Teams365 Blog - Potentials Realized

#TEAMS365 #1679: Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #56

8/6/2018

It is Monday and time for another tip you can use when facilitating a conference call, virtual meeting or virtual team development session. In recent weeks I have been exploring Virtual Facilitation Faux-pas or mistakes you can make. This week we are at number three which is Not Calling on People.
As a facilitator in the virtual space it’s important to:

Be strong on process
Let people know what they can expect in terms of engagement in your calls
It’s unlikely that most people will feel comfortable jumping in with a response – in fear that they may talk over someone else, or cut someone else off. With this in mind, let people know if you will be calling on people (perhaps in order) as you go. It is beneficial when you set this expectation upfront, rather than spring it on people.

Other process pieces are important including:

Letting people know where you are going, what you’ve covered and what agreements have been made
Checking in regularly about what’s been covered and understanding across the group
Utilizing a variety of approaches for engagement and bringing peoples voices and ideas into the room. This might include using breakouts, annotation, chat and/or polls
Ensuring that you start and end on time

What else is going to make your virtual conversation effective this week?

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 Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1672 – EVC Tip 55 – Virtual Facilitation Faux Pas #2 – Not Starting and Ending on Time

7/30/2018

It’s Monday and time for another Effective Virtual Conversation tip. This is the second of a series of five focusing on common mistakes or faux-pas with virtual facilitation. What type of events might you facilitate virtually? A webinar, conference call or group coaching session.

It’s a common practice that some leaders and facilitators may wait until everyone is on a call before starting. Think about this and the ripple effect it may have created.

Virtual facilitation faux pas number two is not starting and ending on time. This becomes even more critical in the virtual space for several reasons:

Technical and access problems may exist that are out of your control, barring people from joining the call on time, or ever.
Callers may be calling in from different parts of their day – from the start to the end, depending on what location they are in;

A best practice to start as scheduled, given that a late start can throw everything out of whack – your schedule and others!

If you are concerned with the impact of starting on time and that people will be upset that you’ve started without them, it’s a great cue to consider creating an agreement so everyone knows that START really means START.

Best,
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

#TEAMS365 #1665 – Effective Virtual Conversation Tip 54: Virtual Facilitation Faux Pas #1 – Not having an agenda

7/23/2018

This week’s Monday Effective Virtual Conversation post starts exploring five different virtual facilitation “faux pas” or mistakes. Each one of these is something which you have control over and can change.
Virtual facilitation ranges from meetings to conference calls to virtual team development sessions.

One of the more common mistakes in the virtual space is not having an agenda. Unlike the in-person world, once a call starts, it’s hard to pull someone into the room. Process often plays a key role, keeping things flowing and moving, in a structured way.

As I write in Effective Virtual Conversations: “Process is king in the virtual realm. It is important to have a plan which you share with others (so they can input into it before the meeting), and one that you refer to throughout the call so people know where you are and where you are going.” (Britton, 2017)

Creating an agenda in advance of the call which goes out to people and is also shaped by participants, ensures that you:
Have all the appropriate agenda items on the list.
Have done any pre-work or had any pre-discussions necessary prior to the meeting
Have the necessary people around the table who need to make a decision.

What meeting agendas do you create? What could use some attention or adjustment?

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

#TEAMS365 #1644 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #51 : Video

7/2/2018

How are you incorporating video to you work? Dialogue? Learning? Virtual Conversations?

A few weeks ago I attended a school field trip with my son’s Grade 7 class. We were visiting a historical site and it was the end of the day. To wrap things up the guide asked if we wanted to watch a video or recap the ideas verbally. It was a resounding 100% “Video!”. On the hour long bus ride back to the school you could hear the continued conversation about the video and its’ contents.

Video is still at a stage where it’s the memorable and novel approach to recapping or sharing information. How are you using video in your work?

Over the last two years I have been experimenting through more use of video, not only here at the blog, but also in presentations and my webinars. You’ll notice that for most Sunday posts over the last year I’ve included a short 2 minute video, bringing to life a blog post. If you’ve taken the time to read the original then view the video, which do you prefer? Take a look at some of the Sunday videos here.

Most of these short 1.5-2.5 minute videos were made via Lumen5. It’s a platform I find intuitively easy to use, and is great if you have content you want to convert to video.

I’ve also experimented with other video platforms – Facebook Live as well as Adobe Spark. In Adobe Spark you can take still photos and add words, plus do a voice over. It’s another great option. Facebook Live, of course, is a different option, and can be a valuable vehicle to connect with your audience in real-time.

How might you be able to use more video in your work? What addition would it provide?

Enjoy the start to your month!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats.
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching(Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2009)
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

#Teams365 #1609: Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #46: Pitfall #9

5/28/2018

Teams365 #1609: Effective Virtual Conversation Tip #46: Pitfall # 9 – Lack of Connection Felt by the Group
We are continuing to make our way through ten different pitfalls for virtual communication as we explore ten different pitfalls as part of our Effective Virtual Conversations Tips.

Here’s what I wrote about Pitfall #9 - Lack of Connection felt by the group – in my latest book, Effective Virtual Conversations:
“It is surprising how facilitators overlook how important it is to build connection among group members. Connection is an essential ingredient for virtual programming, and is an important foundation even with a teleseminar or teleclass which may be more content focused. Engagement levels will be impacted if group members do not feel connected with the host and/or others.

Solution: Consider how you can build connection (as appropriate) amongst group members. If it is an extended program, are you giving air time for everyone to speak? Are you encouraging people to share a bio/photo at the start of the program? For one-off engagements, are you posing questions to the group which they can respond to verbally, by email/chat or by using their key pad? If you are hosting a longer program, are you creating “learning partners” or buddies?”

I’ve dedicated a number of the recent community calls for Effective Virtual Conversations to the topic of building connection in your virtual groups including these 30 minute calls:
Breakouts that Sizzle
Four Ways to Move the Needle on Engagement
The Triad of Trust, Connection and Safety

Click on over to view these calls here.

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats.
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

You can grab a copy of my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, at Amazon. You can also purchase a copy direct from our site, signed by me!

Looking to schedule some team development this fall? Contact me to discuss whether the Everything DiSC or the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team may be a great starting point.

#TEams365 #1588: Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #43: Pitfall #6

5/7/2018

It's Monday and time for another tip for your next virtual meeting, webinar or virtual conversation. It comes from my latest book, Effective Virtual Conversations.

Today’s quote explores pitfall #6 when technology breaks down. In virtual work it can be useful to consider that technology will likely break down, rather than be stable.

As I wrote in Effective Virtual Conversations,
“Technology glitches are one of the most common tricky issues facilitators can face. Always having a back up – or multiple back ups to guard against this. Check out the services you are using and have a back up. Make sure your connection works from your landline and mobile (and VoIP). Sometimes there can be a difference as to what you can access and where.
Know how to complete quick items like record, mute, unmute, raise hands, chat or work a white board. Practice is usually the only way to master these.”

One of the things that a lot of new virtual facilitators find challenging is working with new skill areas or having to multi-task with new skills in two areas. For example, reading chat and speaking at the same time may not be an easy approach, nor may creating breakout rooms while still speaking. Sometimes you may just want to provide a short pause to allow people to write something down or take notes about learning or next steps, while you are trying to do two things at once that you may not be familiar with.

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Looking to spark more conversation with your team? Consider the Conversation Sparker(TM) Cards
Set up a conversation about how we can support you and your team best
(416)996-8326

#Teams365 #1539: Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #36: Robust Toolkits

3/19/2018

Think about all the virtual conversations you have been in, in the last week or more. How many captivated you enough to focus 100% on the conversation, pulling you back from the abyss of multi-tasking and what I call the "Death By Conference Call" mindset in my latest book - Effective Virtual Conversations?

How important is it for you to have a memorable call with others? Do you want to be remembered as the person who broke the mold on the "regular" conference call mindset, or are you ok with being one of a dozen virtual conversations in any given month?

Virtual meetings and conversations can be as engaging, and even more engaging, than in-person meetings, especially if you know how to create multiple engagement points with your attendees or participants. Whether it's a virtual team meeting, a check in conference call, or other, having a robust toolkit is critical in creating a memorable, and engaging, conversation. Throughout the 400 plus pages of my latest book, Effective Virtua Conversations, I cover dozen of strategies and even 24 different approaches (see Chapter 7). For the past seven months I've been hosting a series of community calls on different ways you can engage others through our EVC Community Calls - check them out here.

In terms of building your own toolkit, consider how you might incorporate more:

Breakouts
Annotation
Chat
Polling
Questions which people can reply to or reflect on
Real-time tasks and activities, people can undertake during the call/conversation.

With a new season coming up in a few days this is a great week to try out something different. Pick one of these strategies and give people a few minutes to reflect on or discuss their plans and aspirations for the new season. See what impact it has and loop back with them in a while to see how things are going.

We cover dozens of these strategies real-time, giving you hands-on experience in seeing them modelled, during the Virtual Facilitation Skills Essentials program. This program is starting again in a short while - on Fridays from 1:15 - 2:30 pm ET with virtual sessions being held on zoom on April 6, 13, 20, 27, May 4, 2018
Learn more about the program here - and for coaches interested, note that it is now approved for 8.5 hours of CCEs with the ICF.

Enjoy your virtual conversations this week, and let us know through comments what you decided to do to engage your groups.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Host of the Teams365 blog - Celebrating its 5th year of daily blog posts
Potentials Realized - Programs and Supports for LEaders and Teams
GroupCoachingEssentials.com - Programs and Supports for Group and Team Coaching (ICF CCES), and Award Winning Coaching Skills for Leaders
Email us at info{at}potentialsrealized.com
Phone: (416)996-8326

#Teams365 #1511: Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #32: Less Is More #letstalkvirtual

2/19/2018

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversation tip #32 comes from page 169 of Effective Virtual Conversations where I write:

“Less truly is more in virtual facilitation. First, everything you do, especially the first time, is likely to take more than when you expect…Since it is a natural impulse for most of us to try to put as much into a program as we can, this can lead to overwhelm”

In the virtual space, less is more, simpler is better. This goes from how many topics or ideas you want to cover in the call, to the approaches you might want to incorporate to the transitions you want to make. It usually takes more ime than you expect.

Over the past two decades I have worked with thousands of professionals – from leaders, to trainers, and coaches – who are designing their own group programs. Whether it is a one hour webinar or a full-day virtual retreat less is more in all aspects of design. Clarity is critical in the work that we do.

As you go to consider your design , ask yourself these questions,

What does less is more mean in my work and programming?
What is the primary focus?
How does everything I am including relate to that?
What are the elements which could be simplified?
What are the instructions which could be simplified?
How am I making, or how am I supporting connections back to that core?

Enjoy the start to your week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats.
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations - Conference calls? Webinars? Virtual coaching work? Pick up a copy of my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, at Amazon.

New in 2018 - The Teams365 Leadership Lab - an annual group for leaders which meets every two weeks throughout 2018. We'll be exploring topics like Emotional Intelligence, Team Management, Coaching Skills. Download the call schedule here

#Teams365 #1476: Effective Virtual Conversation Tip #27: Peer LEarning

1/15/2018

Peer learning can be even more powerful than learning from a leader or formal instructor. In 1995, Griffiths, Housten and Lazenbatt from the University of Ulster identified 10 different models of peer learning. These included: peer learning cells, to mentor-mentee relationships, collaborative work, buddy systems and others. Check out Boud's article here which makes reference to them.

A 2017 study from Michigan State University[1] found that those undertaking an online course, learned better when hearing from their peers, than the instructor’s rationale. They scored 92 on an online test compared to 86. (Michigan State University. "Peers, more than teachers, inspire us to learn." Science Daily. ScienceDaily, 21 March 2017. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170321110341.htm)

As the study states, “"We found that receiving the instructor rationale led to lower final grades than both the peer rationale and no rationale conditions," Roseth said. "This gives support to the idea that, motivationally, the fact that instructors control grades, tell the students what do to, and so on, may be working against their efforts to increase their students' appreciation of why the class is important."

In the virtual space, building in both formal and informal peer touchpoints can be invaluable for learning and engagement. Every time I put people into breakout they come back energized.
Peer touchpoints could include:

Breakouts - see this recent Teams365 post on using breakouts
Peer partners who meet in between the formal peer touch points
Mastermind groups where you learn from each other
Reading groups
Social Media Communities (Facebook Groups etc)

What enhanced peer connections can you create in your virtual programming?

[1] Tae S. Shin, John Ranellucci, Cary J. Roseth. Effects of peer and instructor rationales on online students’ motivation and achievement. International Journal of Educational Research, 2017; 82: 184 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijer.2017.02.001

Have a great start to your week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats.
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations - Conference calls? Webinars? Virtual coaching work? Pick up a copy of my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, at Amazon.

New in 2018 - The Teams365 Leadership Lab - an annual group for leaders which meets twice a month throughout 2018. We'll be exploring topics like Emotional Intelligence, Team Management, Coaching Skills. We'll be kicking off on January 26th at 845 am ET online.

#TeaMs365 #1441: Effective Virtual Conversation Tip #25: Feedback

12/11/2017

It is Monday and time for another Effective Virtual Conversations tip. This week we come to tip #25. In Effective Virtual Conversations I write "Feedback from your group is essential to facilitation growth and mastery". Whether you have been facilitating for one month or several decades, facilitation is a skill set where we are constantly refining our craft. Feedback is an important vehicle to hone our approaches and techniques, based on what our learners/groups like and don't like.

Many facilitators leave evaluation for the last session, when in fact you will want to ask for feedback throughout. Feedback about:
pace,
interactivity,
how the material/content is connecting with people,
the platform you are using,
and activities and techniques you are using.

What else might you be looking to ask for feedback around?

AT the end of my first session with groups I generally ask them these three questions (which we'll revisit again for longer programs):
1. What worked well for your learning today?
2. What are you taking away (or what has been reinforced for you)?
3. What should we do differently next time?

What I love about working with groups is that every conversation is different, because every group is different. This keeps our work every fresh!

What are the questions you want feedback on? How will you be evaluating your groups? For more on this topic refer to multiple sections of Effective Virtual Conversations including chapter 6 (Preparing for Blast Off) and 7 (Activities)

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats.
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations - Conference calls? Webinars? Virtual coaching work? Pick up a copy of my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, at Amazon.