Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

TEAMS365 #2585 – Feedback Conversations in Virtual Teams

1/27/2021

This winter I’m working on the final edits of a new book around virtual and remote work, teams and leadership. The book’s bee in process for quite some time now, even pre-pandemic, given that remote teams have been my focus for several years.

One of the most challenging areas that teams and leaders experience is providing feedback. Consider how much feedback you have received about your performance – the good and bad – in the last year of working remotely? A little? A lot? None?

Feedback in the remote space can be particularly challenging given that we don’t always see people in action. Work in the remote space has become a lot more output and results oriented, rather than individually focused. At the same time, it’s critical that we do provide feedback to the person who is aiming for the output and results.

Some key tips for providing feedback in the remote space:
Make it frequent. Schedule it in.

Tie feedback to results. Feedback can be an important part of the performance cycle.

Consider providing feedback on both the positive and constructive fronts. Given that performance in the remote space can sometimes feel like we are operating in a vacuum and don’t get any feedback, provide people with both positive and constructive feedback. IT might sound like “here’s what I see as one of your strengths” and “here’s an area I’d value some impact around”…

What else is important or you to note about feedback as a virtual or remote team?

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 #2538 – Flashback Friday – Six Things Virtual Workers Need

12/11/2020

I’m reaching back to Teams365 1245 which covered a number of elements all remote workers need. Given that most of us will be working this way for the next while, it’s a good reminder before we step into the holidays to see what is important. Consider reviewing these items within the team – is everyone clear on them?

Clarity regarding reporting relationships. Who are they to report to on what issues? When is reporting required? If matrix reporting relationships exist, what do they report to whom? What issues need to be co-reported?
Clarity regarding expectations regarding working – Hours, approaches, breaks, how to log and share work etc.
The technology and ability to connect with others in the team and across the organization. Working remote can be a lonely endeavor and just as social time is important for face to face teams, so is face to face for virtual team.
Regular check-ins and feedback. Regular check-ins and feedback may revolve around the questions:
- How’s it going?
- What’s working? What’s not?
- What support do you need?
- What are your current priorities?
- What resources do you need in order to get the results you need?
Platforms so they can see each other and connect with their team. This could include regular virtual potlucks where the team actually connects for a meal from each of their locations. It could also include face-to-face time – quarterly or on a regular basis.
Clarity regarding how to flag issues: What issues to raise and when. Who should they be flagging issues to? When is the team leader available and how?

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 #2495 – Team Building Tip 267

10/29/2020

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you to consider the question “How do you want feedback?”.

Having worked with thousands of leaders and teams in the last few decades around feedback, I’ve enjoyed exploring the question – How do you want feedback?

Some people love feedback

In writing, with time to process it before a conversation
Off the cuff, and regularly
Formally – face to face

What are your preferences? What about those you work with? What are their preferences?

Today’s Team Building Tip gets you to spend some time as a team exploring the topic of feedback.

Enjoy!
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 #2493 - Four Things Remote Teams Need In The Last Few Months Of The Year

10/27/2020

As an organization who has supported remote teams and leaders for more than fifteen years, we’ve had a lot of conversations around what makes remote work, work. This year has seen an increase in volume in the number of conversations we are having with teams around what they need, given that many are not “remote by choice” but “remote by chance”.

As you step into the last couple of months of the year, it’s likely that remote work, or hybrid work (part remote, part in-person) may be the norm. Be sure to:

Build in time for connecting in with others on the team and other key stakeholders - Connections are critical for remote professionals. We don’t operate in isolation. We need others to grow, get results and income. What is important for you? What amount of time are you spending in CONVERSATION with others?

Build in time to acknowledge the efforts of others - What amount of time have you spent acknowledging the efforts of those on the team? Are you dedicating time in your meetings to focus on acknowledgements within your team? Have you “been catching people doing things right”?

Build in time for feedback - How much time has been spent this year on feedback across the team? One of the downsides to remote work, is that we don’t have the same opportunities to get feedback – both constructive and positive feedback. Stay tuned for more on feedback during Thursday’s post.

Build in time for team development - Teams are the engines of many businesses and while teams have not been able to get together regularly, it’s key to provide teams with time to focus on what’s important for them.

Build in time for renewal – It’s been a long year, and many are feeling the impact of too much time on the screen. What are you doing to inject some fun and renewal?

What else is needed?

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 #2482 – Friday Flashback: Teams365 #594 – Matrix Management

10/16/2020

Back in the second year of the Teams365 blog I did a spotlight on matrix management. I thought it would be useful to return back to this post given that its’s a key focus for many in the virtual space. How many teams do you report to at the moment?

Consider how these tips might support you:

Matrix Management is a common part of global leadership reporting arrangements. Whether it is a local supervisor also supporting your global team members, leading in the matrix can also require some fine-tuning on your leadership. Today's post explores four keys for making matrix management work:

1. Creating Shared Expectations - Given that your staff members will be managed by two or more sets of people, creating shared expectations among the three (or more) of you is key. Who do you report to on what? What does success look like to all the parties involved? What are everyone's various expectations and priorities? How do these align? Conflict?

2. Clarity - Clarity around roles and responsibilities, reporting relationships, goals and who does what, is key in successful matrix management. Taking time to be extremely clear is key to success. Having a plan and process in place to address lack of clarity issues can also be important.

3. Checking Assumptions - Given that matrix management relationships often occur at a distance, it is important to check the various assumptions. Assumptions about priorities, flow, pace, quality may be a starting point for discussion on a regular basis.

4. Frequent Touch Points and Adjustments - Regular and frequent touch point amongst the three parties can be very useful, along with an understanding that regular adjustments will need to be made. In my former world of work, I usually tried to aim for quarterly or semi-annual three-way meetings (both supervisors and employee). While this took some planning time, it was often identified as a critical success factor.

What other tips do you have for others around matrix management?

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 #2474 – Team Building Tip 265 – Communicate in a Way That Works for You

10/8/2020

Last week I was on a podcast with Coach Beth Bulow, talking about remote work and virtual conversations. We spoke about some of the core tenets of virtual conversations, including touching on this tip which is Team Building Tip 265 – Communicate in a way that works for you.

There are many different options for communication in the remote space, including voice, text, video, apps, email etc. What are the best channels or platforms for the messages you want to communicate? What is the best way to communicate the message you are saying? What is the best channel for each person you are talking with?

Communication in the virtual space can be an art form. It’s easy to make assumptions about how people want to be communicated with when we aren’t together. Consider what you want to do in order to invite team members to share and interact in a way that works for them.

This week have discussion around what preferences you have around receiving and giving communication. Flag areas that need further attention (i.e. finding out that someone never reads texts, or only checks email once a day). Adjust your communication appropriately.

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 for the one-day Stand Out Virtually! STtdio Day Masterclass - Learn more about creating exceptional virtual presentations, meetings and programs, and leave the day with your next one sketched out!

TEAMS365 #2466 – Wrapping up Q3 and Stepping into Q4

9/30/2020

It’s the last day of Q3 and we’re just about to step into Q4. Who is ready to step forward? Before we go there, I’d like to invite you to take 10 minutes or more today to do a brief reflection on your experience. If you prefer to do the reflection by video, take a look at this Quarterly Review Video I recorded 18 months ago as we moved from Q1 to Q2 2019. The questions are evergreen and don’t expire.

Grab pen and paper and take a look at this…

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

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

TEAMS365 #2464 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #169: Social Learning

9/28/2020

A key part of learning can occur when we learn with others. Consider the impact of peer learning in workshops, group coaching, masterminds and other collaborative learning experiences. Collaborative social learning experiences are something many are hungry for, especially in times of social distancing. What can that look like in your work, virtually?

One of the theories that have influenced social learning was Arthur Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. This has implications for how we design and lead learning conversations.

Bandura’s Social Learning theory is grounded in four main areas:

Observation (environmental) – Observing and learning from the context in which we operate?
Retention (cognitive) – How do I remember this?
Reproduction (cognitive) – How do I reproduce this? Use this?
And motivation (both cognitive and environmental) – Noticing what is motivational and not

(https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/social-learning-theory)

What can that look like when we are working with people virtually?

Environmental – When you are working with groups, what is the context the client is operating in? What is the culture the team is creating? What adjustments need to be made?

Linked to the discussions we’ve been having at the LLDS, this might include work around “Enshrining the team agreements and values” in something that is tangible.

A focus on retention gets us to focus in on the question of “HOW DO I REMEMBER THIS?” What are you doing to create different engagement touchpoints and adjust the pace?
This might include:

Breakouts so peers can connect together
Using annotation
Having group members verbally articulate “what I’ve learned and what I am going to do”
As well as writing it down
Selecting a card/image/icon around next steps

A focus on reproduction is HOW DO I DO THIS AGAIN? It may involve peer teaching and sharing as well as thinking about application in other areas.

Finally, a focus on MOTIVATION could lead to many conversations across the group or team, with a focus on intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for the team, group and/or individual members. Consider what are the motivating factors for each person.

What is important for you to take note on?

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

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

TEAMS365 #2463 - Sunday Review

9/27/2020

How did your week go? What were the key focus areas for you? What was your key learning?

This week we’ve covered a wide range of topics during the week here including:

What was your favorite post this week?
Share with us below!

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

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

TEAMS365 #2457 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 168: Follow Up

9/21/2020

It’s Monday and time for another Effective Virtual Conversations tip. This week’s tip is about follow-up. While virtual learning is often seen as a one-off event, reinforcing the learning with follow-up can support integration of knowledge to become learning.

Follow-up in the virtual space can take many forms including:

Focus
Framing
Exponential growth

Are you taking the time to follow up? How has this impacted your learning?

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

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