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TEAMS365 #2555 – Top Effective Virtual Conversations Posts of This Year

12/28/2020

This year I saw my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations, 10 x in terms of the sales. The world literally went virtual overnight back in March (or even earlier).

As we roll down the year, I thought it would be useful to highlight 5 of my favorite Effective Virtual Conversations posts for the year:

From February EVC Tip #174 – Micro-meetings. How many meetings did you attend this year? What would have made them better? Shorter?
From this Summer – The Messy Middle – EVC Tip #160
Ways to Keep Your Virtual Meetings in the Flow
Effective Virtual Conversations – Stories – EVC Tip #167
And a revisit to this 2017 video on the Habits of Effective Virtual Facilitators

All the 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

TEAMS365 #2554 – Weekly Review

12/27/2020

This week we took a walk down memory lane and looked at the following:

It’s been a pleasure to continue bringing you blog posts about remote work and effective virtual conversations. I look forward to continuing to serve you!

Enjoy the conversation,
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

TEAMS365 #2549 – Posts You Will Want to Check Out From 2020 on Virtual Conversations

12/22/2020

Little did I know how significant remote work and virtual conversations would feature this time last year when I set my stake in the ground around remote work. With more than three billion people moving to Work From Home arrangements, and social distancing becoming the norm, the need to create engaging virtual conversations became an essential skill set.

As someone who has written on the topics of virtual conversations and remote work for many years now, it was wonderful to be featured in several publications and referred to by others.

Here are some of my favorite posts from 2020 around virtual conversations:

Teams365 #2339: Ways to Keep your Virtual Meeting in the Flow. Read it here.

Teams365 Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #148: What’s Going to Keep It Memorable? – Read it here.

Teams365 #2291: Virtual Meetings – Keeping them on Track – Read it here.

Teams365 #2170 – Effective Virtual Conversation Tip #123 – Remote Teams: Check it out here.

Teams365 #2023: Keeping It Simple: Read it here.

Teams365 #1225 - Adjusting our Listening in the Virtual Realm - Check it out here.

Teams365 #1609 - Virtual Facilitation Pitfall #9 - Read it here.

Teams #1322: Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 8 - #1322 - Read it here.

Plus these articles I wrote which can be found at Thrive Global:

Making Your Next Virtual Meetings and Calls Memorable - Read it here.

Keeping Your Virtual Meetings on Track: Read it here.

What were your favorite posts here at the Teams365 blog this year?

With best wishes,
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

TEAMS365 #2545 – Flashback Friday – Stand Out Virtually – Teams365 #2395

12/18/2020

The Stand Out Virtually micro-brand was birthed this past summer in June. I first started writing it here at the blog on July 21st with the Flashback Friday post I shared. Here it is again in case you missed it:

The digital space can get very crowded, with one Zoom call looking like another.

Today’s post gets you thinking about different ways you can stand out virtually. If you are a leader, coach or business owner, what can do you do make sure that your call stands out virtually?

#1 – Be clear – From the start, let people know what they can expect. How long is the call? What’s being covered? What is the process going to be?

#2 – Create expectations – From the start, let people know what they can expect. What is the process you are going to follow? A lack of clarity creates a lack of certainty.

#3 – Consider the visuals which will create a WOW – Our brains process visuals faster than text. What are the visual elements you want to use to help anchor your work? What is the environment you would like to create?

#4 – Create a pause – One of the common characteristics of a lot of virtual calls these days is that there is no space to breathe. Literally. There’s no pauses or chance to catch your breath. Part of creating memorability is doing something different or novel.

#5 – Create connection – In my remote working whitepaper I shared the 7 Cs – Remote Enablers. Connection (along with clarity) is one of them. We want to make sure that we are creating CONNECTION on multiple levels, in multiple ways. What is the connection to the topic? What is the connection to a person’s world? What is the connection to others on the call? What are you doing to create connection?

#6 - What’s your call to action? What is the call to action you are making? What will people do after the call? Are you building in time for people to note their next steps? Articulate or share their next steps?

As you think about your upcoming conversations in the year ahead, What’s your favorite tip? Share with us in the comments below.

Enjoy the conversation and reflection,
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

TEAMS365 #2527 - Stand Out Virtually Principle #3 - Things Get Magnified in the Remote Space

11/30/2020

Welcome back to another Stand Out Virtually weekly principle. This week I wanted to share the principle that “Things get magnified in the remote space”. That’s the good, the bad, and the not so great.

What are the things you want to showcase? When we have limited time together as teams or others, things become more pronounced.

If things are unclear, it’s likely that they will be even more unclear. If people feel disconnected, their sensation may be even more around disconnection.

What are the things you want to spotlight? What needs volume to be amplified around? To be minimized?

Enjoy the conversation,
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

TEAMS365 #2506 – EVC Tip #175: Keep It Simple!

11/9/2020

Keep it simple has been a mantra of my work for three decades now. Whether it’s been navigating complexity in leading post-disaster management programming with the UN or supporting thousands of coaches to develop their own group coaching programming, “keep it simple” is key.

Think about today’s virtual context. People don’t want another slide or tidbit of information. They likely want to spend time in conversation and connection with others.

What are you doing to what I call “distill things down to the core” so the most important elements are present?

This may involve invoking the three-part rubric of “Need to Know, Nice to Know and Where to Go” (which I originally picked up as a great train-the-trainer tip from Bob Pike back in 2000 – thank you Bob!)

This week consider what you can do to keep things simple in your virtual programming. This might entail “keeping it simple” around:

Process
Instructions
The number of questions you ask
Post Work
The number of goals people are focusing on

I first wrote about “keeping things simple” back in Effective Group Coaching, and then again in From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching.

What else can you do to keep things simple?

Best wishes,
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

TEAMS365 #2499 EVC Tip #174 – Micro-meetings

11/2/2020

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip gets you to think about the concept of Micro-meetings. What’s a micro-meeting you ask? A short, meeting burst which is often held on a regular basis, compared to the longer, more drawn out conversations you may be considering with meetings.

What’s the value of a micro-meeting? Given the remote space, and virtual world of work these days, our worlds can shift and change quite dramatically in the course of the week, without our colleagues seeing it unfold in front of them.

What are the elements needed for a micro-meeting to work well?

Time earmarked for the conversation on a regular basis. This may mean daily, or every few days, rather than weekly or even monthly. The value of meeting more frequently often means that you don’t have to cover as many topics, or don’t have to spend as much time on updates, given that calls are more frequent.
A specific topic. Trying to bite off too much in one meeting doesn’t work well. Have a focus, and possibly a micro-agenda – i.e. topic of the day or different days earmarked for different topics
A system so that notes and takeaways are focused on. This might include things like using a Kanban board, to help you keep on focus.
A system so everyone owns the meeting. If meetings fall to only one person on the team, it’s likely that it becomes “their” thing, rather than the entire “team’s” focus. What are you doing to ensure that everyone on the team OWNS it?

Enjoy your focus today on this. What else is 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

TEAMS365 #2492 – Effective Virtual Conversations #173: Gallery Walk

10/26/2020

One of my favorite activities at the end of a meeting or training session is the Gallery Walk. In in-person realms, we can look around the room at what has been created, on flipcharts or a whiteboard.

What can we do to translate this to the virtual environment?

We can do a Virtual Gallery Walk!

As you go through your meeting or training virtually, consider what are the elements you want to highlight and showcase at the end.

You might take screenshots as you go through a meeting OR you might bring forward whiteboards again.

Think about what moments will highlight the different moments in time.

Enjoy the “walk down memory lane”!
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

TEAMS365 #2485 – Effective Virtual Conversations #172 – Screenshots

10/19/2020

Our brain processes images faster than text or words. With that in mind, what can you do to use more screenshots in your virtual events, particularly if you have met over multiple sessions? In former in-person events, one of my favorite activities was to a gallery walk at the end of the program. In the event virtual space, we can do that by showing some of the screenshots we’ve taken as we’ve gone throughout our journey.

The best practice is to always be sure that you have permission or have indicated that you will be sharing screenshots from an event.

Consider these software and apps for taking screenshots:

The snipping tool in Windows
Snagit (a software)
Lightshot - if you are on a Mac or apple product
Check out these different options as well – Best Free Screenshot Options for Windows
How to take a screenshot on android

Beyond the HOW TO’s, think about the screen shots which will capture the themes, funny moments and highlights of your current conversations. What’s going to support you?

Enjoy the conversation!
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

TEAMS365 #2578 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #171 – Latency and Recency Effect

10/12/2020

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip is one I cover in Chapter 6 of the book – the Latency and Recency Effect. This neuroscience principle asserts that we remember the start and end of things. The things that fall in the middle are forgotten (unless reinforced).

So, what are the implications of this for virtual calls? Consider what are the elements you want to reinforce or specify at the start and end of calls, given that these are the things which will be best remembered by those participating.
To make a start of a virtual call memorable:

Let people know:
- What the purpose is.
- What level of engagement is expected. It’s different to attend a call when you are spoken to, versus a call where you are actively shaping the agenda and focus, feeding into discussions and dialogue.
Provide an opportunity for people to “Get Grounded” and connected to the topic of the meeting. We move from one video call to another these days and it’s important to provide an opportunity for people to be able to focus on where you are going. What’s the question which will get people connected into the topic of the conversation?

Capture people’s attention. What is going to e unique or memorable?

In terms of the end of the call, provide an opportunity to focus in on:

What were key messages or topics covered?
What are the next steps?
Who is responsible for what and what are the different accountabilities?

Enjoy your conversations!
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