Teams365 Blog - Potentials Realized

#TEAMS365 #1749 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #66

10/15/2018

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversation’s tip #66 brings us to tip #3 in the series of Virtual Team Success. This week’s tip gets you thinking about how you want to keep in touch. In today’s virtual space there are several vehicles teams can leverage for keeping in touch, as well as facilitating meetings and planning.
Let’s take a look at three of them:

Zoom – Great for streaming and meetings on the go, zoom provides multiple benefits – from the ability to screen share to the ability to activate breakouts in meeting space. With the teams that I work with, many professionals like the flexibility of being able to call in via phone, connect via their desk top or lap top, as well as use the mobile app to connect via phone.

Skype – Skype for business is being leveraged by many organizations today. With the benefits of streaming and visuals, it provides a great option for meetings and presentations.

The final platform I wanted to mention today was that of Slack. Slack is a common go-to platform for real-time communication.

When working with smaller teams around planning and projects you may also want to check out platforms including Trello and Asana.

What are some of your favorite virtual platforms? What do you use for meetings? Presentations? Project Management? Communication?

Let us know by sharing in the comments.

Thanks!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1742 - Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #65

10/8/2018

It is Monday and time for Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #65. We are on part two of the three part core essentials for virtual team success, which comes from page 343 of my book, Effective Virtual Conversations.

With virtual teams becoming more the norm, becoming more proficient at the support of a diverse team is critical. Team leaders, and also team members will want to think about the following as it relates to support for each team member.

What is the preference of each team member in these different areas:

Email, text, phone call, in person communication
Short and to the point, or long and conversational?
Big picture thinker or small-details valued?

Also consider:

What support needs do they have already from the local environment?
What unique to their context?
What time of day is going to work best? (especially if you are managing a global team)
What supports do they need from you? Others?

As you review the posts this month around teamwork, consider how you can be building supports ACROSS the team, from peer to peer. These peer connections are invaluable, formally and informally with virtual and remote working situations.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services.
Author of several books including Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018) & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
Follow along the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder - 90 days of prompts to support you with your business and work focus
(416) 996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1735 – Welcome to October and Effective Virtual Conversation Tip #64

10/1/2018

Welcome to October. As we start moving towards the end of the year, we are shifting our attention here at the Teams365 blog to Teamwork, an essential ingredient for success.
The first Monday Effective Virtual Conversations Tip of the month brings us to #64. View the past Effective Virtual Conversation tips here.
For the next three weeks I will be taking us into core essentials of Virtual Team Success. Today we are going to explore #1 of 3 – that of Knowing Your People.
Relationships play a key role in virtual teams, and it’s important to note that “out of sight should not mean out of mind”. Being proactive in building relationships with each team member, and between all team members is important for building overall team capacity.
As I wrote in Effective Virtual Conversations (page 343), when growing your team, consider:

What are the unique needs of each team member?
What do they need from you? What do you need from them? What do they need from each other?
What activities (in-person or virtual) will facilitate getting to know each other, connection and understanding the business of the team?

What are the activities you have planned this year for team development? A 2016 study from Culture Wizard found that only 22% of virtual teams had benefited from any team development.

For some ideas of what you might do with your team, take a look at the September Series on 10 Things to Do with Your Team.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1728 Effective Virtual Conversations tip #63

9/24/2018

Welcome back to Monday’s EVC Tip - #63 in the series.

This week’s tip is all about getting you to think about matrix management. In the virtual space it is likely that your team members are part of multiple teams and may be reporting to several different leaders.

Remote team members may have a local leader or supervisor they see on a regular basis, and also a more remote team leader who actually works more closely with them on the macro level.

For example, maybe a person is part of a continent wide marketing team. This team is continent wide in focus, and because they are based in a more remote location, they report into a local office regularly. They are expected to work with both the local and regional leaders. Each team has different ways of working and different cultures. The regional marketing team is more laid back and creative, while the local team is detail oriented and fast paced. It can be a challenge for the employee to navigate both sets of working relationships, work cultures and leadership styles.

Key to this process is being intentional, and proactive, in discussing many of the issues that may emerge. If three-way meetings are possible – between the employee, the local leader and the regional subject leader, it can be useful to talk through how as a partnership you can be most effective in supporting the employee in getting the results needed for the organization.

Some key issues you will want to clarify early on in your communications within matrix relationships include:

Clarifying roles, responsibilities and reporting structures
Identifying overlaps and gaps
Clarifying goals and priorities (especially if there are different priorities)
Identifying resources available

You can read more about this on page 334 of Effective Virtual Conversations.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1721 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 62

9/17/2018

It’s Monday and time for another Effective Virtual Conversations Tip. This week’s tip takes us into the realm of Virtual Teams. The last section of Effective Virtual Conversations focuses on virtual team issues – developing your team, virtual team leadership and other related issues.

With the remote and virtual work space continuing to grow, getting clear on the way we want to foster virtual teams is critical

Central issues facing virtual teams include:

Building relationships
Building Trust
Creating connection amongst the team
Providing clarity
Being intentional

Let’s look at each one of these in turn, starting with trust given that people are unlikely to engage if the group does not trust each other. Trust in the virtual and remote space usually exists within the frame of the program. As such, it’s important to think about what you are doing to build trust, and what’s taking away trust.

Going hand in hand with trust is building relationships. Relationships in the virtual space are peer related.

In that light, putting an emphasis on creating connection amongst the team on a regular basis, formally and informally is key. It’s important to remember that as great as technology has become, it’s still hard to replace the intimacy of a face to face experience. With that in mind, is there a way to create a touch point once or twice a year.

Providing clarity around instructions, work flow, requirements is also key. Make sure that assumptions are not being made about project. It can help to focus on end results and be over communicating (without micro-managing). Consider how you want to check in that everyone has the same understanding, and is working from the information that they need.

Being intentional means many different things. In the virtual space it can mean being focused about what you are doing. While there is always a lot of “winging it”, being intentional with the important things can be important.
These five issues are important for the entire team – not just the relationship between the leader and the team. What can you be doing to focus on these issues?

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#Teams365 #1720 - Winding Down the Last Weekend of Summer

9/16/2018

It's the last official weekend of summer - how did you spend it?

I wanted to take this opportunity to look back at some of the topics I've covered over the last few months including:

Saturday weekly journaling prompts - As some of you may know, last month I released the first of a series of workbooks and planners. The first one, entitled, The Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner, is geared for coaches. Other editions are planned for remote professionals and team leaders.
A valuable process for learning and reflection is journaling, and if you haven't taken note of my weekly journaling prompts, you can start at any time. Take a look at them here. We are at #15 in the series.

I've also just passed the #200 mark of the Team Building Questions and Tips, which come out on Thursdays - Catch up on any you haven't read here.

Also, the Monday series on Effective Virtual Conversations tips has also continued. We are over #60 in the series. View them here.

Over the last few months I've also covered a series of posts including

10 Things to Do with Your Team This Fall - Read them here

I look forward to stepping into fall with you in a few days. Don't forget that I'll be hosting a half day business planning virtual retreat this Thursday from 1 - 5 pm Eastern, geared to give you time and space for planning AND for taking action on key areas in your work. It's fully virtual and you can join from anywhere. Cost: $97. Email me to reserve your spot.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1714 – EVC Tip 61 - Virtual Team Leadership Skills

9/10/2018

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip, #61 in the series, brings us to the topic of virtual team leadership. In my book, Effective Virtual Conversations, I explore the many skills required by virtual team leaders and virtual team members alike. These include:
Working Across Differences
Intercultural know-how
Innovation
And Resilience and Agility
As we consider each of these skill areas, team members of all kinds require these skills in order to be effective. What are you doing to build the skills in the areas.
For more posts on these topics, check out my past posts on the topic.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1707 – Effective Virtual Conversations tip #60

9/3/2018

It’s Monday and time to get you thinking about “upping the ante” with your virtual conversations. Perhaps you have a webinar you are going to lead this month, or a conference call for your team. Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversation tips are geared to support you in making them more effective. Take a look at past EVC tips here.
Today’s tip comes from my book, Effective Virtual Conversations, where I write “Take stock of the photos you have and can use”.
We know that photos have a much quicker impact than words can in the virtual space. From the choice of colors you use, to the font type, what is the message you are communicating? There is a whole science behind color use. While leaders and business owners may not need to become experts in this, it is an important area to consider, given that messaging and presentations are just a large part of our work, I’ll do a future post on the power of color, but for today, consider what access you have to photos, images and icons. Your media department may be able to advise on this. For smaller businesses, you will want to make sure you have commercial licenses to use any stock photography, as well as what crediting is necessary.
Some great sites to go to for resources are;

Unsplash
AdobeStock – paid subscriptions available for businesses
Pixabay

Always be sure to check usage and copyright.
An additional way to approach images is to create your own. With the explosion of Instagram and phone devices, visuals are becoming an extremely important vehicle for communication of all sorts.
Two of the resource people I continue to turn to are the writings and teachings of:

Garr Reynolds: PresentationZen
Kat Walters and her work and teaching around Instagram

Who do you turn to as a resource person in this area?
What can you do to incorporate more visuals into your messaging?

Enjoy your Monday!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1700 – Celebrating a MileStone and Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #59

8/27/2018

It’s time to mark another watershed in the Teams365 blog history – 1700 posts. When I started this project of blogging daily on January 1, 2014 I didn't know what was in store! From goal setting, to difficult conversations, coaching to performance management, virtual team building tips, to work-life issues, I've covered a wide range of topics relevant to today's teams.

I've been encouraged by the many emails I have received and discussion with team leaders who are not only reading these posts, but also sharing them with their team members. That's what I had envisioned.

As a writer, the regular habit of planning, writing and researching these posts have made the writing of my latest two books - Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), and the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018) flow more easily. Stay tuned for a couple of new 2019 resources for team leaders and team members, which will also grow out of what I've created here at the TEams365 blog.

Over the last 100 posts I’ve explored our most recent gearing-up for fall, along with the focus on team development approaches. These posts have joined some of the more regular weekly columns:
Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tips
Thursday’s Team Building Questions
Friday’s FlashbackFriday posts which take a look back at past Teams365 pots
Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompts – questions to get you thinking and writing each week
Sunday’s Videos which bring to life many of the hundreds of posts here at the Teams365 blog.
Looking ahead, I’ll be continuing daily posts throughout 2018, with upcoming focus areas on:

Personal Productivity for the Remote Professional
Remote Work tips and Hacks
Planning for 2019
More on team development

I hope that you will continue to join us for these posts!

And now, onto Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip #59:
In Effective Virtual Conversations I wrote “The first few minutes sets the tone. What do you want to create?”.
In conversations of all kinds – team meetings, performance conversations, one-on-ones, difficult conversations, the first few minutes are critical. Are you considering:

The environment you are hosting your conversation in?
What end result you would like to achieve?
What’s important for the other person?
What’s important for you to create?
What’s going to help the conversation be successful?
What expectations do you have?
What expectations do they have?

Which posts have you enjoyed the most here at the Teams365 blog - let us know by commenting below! Please also take a moment today to share this blog resource with someone you know who would benefit.

Thanks,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1693 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #58

8/20/2018

This week brings us to Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #58 and Virtual Facilitation Faux Pas #5 – Not being clear on what’s been agreed to and who is accountable.

With some professionals spending 40% of their time in meetings, it’s important that we make them the most efficient they can be. One of the greatest pitfalls in virtual meetings is not being clear on what’s been agreed to and who is accountable for doing what.

Even if it’s clear who is doing what it is important that you set some times to check in around how progress is coming and what needs an update.

In my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations, I share a template for use in meeting tracking. It gets group members to highlight what has been agreed to, who is following up and what the next steps are.

As a team or group, make sure you are building in a few minutes to recap agreed upon points. The more visual you can make it the better – just hearing it may not be enough.

Think about an efficient way you can keep meetings rolling. Remember, efficient does not always equal the time it takes!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326