The business context today is increasingly calling for collaboration – many times across time, distance and culture. What can get in the way of great collaboration? I thought it would be interesting to go back to Teams365 #1135 to explore six factors that can get in the way of collaboration. Let’s take a look at what I wrote back in this 2017 post. 


"Politeness is the poison of collaboration." - Edwin Land

“Let’s collaborate more” is commonly heard in organizations, and it may be easier said than done. As part of our February posts around collaboration, today’s post explores six barriers to collaboration, along with some possible ways to address these topics:

The six barriers we are going to explore in today’s blog post are:

1. Ego
2. Power
3. Lack of Candor
4. Inability to work across differences
5. Different End Goals
6. Lack of Trust

 
Barrier #1 – Ego – One of the biggest barriers which can get in the way of collaboration is our ego. In collaboration it is important to “park our ego” as much as possible so that we can truly be listening and hearing for what is needed to really synergize. Another commonly used term for parking our ego is “becoming unattached”. When we become too attached to our end result we may not hear or see possibilities which will actually end with a greater end result.

Barrier #2 -  Power – When power differentials are too different it can be very difficult to collaborate. In those instances where one group/person may have more “power”  whether due to resourcing, or information, it is important to design the boundaries of collaboration and be clear with intent.

Barrier #3 – Lack of candor – Candor is defined as “the quality of being open and honest in expression; frankness” in the Oxford Dictionary. Candor is a critical ingredient for collaboration. Without it there will be  a lot of wasted effort, and the true essence of collaboration will not be possible. Being able to share ideas without concern for judgement, the ability to be frank and open with feedback are all essential ingredients for collaboration

Barrier #4 – Inability to work across differences. In collaboration synergies, and differences, are usually harnessed. The ability to work across differences, making changes with one’s own style, is another essential ingredient for collaboration.

Barrier #5 – Different End Goals – When end goals are too different it can be very difficult to have collaboration. For example, if one member is aiming for an end result that is about quality and the other solely on speed, it may be more challenging to find the middle ground amongst the two. In these instances the end result needs to become an AND rather than an OR. So A AND B, rather than A OR B.

Barrier #6 – Lack of Trust. The one essential which will usually arrest collaboration before it starts is lack of trust. When trust is low, or non-existent, it is difficult to collaborate. Collaboration requires honesty, feedback, listening, candor, and bringing your best work to the table, in service to something greater. When trust is low or non-existent, these skills are usually not present.
As you consider your upcoming collaboration, how are you doing with these ingredients?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Earlier this week I hosted the February 2019 Virtual Book Club call for PlanDoTrack - my latest publication for virtual and remote team members and leaders. The focus was on Collaboration and 10 Questions to Ask When Collaborating virtually. You can view it here.

With this focus in mind, I thought it would be interesting to loop back to one of last February's post on Collaboration and a quote from me. Here's what I wrote in Teams365 last February 24, 2018:

Today's quote comes from me - "When it's uncertain, complex and changing, collaboration is needed".

One of the themes I work with teams and leaders around is the ability to become more fluid in approaches to help them with the ongoing complexity and change of their work. What once was more isolated to the type of work I did with the UN - ongoing change, ambiguity, ever changing situations, is now becoming much more common-place to everyone in the work force. It requires a different way of working, and a culture shift, for many organizations. This is not easy, nor is it quick. The change may take years to really take hold and be "lived" at all levels of an organization.

For teams and leaders, learning how to collaborate more effectively and efficiently, can be part of the shift to a more fluid working style. It's more likely that you may not have all the information you need, or can access yourself. It's likely you don't have all the relationships needed to get something done. Being able to liaise with, and work through others, is a critical skill set for today's workforce. A leaders' role, particularly one who is supporting a virtual or remote team, often becomes one of liaison - connecting others to resources and people.

What type of collaboration is needed? What is the level of skill around collaboration in your leadership? Team? I hope that you will take some time looking at the posts I've written on collaboration this month and in my earlier years of the blog. Check out past posts on collaboration here.



What is important to note about collaboration for you in your work right now?

Enjoy the conversation,
Jennifer

One of the resolutions I commonly hear from Team Leaders is to spend more time working with their team on developing and doing their best work. As a team leader, you may not necessarily bring past experience or a vast repertoire in leading team development initiatives. That was certainly the case for the dozen plus years I led teams. As a writer and coach, team development is a significant area of focus and support for teams.
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With that in mind, I wanted to take us back to a post from January 2017 where I shared a listing of 12 different team development activities which were the part of the Team Development a-z series. Given that we have the weekend coming up, I hope that you might take some time to check out these various options you could bring into your next team meeting.
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Here’s what I wrote in Teams365 #1125 – 26 Team Development Activities Part 1:

Over the past few months a key focus here at the Teams365 has been our posts on different team development activities you can incorporate with your team. Whether you are an intact team, project team or virtual team, these 26 quick activities can support you on a range of topics from boosting connection, to clarifying goals, to leveraging your strengths. If you missed any of the blog posts here are the first 13 of the full 26. I'll create links to the next set in an upcoming blog post this week, or feel free to view the whole series here.

Teams365 #1063 A is for Assumptions. View it here.
Teams365 #1064.  B is for Boundaries - View It Here
Teams365 #1065 C is for Conversation. Read it here.
Teams365 #1067 D is for Delegation. Read it here.
Teams365 #1070 - E is for Exceptional. View it here
Teams365 #1071: - F is for Foil Modelling. Read it here.
Teams365 #1072 - G is for Goals. Read it here
Teams365 #1074 H is for Habits. View it here
Teams365 # 1077 I is for Innovation. Read it here.
Teams365 #1078: J is for Jeopardy - Read it here.
Teams365 #1079:  K is for Knots. Read it here
Teams365 #1080: L  is for Life-cycle of teams and groups . Read and view it here
 
As you consider these options, what is important to foster a focus and conversation around as a team?

Enjoy!
Jennifer

This week for the FlashbackFriday post, I am reaching back to a post from last January – Teams365 1465 where I shared tip 4 of the Kickstart for 2018.

In that post I shared more about priorities, a key topic to help us keep on point for the year.

Here’s what I wrote:

"As a leader in my late 20s, responsible for global programming and leading an organization of more than 100 in South America, I learned very quickly that regardless of how many goals were on the place, priorities were critical. I was struck by the concept of Steven Covey’s Big Rocks – or how we need to attend to, and add our big rocks – or priorities first, therefore allowing us to fit in all the smaller things around them.

With this end in mind, I’d like for you to consider the goals you have set out for yourself for 2018.

​As we step into 2018, the first Teams365 series of the year is the Kickstart Your 2018 - 8 in 18. 8 days of reflective prompts to get you thinking about, and writing about what you want to create this year. Check out the other posts in this series here, and I hope you'll follow along by grabbing a pen and a journal (you can start at any time!):

Day 4 questions in the series get you to think about the most important priorities. Consider these questions today:
1. Looking at my list of goals (for the year, month, day), what is most important?
2. What time have I scheduled to get these done?
3. When will I be most effective on working on my priorities? 
4. What could get in the way of me attending to these priorities?
5. What do I need to say YES to, in order to knock these priorities out of the park?
6. What do I need to say NO to, in order to focus more on my top priorities?
7. Who can support me in being successful with these priorities?
8. What other resources do I need for my priorities?
9. What do I need to delegate, or defer, to get the priorities attended to?
10. What’s the hard end date to get these done? As we know, many tasks expand to the amount of time we give them. This is commonly known as Parkinson’s Rule."
 _________________________________________________________________


 
What are your top 5 priorities this month? This quarter? Where are these visible to you?
 
Enjoy your weekend,
Jennifer

​My 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations, takes a deeper dive into creating more engaging virtual conversations. With many meetings shifting into the virtual space, being able to host effective virtual meetings and conference calls is critical. The added complexities of not always seeing each other, or being able to follow up directly, means that meetings are not always effective.  Check out this past Wednesday’s prompt on 8 Essential Meeting Questions (Productivity Tip 9 of 19 for 2019), as well as stay tuned to the upcoming post on Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversation Tip.
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I’m reaching back today in this FlashbackFriday post to Teams365 #1015 where I shared these additional tips for creating more engaging conversations:

“Key to creating engaging and interactive virtual events is in pace and interactivity. To avoid the death by conference call mode, consider how you are able to adjust pacing for maximum interactivity.
Different ways to change pace include –

• Asking a question
• Getting people to annotate using pens, markers
• Asking people to comment in the chat box
• Creating breakout groups. Just like in person events, many services allow you to use breakout groups. Whether you pair people automatically or manually these can provide for a deeper level of conversation. Consider what opportunities you can leverage with breakouts and also how much time is needed for people to have a good discussion. It can take people several minutes to set themselves up as they arrive in their virtual domain.
• Creating a pause where you get people to take notes or complete an activity in silence real time
• Introducing a different media – i.e. showing a video you have created, or introducing a cartoon

What approaches do you want to use to introduce different pace changes?”
 
Enjoy your weekend!
Jennifer

This week we’re taking a look back at the Teams365 January 2018 posts where I kicked off the year with the 2018 kickstart. Over the first month I included tips around creating momentum and boosting your productivity through 18 posts. January posts last year covered 8 days of focus on your goals.
Today we are going to take a look back at Teams 365 1469.

Here’s what I wrote:

“In today’s busy world, it’s very common to get on the treadmill of doing, without taking time to stop, and reflect on what’s working and what’s not. While we might not have a full day to dedicate to planning regularly “micro-bursts” of 5-15 minutes regularly can make a difference.

Peter Drucker wrote “Follow effective actions with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”  Peter Drucker

Over the last 8 days we have explored:
Take stock of your achievements and successes from the year that was – Day 1. Read it here.
Create a clear and compelling vision of your year – Day 2. Read it here
Be specific with your goals – Day 3. Read it here.
Identify and focus on priorities first – Day 4. Read it here.
Create habits and practices that will support you in what you want to achieve – Day 5. Read it here.
Be ruthless with your time and scheduling – Day 6
Develop a community of support around you – Day 7
In the same vein, building in time to celebrate is Day 8

Consider these questions for today’s prompts:
1. As you think back to the last 8 days, what have you achieved?
2. What needs a change from the original goals you mapped out last week?
3. What momentum have you created for yourself? 
4. What are you most surprised about?
5. What have you learned about yourself, your vision and your goals?
6. What have you noticed about your pace of action and reflection (i.e. when do you do this best – early morning? Late at night? In chunks?) 
7. What time do you want to build in to make planning, and “quiet reflection” a regular part of your world?
8. What will you do to celebrate your movement forward?
9. Complete this sentence, by the end of January I will have…..
10. By the end of the year I will have….

We will be continuing our journey through the 19 for 2019 Productivity tips.. Check out # 1 – 7 here.
 
Enjoy your first weekend of 2019,
Jennifer

This year marked the fifth year of daily blog posts for me here at the Teams365 blog which is geared for professionals interested in leadership and teamwork issues. Writing regularly has become a large part of my professional routine.

There’s no doubt that you may not have caught all 365 of the daily posts this year. Here’s a high level overview of the monthly focus areas:
January - Kick off for 2018 – Read them here
February – Relationships, Trust and Connection – Read them here
March – Teams and Team Resources – Read them here
April – Styles in a Team, Productivity Tools – Read them here
May – Complexity, Productivity and Planning Tools – Read them there
June – Feedback and Performance Conversations – Read them here
July 2018 - Team Development in focus – Check out the July posts here
August 2018 – Gearing up for back to work - Read them here
September 2018 - Virtual Work, Things to do with your teams – Check out the posts 
October 2018 – Teamwork Skills in focus-  Read through October posts here
November 2018 – Turning our attention to year end with posts including 5 things to get in your calendar for 2019, right now!, Planning for Year End Activities for your Team, Bringing Projects to a close  – Read through November posts here
December 2018 – the start of the 19 Productivity Tips for 2019. Read through December posts here

These joined our regular series:
Monday – Effective Virtual Conversations Posts
Thursday – Team Building Tip Posts 
Weekend Journaling Prompts
And Friday Flashbacks

As I reflect back on the year that was, I am very thankful for the many milestones which included:

• The launch of two workbook and planners (Coaching Business Builder, and the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner) 
• The launch of both the Teams365 Leadership Lab and the Coaching Biz Growth Lab - two annual programs that joined the Learning Lab and Design Studio as year-long group coaching  and group learning programming options for professionals and their own virtual development.
• Training more than 300 coaches in the areas of Group and Team Coaching via the Group Coaching Essentials and Advanced Practicum programs. 
  
• Leading three sets of Virtual Learning Training for professionals to become more proficient and confident leading webinars, virtual coaching and virtual training and team development sessions via the five-week Virtual Facilitation Essentials (approved for 8.5 hours of CCEs).
  
• Supporting a wide variety of teams and leaders this year from health care, education, to financial services, to global leadership, in the areas of team effectiveness, virtual leadership
  
• Continued growth of readership here at the Teams365 blog. Page views most weeks surpassed 10,000 views a week.
  

I look forward to continuing the conversation with you in 2019!

Happy new year!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

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Today’s Flashback Friday takes us back to December 2015 and my post entitled  “2016 Resolutions and Support To Make Them Happen”– you can read it here.

Here’s what I wrote:

"As you have been thinking about your 2016 plans, I'm sure a few new resolutions have cropped up. Some common ones I've heard from team leaders in recent years have included:

* Spending more one-on-one time with team members
* Making meetings more efficient
* Getting a handle on email management and/or other office organizing issues
* Creating more defined boundaries with time on and time off of work
* Creating more defined boundaries around technology
* Becoming more efficient with time
* Getting more exercise (especially at lunch time to create a break and thinking time!)

What are your new year's resolutions? Take a look at the statistics around new years resolutions which StatisticsBrain.com have shared here.

They note that 45% of American adults create new years resolutions with 8% being successful. That's a pretty low percentage. I've recently had dialogue with a number of team leaders I coach and support around things they may want to do to raise that amount and be more successful.

Here are four things you might want to consider in making your resolutions stick into 2016:

1. Be clear in articulating them. The StatisticsBrain.com article  notes that those who are explicit in making new years resolutions are 10x more successful in achieving their goal.

2. Write them down and make them visible. Many of us, myself included, set resolutions but don't make them visible. Post its, or a reminder on your phone can help to
What will help keep your goals visible?

3. Share them and create some accountability partners around them. Share your goals with others and create some accountability partners who can cheer you on, or hold your feet to the fire (whatever is needed by you in that moment!). We know from lots of studies how important having an accountability partner really is.
Who do you want to share your resolutions with? Who can be a support or accountability partner to you?

4. Be selective in the number of resolutions you choose. It's very easy to create a long laundry list of things you want to do AND the more we add to the list, the harder it may be to remember, or the more diffuse our efforts become. You may have one or two major goals in different areas of your life, OR a small handful across areas (such as finances, relationships, career/business, family, health etc).
Ultimately, what are the resolutions you want to focus on?"


As we step into the new year of 2019, I hope that you’ll be able to incorporate some of these tips. What are your resolutions for the new year? What will help them stick?

Have a great day,
Jennifer

​Last month here at the Teams365 blog I intentionally focused on posts to support you in wrapping up the year. We usually never have enough time at this time of the year, so for today’s FlashbackFriday I want to reconnect you to these five posts. Do make a point of checking at least one of them out!

5 things to get in your calendar for 2019, right now! 
Have you got all 5 of these items in your calendar for 2019? Click on over to the post to explore what I’ve written and linked to around team meetings, team development, feedback, mentoring and skill development.
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Planning for Year End Activities with your Team 

Year end productivity reminders – 4 things to keep in mind
In addition to the 19 Productivity Tips for 2019, you may also want to check out this post which includes 4 key things to keep in mind around productivity (Going back to the basics including  - understanding your Pareto Ratio)

18 Questions for 2018 Year-end one on ones
While I have flagged these questions for year-end one-on-ones, these are just as good for the start of the year conversations. What have you already scheduled for 2019 conversations and 1-1 time with your team?

Bringing projects to a close
Some of you may still be moving to get projects to a close. Check out this post for several tips for bringing projects to a close.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

This week's #FlashbackFriday takes us back to Teams365 Blog Post #1432. Read it here or below:

"This week's weekend quote comes from Winston Churchill who wrote "Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it". Is there a  project you have been wanting to complete for a while but haven't found the time? Would an extra hour a day move that project forward?

This past month I participated in NANOWRIMO for the third year. It's National Writing Month and by getting up early (a little more than an hour earlier than my usual) I was able to get on paper a new book for virtual team leaders and team members. While many hours of editing lay ahead, to know that it's there to be molded is a great feeling, and one that will let me rest this holiday season. I've come to appreciate the "focused push" I create for myself in a limited time window, so that important projects get attention, and don't swamp every day. Last year's NANOWRIMO project was my latest book, Effective Virtual Conversations. So stay tuned in later 2018 for the new, new book!"

Flashforward to end of 2018...what's interesting is that I've just wrapped up NANOWRIMO for the 4th year in a row. While the manuscript from last year is still in draft form, it spurred on two other publications this year -
The Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner AND
The PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner

I have been enjoying taking professionals of all kinds through 4 hour virtual retreats, supporting them in creating a pause of plan, tackle important projects and consider how they want to track it going forward. Join us for an upcoming PlanDoTrack Retreat and learn more about them here.

What project would you like to move forward? When might be a good time to do a focused push on this?"

Best,
​Jennifer