashboards or visible measurement items, you can create and share in your intranet or team portal?
Create peer accountability partners – In the virtual space, relationships are essential, and we may not take time getting to know our peers. Creating peer accountability partners where everyone has one or two buddies, helps with information flow across a team, and also can boost the needle on accountability.
Help people see the bigger picture and connections – Many times team members don’t realize how interconnected things are, and that their work may directly impact another team members. Help teams members see the bigger picture of tools and also how their work flows into another's.
Build in time to check in – What doesn’t get tracked, doesn’t get done. What time are you building in for tracking and check in? This might be 5 minutes in a weekly team meeting, or via one-on-one calls.
Model accountability – If leaders are not following through it’s hard to ask team members to follow through. Model accountability and walk your talk!

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.

#TEAMS365 #2037 – Effective Virtual Conversations #104: Building and Eroding Trust

7/29/2019

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip takes us into a core topic for virtual conversations – that of TRUST. Without Trust and Connection in a virtual conversation, it’s unlikely that people will engage. As I write in Effective Virtual Conversations, part of creating a more engaged conversation space is about building trust and connection.

Today’s post gets you to stop and consider these questions:

What is helping TRUST in your virtual relationships?
What is hindering TRUST in your virtual relationships?

Things may be further magnified in a virtual space given that we don’t see the “full picture”, only a small sliver of their world via the screen.

Some ways to boost trust in the virtual space might include:

Taking time to share more about your work and how that relationship fits into it
Making conversation touch points more frequent
Including both formal and informal relationship building time
Being intentional in creating agreements about how you will work together. This could include things like – how often will we communicate? What is the best way to communicate?
Taking time to share more about yourselves (as appropriate)

Reducing Trust might include:

Not following through
Failing to provide appropriate information
Not letting a partner know of something in a timely manner
Not being clear in directions which leads to a faulty end result

What can build or erode trust with your partners?

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.

#TEAMS365 #2030 - EFFECTIVE VIRTUAL CONVERSATIONS TIP #103

7/22/2019

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip is #103 in the series and gets you to consider the question “What’s getting outdated and needs an update?”. In the realm of technology things are regularly getting updated - from devices, to software, to systems.

In your work, and office right now, what could benefit from an update? What is looking a little frayed or worn?

Also consider what you need to archive and/or back up.

Updating items could include:

Devices
Cords
Back-ups
Presentation Materials (i.e. slide decks, workbooks)
The platform you are using
The way you archive materials
Welcome emails/typical emails sent to people

What might benefit from an update?

Enjoy the reflection and action,
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.

#TEAMS365 #2023 Effective Virtual Conversation Tip 102

7/15/2019

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversation Tip is something I say regularly to the coaches and facilitators I work with in train-the-trainer programs. Simply put it’s “Keep it simple. The complexity is with the group.”.

Keeping things simple in the virtual space might involve things such as:

Making sure our questions are crisp and clear
Only asking one question at a time
Asking the group to discuss only one question at a time
Making sure we allocate enough time
Focusing only on one theme or focus area each call
Simplifying instructions
Leaving space and time for questions that might emerge
Using a graphic instead of a lot of text
Using a metaphor to describe something more complex
Being sure to reinforce what we are saying with something written

What can “keeping things simple” look like in your virtual conversations?

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.

#TEAMS365 #2016 Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 101

7/8/2019

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip asks you to consider the area of Goal Setting. Providing space for people to set and share their goals in the virtual space can be an important connector in the virtual space.

If group members are meeting over an extended time, it may be useful to have people share their progress using a:

One Page Plan
A Dashboard

Tracking goals can be a motivating process. To avoid it becoming a “check box activity” or goal fatigue, provide opportunities for people to connect into what’s important about the goal, or the overarching WHY.

In exploring the why you might ask questions like “What’s possible?”, “Three years from now, where do you want to be?”

Questions to consider:

What are the key goals you are focusing on this month?
How is progress towards these goals coming?
What is the WHY behind the goal? What would you like to make sure you experience?
What do you want to do to keep your goals visible?

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.

#TEAMS365 #2009: Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 100

7/1/2019

Another milestone we are facing this month is the celebration of 100 Effective Virtual Conversations tips. Originally launched back in 2017, close to the time the book of the same name came out, I’ve taken a look at many different topics essential for engaging virtual conversations – from leveraging the different elements available in the various platforms such as breakouts and annotation, to best practices around virtual call engagement.

As I write in Effective Virtual Conversations, virtual calls don’t have to involve a “death by conference call”. They can be even more hands-on than an in person conversation.

Let’s take a look at 9 of the past Monday Effective Virtual Conversation tips:

Teams365 #1995 EVC Tip #99: What Opportunities Are You Not Seizing?
Teams365 #1988 EVC Tip #98: Virtual Conversations In Focus: MOOC
Teams365 #1981 EVC Tip #97: Skill In Focus: Listening
Teams365 #2002 EVC Tip #96: "Start with your people at the core. All else will flow from there."
Teams365 #1974 EVC Tip #95: Virtual Facilitation Tip: Use Annotation
Teams365 #1967 EVC Tip #94: Virtual Facilitation Tip: Use A Map
Teams365 #1960 EVC Tip #93: Virtual Facilitation Tip: Go East-West
Teams365 #1953 EVC Tip #92: Facilitation Tip: Go A-Z
Teams365 #1942 EVC Tip #91: Recording

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.

#Teams365 #2002 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #96

6/24/2019

One of the key principles of any good design is that this matches the needs of the people you are designing for. Keeping your ‘people” front and center in any virtual conversation is going to help you anchor the:

Purpose
Approach
Amount of engagement
Emphasis on interactivity (via breakouts, annotation and polls)
Amount of content

These elements can vary dramatically in a conversation.

What are the things you want to make sure you incorporate into your next conversation?

A reminder that you can check out the May 2019 Effective Virtual Conversations call on 6 Keys to Engagement for further illustration of some of the different ways we might make our call more interactive. You can view it HERE.

What do you know about your participants and what they want?

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.

#TEAMS365 #1995: Effective Virtual Conversations #99

6/17/2019

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip asks you to consider the question: “What opportunities are you not seizing?”.

Remote work and virtual conversations are becoming increasingly important in today’s workplace. Whether disruption is occurring because of impact on travel (consider things like the wild weather events of the last few months which has impacted not only air travel but location sites), or due to opportunities emerging, what opportunities are you not seizing?

Consider these ideas:

Experimenting with remote workdays. What happens with productivity when people move to one or more remote workdays? What do you
Declaring meeting free days or time windows. With meetings becoming an immense time sucker for so many professionals today, what would it be like to declare meeting free time. Time when people could focus on getting work completed, rather than meeting on work for the next day. Some organizations might consider with earmarking an entire day meeting free, while others might note that they meet in the afternoon only, keeping the morning free for high impact work. There may be times of the day which could naturally be better for collaborative work such as mid-afternoon, rather than times of day when deep thinking is required – which brain science is showing could be in quieter windows, and when the brain is more fresh.
There may be opportunities to use different platforms. Consider shifting to a streaming service (where you can see everyone) rather than doing a phone only. The visual cues of being seen may shift focus and attention, and also dissuade some team members from doing more than one thing at a time.
Incorporate more interaction. Rather than simply having a report back, consider how to involve insights from the team regularly using annotation (sharing ideas on a white board) or using chat as a way to focus on

Enjoy!
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.