This week’s Flashback Friday takes us back to a 2015 post I entitled “Empathy and Connection in Virtual Teams”. Emotional Intelligence skills such as relationship building, influence and fostering trust and connection become even more important in today’s remote and virtual teams. I thought it would be useful to revisit this post to get you thinking about what you are doing and what you could expand upon.

Here’s what I wrote in Teams365 #1533:

One of the skills which is important to develop in the virtual world today is empathy. One of the challenges is that we don't get to see beyond the screen.  What are some ways we can be building more empathy and understanding with other virtual team members?

​What comes to mind in terms of ways you can boost more connection and understanding amongst team members?

​Empathy is a skill set critical for teamwork and leadership. In fact, I probably could do a series of posts on this topic.  In today's post, I want to zoom into the question of "what are some practical ways to build more empathy across virtual teams, while also boosting connection?". 

​There have been some great writings by others on the topic of empathy. Consider these articles -

​Empathy in Leadership - 10 Reasons Why It Matters by Tanveer Naseer. Read it here.

​Matthew Taylor's Empathy in Leadership: Coaching Leaders to Manage Their Stories. Read it here.
​
Center for Creative Leadership: Empathy in the Workplace. Find this here.

​As virtual teams, here are some ways we can build our skills in empathy while building connection:

​1. Provide opportunities for team members to get to know each other - online and offline. While some virtual teams will never meet, building in time for "getting to know" each other is critical. This could entail dedicating some time to sharing "what's outside your window" or “on your desk" as I describe in Chapter 7 of my new book Effective Virtual Conversations.

​2. Create formal learning partnerships with others on the team. Many virtual teams benefit from having peer partners to meet with on a regular basis. This helps us to learn more about each other, what projects we are working on. As we listen and learn more trust, connection and understanding is created.

​3. Be present and listen. We continue to see how important the ability to focus on virtual conversations is. Nothing will destroy trust and connection faster than hearing another person on the end of the phone or typing away at an email while you are speaking together. What will it take to be present, focus, and deeply listen in your virtual conversations?

​4. Listen for the deeper layers - typically in listening we may be staying at the surface. Hearing with one ear and thinking about what we are going to say back to the other person. In the deeper listening needed by virtual teams today, listen to what the person is saying. Notice the pace, pitch of the conversation. Notice what is the emotion behind the words? What is being said? 
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​5. Take time to share more about your world, your work, your priorities. An important part of empathy is understanding. It's a two-way street - being open to share, and being receptive to listening. how much are you sharing about your world, your work and your priorities?

​There are multiple ways be can be focusing on the skills of empathy as we build connection on teams. What are some approaches you as a team want to focus on?

You can read the original post here.

Enjoy your weekend,
Jennifer

It’s time for another weekly journaling prompt. These are geared to get you to build in a pause point every week and think about what is important to you.

This week the question is “at my best I am….”

In past posts I've shared the benefits of journaling. You can read that post here.

One of the activities I take a lot of teams through is this reflectin of who they are when they are at their best. Reconnecting with what's worked, and who we are when we are leveraging our skills and strengths can create a strong pivot.

Today I hope you will find some time to create a few minutes to capture reflections of times when you were at your best.

Enjoy your writing!
​Jennifer

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets you thinking about the question “Something I won’t forget….”

Our memories can easily fade and transmute with time. Writing things out provides us with a clearer indication of what did happen.

As you consider the events from the last few months, what are the things you want to remember? What are the things you don’t want to forget next time….?

A quick reminder that I have pulled the Weekly Journaling Prompts together in a quarterly format. You can pick up and download the first 12 weeks of the series in a new downloadable booklet format at the Potentials Realized store. Here are a few shots of Volume 1 – the first 12 weeks in action.

Enjoy!
​Jennifer

​Today’s blog post gets us thinking about values. Values serve as anchors or a compass, leading the way or anchoring us when we need to make decisions, prioritize and focus.
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In an uncertain context, being clear about our behaviors as a team is critical. As we go to explore our values, we may first want to consider what our values are individually. To do this, we might explore the following questions:

• What is important to me?
• What are the things I will take a stand for?
• What’s absolutely essential to have in my work/life?
• What makes me angry/happy/at ease?

 
All of these questions will usually point to a value which is important.
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Underneath the words of a value are the behaviors. What do the values look like in action? If I were to take my phone into the workplace and record behaviors, what would I see?

As a team, and especially a remote team, having a focus on values can help during periods of uncertainty. Even though the context may change, hopefully our values are not changing in the arena.

As a team, this week consider what your top 3 operating values are this year. What are you committed to, no matter what? Behaviorally, what do these values look like in action?

Best,
​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 an digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

Happy Saturday! It’s time for another Weekly Journaling Prompt here at the Teams365 blog. Have you downloaded your copy of the first 6 weeks booklet?

For a short while, readers here at the blog will have access to this resource for free. Use code THANKSTEAMS365 when prompted. 

Today’s weekly journaling prompt gets you to consider the question:

What I want to more fully embrace is…?

I hope that you will take a few minutes today or this weekend to journal on this question. After you have journaled, review what you have written and note:

• What do you notice about this?
• What’s holding you back from embracing it more?
• What changes do you want to make?
• What else is important to note about this question?

Enjoy your reflections!
​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 an digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

3 Rs to Content Creation
Tip #14 – content creation: Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle

“Recycling turns things into other things. Which is like magic.”
– Anonymous

Do you have to start from scratch? Part of the challenge of moving so quickly in today’s workplace is that we may not be harvesting what we have already created, as well as leveraging learning and results regularly.
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If you’ve gotten good results from something (for example, an email campaign, an article, or a social media post), what it the next iteration of that?
In magnifying our content, we can:

• Repurpose
• Reuse
• Recycle

Let’s look at an example. Perhaps you led a speaking engagement on Emotional Intelligence. Chances are you did a lot of research into the topic and there are things that can be REPURPOSED. Are there some resources you can point your clients to as an extended resource to them? A new offshoot be a one-page resource list (TED Talks, books list) OR a checklist for them to complete?
What are the things that can be quickly repurposed into other formats?

At the same time, there may be many ways we can re-use, and leverage things already created in our business. From reusing processes so that we avoid pitfalls, to reusing a proven checklist we have created and is road-tested in another program, reusing is key.

A third way is to recycle. In content creation, recycling is key. A very popular way to design programs is to build it through small packets or modules. You might have a one-hour module on Emotional Intelligence (EI) in general, another on building EI in your team, and a separate one around “Self-management”. These could be recombined, or recycled, for future programs, creating a whole new resource!

Activity
Take a look at all the content you have created. Note it down. This could include blog posts, Instagram stories, Facebook Lives, etc.
As you look at what you have created already, consider:

• What are the things your clients are looking for related to your already created content?
• What are the vehicles they would like that in? (Think blog post, Instagram post, video, e-book, other)?
• What would the 3Rs look like – repurpose, reuse, recycle?

Conversation Sparkers

• What can be repurposed into a new format?
• What could be reused?
• What can be recycled to create something new?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​As part of our wind down for the year, I wanted to post several very practical and tactical resource posts. Posts around books, apps and other resources  I have seen teams and leaders leaning into this year.
As a writer and avid reader, I am starting first with books as I am usually on the search at the library and bookstore for different offerings. Here are ten that I’ve found myself recommending a lot!
Emotional Intelligence – The EQ Leader – Howard Stern. Emotional Intelligence continues with its popularity for good reason. These are the skills we need to succeed in an ever changing world – relationship building, self-management, understanding others and ourselves. Earlier this year I picked up  a copy of the EQ Leader and have found it an invaluable read.
The Coaching Habit – Michael Bungay Stanier – I love the way Michael’s book breaks down coaching into bite sized pieces for professionals of all kinds. A definite great read!
Thanks for the Feedback – Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen – Feedback seems to be an ongoing thorn for leaders, teams and anyone who is in relationship with others (i.e. ALL OF US!). This is a great book which gets you thinking about what feedback can look and sound like.
For those that do like to plan – take a look at the Bullet Journal  - Ryder Carroll.  I’ve been a convert of the Bujo  (short form for Bullet Journal) Movement for several years now, finding that the blank planning spaces create a pause in my otherwise busy day. While I use a variety of different planning resources including my own upcoming Plan.Do.Track, I always have my trust Bullet Journal nearby which houses some of the Meta Learning and Themes of the Year.
Amy Edmondson –  Extreme Teaming. I’ve continued to recommend the writing and research of Amy Edmondson for many reasons to teams this year. Her research has focused on both the notion of psychological safety, as well as the concept of teaming, which captures the active evolution of teams today. Any of Amy’s books are a great read and an important primer for teams in understanding what she calls the 4 pillars of teaming – Speaking up, Collaboration, Experimentation and Reflection.
What are the books you have been recommending to others this year?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

This week’s team skill is in the area of Emotional Intelligence. For years, leaders at all levels have been exposed to developing more skills. In today’s remote work place, the skill sets encapsulated within the EI framework of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social management are key to employees of all types.
Emotional Intelligence skills incorporate skills such as:

• Collaboration
• Influence
• Working through relationships

Given that remote workers do not work within their  own bubbles, and do need to reach out with others, developing more skills in these areas can be important. Be sure to check out some of these resources:

• The EQ Leader – Steven J. Stein 
• Emotional Intelligence 2.0  - this is a useful self-assessment which individuals can complete
• The EQ Edge – Steven J. Stein

As you consider the skills which make up the bundle of EI skills, what do you notice? What are the things that enable you to do your best work?

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 several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) 
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

This week’s Journaling prompt gets you to reflect and write on the statement of “I am most looking forward to…”

Building in time each week to reflect ad write in an unstructured way helps to focus, clarify and sometimes even ease the mind.
​
The Huffington Post published an article last year by Thai Nguyen entitled “Ten surprising benefits you’ll get from keeping a journal” highlighting some of the benefits of journaling ranging from support to goals, mindfulness, emotional intelligence and others such as. Read the article here.

What do you see as the benefits from writing a journal?

For more than a decade as I lived and worked throughout Central and South America, working for the UN and several grassroots development organizations, I kept a regular daily journal. Journaling has always been an amazing tool for me to:

• Capture ideas and events
• Clarify thoughts and explore options
• Identify themes in my work and life I may not have connected before
• Help to identify and focus on priorities

If you have missed any of the past Saturday journaling prompts, view them here. 
 
Enjoy your weekend,
Jennifer

In the first FlashbackFriday of the month I wanted to take you to back to the month of April 2017 when I last did a series on teamwork skills. I hope that you will check out the posts from that month as you go through this month’s series.
I wanted to link us back to Teams365 #1211 where I spotlighted 10 different team development activities. Several of these are useful in building capacity in the different teamwork areas we’ll be exploring this month – trust, emotional intelligence, collaboration, relationship building etc.
 
Here’s what I wrote in that post:
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Whether it's an offsite team retreat, or a strategic planning session, or a one day team building session, teams benefit from  focused time together, time spent in getting to know each other and also focusing in on goals and results.

​The following list includes ten areas you may want to explore together as a team during your upcoming team development sessions:

​1. What's your vision? As we've seen in other posts, having a shared vision is critical in creating alignment and supporting team members to work more autonomously. As Seneca wrote, "If one does not know to which port is sailing, no wind is favorable."
​What's your vision as a team?

​2. What do you have going for you? Doing work around strengths can be a powerful way to help team members get to know each other, and understand what they uniquely bring to the team. Whether you explore StrengthsFinder 2.0 or undertake an Everything DiSC profile, learning more about ourselves helps us understand our natural inclinations as well as where we tend to go when under stress or pressure (which can be a daily reality for some teams today!).

​3. Fun initiative tasks - It's important to have fun and websites like Wilderdom.com provide you with dozens (if not hundreds of fun ideas of things to do).

​4. Tower Building - There are many iterations of tower building. in essence it's about providing micro-teams or smaller groups with asset of materials to build the tallest tower they can in the time provided. It's a great activity to bring out new learning around roles, planning and communication!

​5. Moving from point a to b - My roots in the late 1980s in experiential education come out when I get to incorporate the "old school" initiative tasks of getting people to "Cross the divide" and move from point a to b with the resources provided. This can be a great activity to reinforce innovation and practice.

​6. Scavenger Hunts - Although these take some time to plan, scavenger hunts in a "bounded" area can be extremely fun and great for those that like to compete!

​7. Work with Visual Cards - sparking conversations is a huge part of the work I do with teams, and photographs and other visual cards are a different way to invite exploration around topics like perspectives, innovation and strategy. Check out our Conversation Sparker Cards for more info.

​8. Team Bingo - It's always good to return to the basics and even if you have worked together for a while, it's likely that you don't know everything about each other. the organizer can ask each team member to submit one or two interesting factoids about themselves and these statements can be put in a bingo format (5 x 5 layout). The first person to capture all the right signatures wins! A fun way to learn a little more about your team.

​9. Team Storyboard - using scrapbooking materials, photos and other materials, have the team create a storyboard of your greatest adventures!

​10.  Team Model - using aluminum foil, have the team create a model which represents who you are. It's always interesting to see just what can be created out of tinfoil.

​What do you think you might try at your next meeting? I hope that it has sparked some new ideas and possibilities for you.
Here's a link to that original post.
 
What do you want to make sure you schedule and incorporate for your team this fall?

Best,
​Jennifer