Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

TEAMS365 #2443 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 166: Mix It Up

9/7/2020

Engagement is key for virtual conversations. Unfortunately, a lot of poor presentation skills have translated over to the remote space. Even if you are not a great presenter, you can create a memorable call, by mixing it up. What does that mean? It means:

Varying the pace every 7-10 minutes with a pace change or adjustment
Using a variety of approaches – presentation, dialogue in a bigger group, discussion in smaller groups
Using a variety of media – video, text, photos
Remembering that we don’t learn when we are “talked at” by a presenter. We learn when we can put things into practice, and also discuss the topic with others

Many of the platforms which are available (Teams, Zoom etc) have a variety of tools available which aren’t always used. Consider what you can do to activate:

BREAKOUTS
ANNOTATION
POLLS

We’ll be exploring this and a variety of other topics at my upcoming one-day Stand Out Virtually Masterclass on September 17th. Learn more about the day and reserve your spot to join us!

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

Join us September 17th virtually for the one-day Stand Out Virtually! Studio Day Masterclass - Learn more about creating exceptional virtual presentations, meetings and programs, and leave the day with your next one sketched out! ENVISION. DESIGN. CONNECT.

TEAMS365 #2436 - Effective Virtual Conversations #165: Facilis!

8/31/2020

Welcome back to another Effective Virtual Conversations tip. This week’s EVC tip is a reminder of the roots of facilitation. The word is actually derived from the Latin word - Facilis which means to make easy.

The role of the facilitator, particularly the virtual facilitator is to make things easy. That means making a focus on PROCESS easy. What’s the purpose? What can people expect? What are you doing?

Making connection EASY. As I shared earlier this month in the STAND OUT Virtually Challenge – that means connecting with the CONTEXT, with OTHERS, with YOU. What are you doing to make this easy?

Making outcomes EASY. Part of the mastery of a facilitator is having a variety of tools available to get to the outcomes required. This is where it’s important to have a wide toolkit. I’ve enjoyed helping many professionals build out their virtual toolkits this year in the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program.

Finally, it’s also about making ENGAGEMENT EASY. What are you doing to keep things moving? It’s important to be able to focus in on engagement - which is linked to connection as well as process.

What does FACILIS mean for you in your work?

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

TEAMS365 #2422 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 163

8/17/2020

Happy Monday! Did you know that this week I am hosting a 5-day challenge online - geared to provide you with 5 days of focus on helping you Stand Out Virtually! I hope you will consider joining us – each call will be available for a 24-hour period if you can’t make the live call time which is 9 am ET/Toronto/New York time. We’re meeting from today until Friday August 21st.

Today’s tip connects in with some of the themes I’m addressing this week which are engagement, interactivity and visuals.

Today’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip gets you to think about how you might use word clouds as a way to capture and present information.

Two resources I have used in the past to present data to teams and organizations I work with are – WordClouds.com and WordArt.com.

For a cool interactive polling feature, check out MentiMeter.com. You can create real time word clouds using polling.

What other resources do you like to use?

Be sure to check out these resources and also share with us additional ones you use!
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 #2415 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 162: Silence

8/10/2020

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip gets you thinking about SILENCE. How much silence are you leaving in your virtual calls?

In my work and writing I call this a “micro-pause” and the inclusion of even 30 – 90 seconds of intentional silence can make a big difference in the remote space when you are leading virtual calls.

It’s likely that most calls you lead are heavy on the side of content and flow, and less about pause and silence.

With a professional’s day full of back-to-back conversations, it’s really important that we do leave micro-pauses of 30 -90 seconds or more during calls to help people REFLECT, PROCESS and COMMIT TO NEXT STEPS.

Consider these opportunities for incorporating a micro-pause:

Before opening up a question for discussion, have people write out their response for 30 seconds.
Structure a call with a component which has a series of timed prompts, with silence in between. I often host calls where we have anywhere from 5 – 20 minutes of reflective prompts, particularly at the end of projects and/or months/quarters. These have easily become people’s favorites and have been noted to be invaluable as they are something people aren’t doing on their own.
Mid-way through the call pausing for a minute to have people note for themselves what is the “one thing they can apply to their work”. After the minute pause (not during) have them share it with others
60 - 90 seconds towards the end of the call, for people to note their top 1-3 takeaways and schedule them in

It can be useful to have whoever is facilitating the call to set a timer so they too can relax and drop into the reflection themselves.

What other ways might you create a pause?

Enjoy the reflection!
Jennifer

PS - Take a minute and be sure to join us over at the Virtual and Remote Visionaries Hub as well on Facebook. You can join us here.

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 #2410 – Beat Zoom Fatigue With These Tips

8/5/2020

As someone who has worked virtually for the better part of multiple decades I too can suffer from “The Death By Conference Call” or what’s now being referred to as “Zoom Fatigue”. I’ve been so committed to helping others create more engaging calls for themselves that I even wrote a whole book on it - Effective Virtual Conversations. Pick up a copy here.

Having hosted my own calls on Zoom since 2016, I’ve always had a majority of people say that they love virtual calls with me. So, what’s different? INTERACTIVITY. ENGAGEMENT. Not talking AT people, but sparking a dialogue.
Dialogue comes from the Latin words “dialogus”, meaning discourse or conversation.

What are you doing to spark a conversation in the remote space on your zoom (or Teams, or Blue Jeans) calls?

Consider these elements:

Use breakouts where possible, and limit breakouts to 5 or less. The smaller, usually the better. People love to connect with peers, share their ideas and hear their own voices. Consider how you will have people report back with their ideas.
Consider the multiple ways you are going to get people active during the calls. There are a variety of different ways from chat, to polls, to annotation. What’s going to help people interact and be in conversation, in multiple ways, on multiple channels?
Ditch the texty slides - - or at least intersperse them with rich graphics. Our brains process visuals quicker than text, so consider alternative ways to communicate your message
Consider the pre- and post- work (reading, videos etc) which can be done so that your time together is a conversation, not a presentation.
Engage at least every 7-10 minutes. This “7-10 minute pace switch” which I write about is key to keeping calls moving and people engaged. You can change the pace by asking a question and having people respond, doing a poll or having people annotate on the screen.

What are the things we can do? What are the changes you want to make to your work?

Want to learn more? Consider joining me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program to boost your skills and confidence in leading virtual calls. Learn more and register here.

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 #2402 – Back to the Basics: Energy of Virtual Calls

7/28/2020

This week’s Back to the Basics takes us to one of the 7 Cs (The Remote Enablers) – link to 7 Cs blog post – communication, and more specifically, the energy of the calls you are leading and attending.

How well are you listening in conversations these days? With Zoom fatigue becoming a term that gets thrown around a lot, I’m curious to ask, what do you notice when you are on streaming calls with your communication, and listening in particular?

In the remote space our visual cues are limited to the small 2x3 window we can see people in. Literally their shoulders up.

Having led calls on Zoom for the last five years, and since 2004 (and earlier) on other virtual platforms, it’s likely that we are listening in for a couple of things:
The tone. The pace. The pitch.

AND …the....

Energy of the call – The next call you are on, notice the energy of the call. This is not just with the speaker, but also with everyone else on the call. What do you see and hear?

Energy is transmitted not only through what’s being said but also the pace of conversation. As I like to share in the virtual train-the-trainers I lead, energy is shaped through the levels of engagement of the group. Are we encouraging people to connect with the content in different ways?

Verbally through the use of breakouts?

On the screen through the use of annotation?

Via polls?

By answering questions?

What are you noticing with the energy of the calls you are hosting?

Several of the foundational principles we want to practice when designing and leading calls are:

Less is more – It’s hard to leave time to engage people if there is too much content you want to, or need to, cover. If you can’t add time, consider asking yourself these questions which I originally heard from Master Trainer Bob Pike years ago - “What’s a nice to have versus what’s a need to have with the conversation” A third question of “Where to do”, can further help to identify where content (extra or supplementary) can go.
Vary approaches – We all create learning in different ways. From auditory to visual to kinesthetic approaches. While learning styles have been argued about in many research circles over the years, I’d ask you to consider what you have noticed with this topic in the virtual domain.

What is important to explore around this topic of the energy of calls you are participating in, or leading? Check out your assumptions around how you are “reading the room” by asking each group member to share “one word which describes the energy they are leaving the call with”. It’s an interesting litmus test.

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

TEAMS365 #2331 - Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 145

5/18/2020

We’re going back in time for this week’s Effective Virtual Conversation Tip. We’re winding back the clock and looking at EVC Tip #45. In Effective Virtual Conversations tip I was exploring 10 different pitfalls we can face with virtual conversations including #8 which focused on low ENERGY!

I’m sure this may have been something you have experienced recently.

Here’s what I wrote about approaching low energy back a few years ago:

Pitfall #8 of the ten pitfalls I share is one of “low energy”. This is a common one that can be experienced in virtual conversations of all kinds. Whether it is because we are on a platform that does not allow us to stream and see each other, or whether it’s because of the time of day we are calling in, or the topic we are exploring, there are a variety of reasons we can experience “low energy” in the virtual space.

The downside of low energy is that it leads to disengagement, disconnection, lack of focus, and an ineffective use of time.

Here’s what I wrote about pitfall #8 – low energy – in my book, Effective Virtual Conversations:

Pitfall #8 – Low Energy
Virtual programs can be challenging for new facilitators in terms of the energy and feedback you receive.

Solution: If you are using a phone-based system only, other than enabling people to raise their hands in response or signal their agreement on their keypad, it may feel like you are talking into a black hole. Your energy is imperative in keeping the flow going. Remember that it is critical to engage your group members every 5-7 minutes. Without involvement and engagement, it is challenging for anyone to continue to focus, let alone participate.

Flash forward to today and 2020 – here are three things that I’ve been doing to ensure we don’t have low energy for long:

#1 Send people to breakouts. Smaller paired or triad discussion is a great way to get energy flowing again. When we get to talk about the topics and issues which are important to us, they are an immediate activator.

#2 Invitation to participate in a stretch or mindfulness exercise to generate some new energy.

#3 Inclusion in a warm up exercise or energizer like – "What’s outside your window?", or an A-Z scavenger hunt in your immediate surroundings (gather up an item from each of the alphabet).

What else might boost some energy for your next call?

Enjoy!
jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar

PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here.

TEAMS365 #2297 How to Maximize Your One-On-One Time with Remote Team Members

4/14/2020

As a former remote team leader of a very diverse team spread across almost 10 countries, I spent a lot of time for many years in one-on-one conversation with my team members. I still get a lot of requests from both new and seasoned team leaders about how they can amplify their one-on-one time with remote team members.

Our role as leaders in the remote space shifts significantly to one of an ENABLER, COACH and LIAISON. With our team spread out across areas we cannot see, empowerment is key. Time spent on a regular basis with the team collectively, as a well as individually is paramount. When operating in the remote space it’s not so much about taking the time to catch up on work, but rather to be proactive in keeping the conversation going and building capacity of the team to do their best work.

With one-on-ones (simply an individual conversation) with each team member in the virtual space, you may want to get into the practice of scheduling these, in addition to regular team meetings and possibly peer meetings, on a regular basis. That might mean weekly or even bi-weekly. The more frequently you do them, the shorter they may be, and they may shift from an updating meeting to a strategizing meeting.

As I wrote back in 2017 in another Teams365 post:

Incorporating some of the questions I share in that post, here’s a list that you might consider exploring together:

Tell me a little about how it’s going and what you are focusing on right now?
How are things going with your work and tech set up?What are your key priorities right now?
What support could you benefit from? From me? From Others?
Are there any resources (people, information, budget) you need in order to do your best work?
What’s motivating you right now?
What strengths are you leaning into?
What feedback are you getting/do you need?
As you reflect on your own performance, how are things going?
What's going to help you get the results you need/ we want? OR What’s helping you excel?
What is the one change which will help you with this task?
What feedback loop can we put into place to support all of our work?
Any feedback for me?

Set up a time to meet for your next meeting and make sure it doesn’t suffer from meeting creep!

One-on-ones should also be considered in tandem with other supports such as overall team development and connection events. Are you getting together (virtually) for some informal social time? Perhaps you do a virtual potluck. Are you getting together virtually to learn something or discuss a new skill area? Everyone in the remote space can benefit from leadership and other skills such as listening, decision making, prioritizing, not only the team leader.

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar

PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here.

TEAMS365 #2270 – Strengths and Remote Work

3/18/2020

Earlier this month at the Remote Pathways podcast which I host, we released Episode 8 which focuses on Strengths and Remote Work. We were joined by Coach Jennifer Grote as a special guest. You can listen into it here.

Strengths often play a key role in helping professional excel, particularly in the remote space when we are operating in isolation.

When’s the last time you explored your strengths?

Research around strengths has found that individuals and teams that are able to lead more by strengths, are:

6x more engaged
3x more likely to report having excellent quality of life
8.9% greater profitability
Teams which focus on strengths have 12.5% greater productivity

(Gallup Strengths Center)

Today’s invitation is for you to explore how strengths shape your work.

Questions to consider:

What are your strengths?
What do you do to magnify them?
What happens when they are not magnified?

Enjoy exploring your strengths!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

TEAMS365 #2226 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #130 – Share the Reins

2/3/2020

The remote workspace is growing significantly. One recent article indicated that the number of job postings alone indicating remote work has grown 151% since 2018. With this in mind, the ability to work effectively in the remote space is essential.

Part of the shift to effective virtual or remote leadership involves today’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip of SHARE THE REINS.

In the remote space, engagement is key. If people don’t feel connected, they are unlikely to bring their best self to work.

Why It’s Important
Back to where we started with this blog post – sharing the reins is critical for remote work success. We need to involve everyone in the conversation. It’s not just a leader’s perspective on a remote team that is essential. Everyone has a piece of the puzzle! The insights I can bring from being “on the ground” in Toronto may be just as important, or more important than what my leader can see. As we’ve explored in other posts, the ability for a leader to step back and coach becomes a critical skill for remote leaders today.

What sharing the reins looks like:

Having team members rotate roles including leading meetings.
It may also involve fostering a peer focused culture where the role of the leader primarily focuses on liaison and trouble shooting.

What changes can you make in this area to support your team?

Wishing you all the best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!