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:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt is “My focus is…”
• Friday’s Flashback’s Five Key Relationships for Professionals
• Thursday’s Focus on the areas of expectations in making remote work, work well
• Wednesday’s focus on Collaborating Virtually
• Tuesday’s focus on 5 Tips for Virtual Meetings
• Monday’s focus on Follow Up

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

Best,
​Jennifer

I thought that it would be interesting to reach back to what I had written five years ago here at the Teams365 blog – here’s the post from that day – Five Key Relationships – still as relevant (and maybe even more so in today’s virtual context”.
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Whether you are back to work or starting a new role, relationships are key in today's business context. As team leaders, we navigate a wide network for relationships, which you may need to call on at any given time. Five key relationships for team leaders to be aware of are:
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1. Your team - What is the strength of these relationships right now? What conversations are important to have? What does your team rely on you for? What do you need from them? What preferences to do they have in terms of support, communication, connection etc.?

2. Your boss - When was your last quality meeting with your boss? What support do they need from you? What support do you need from them? What are their priorities this month/quarter? How can you help them be even more successful?

3. Your customers, client’s other key stakeholders are also key players in your network. What conversations and touch points do you have planned or want to have?

4, Key project relationships - Consider other key relationships you have. What requires attention? Where can you lean into for support?

5. Your peers - As team leaders we also benefit tremendously from fostering a network of peers around us. Is it time to connect with some specific people within your network? What could you share about your current successes that would help others? What do you need from them?

To wrap up with one of my favorite business authors on the topic of relationships, here's what Keith Ferrazzi says:

“Connecting. It’s a constant process of giving and receiving—of asking for and offering help. By putting people in contact with one another, by giving your time and expertise and sharing them freely, the pie gets bigger for everyone. This karma-tinged vision of how things work may sound naïve to those who have grown cynical of the business world. But while the power of generosity is not yet fully appreciated, or applied, in the halls of corporate America, its value in the world of networks is proven.”
― Keith Ferrazzi, Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time

Enjoy your weekend!
Jennifer

I thought it would be fitting to reach back to a post I had written several years ago about how teams can respond to rapid change, given that this has been the theme for 2020. Here’s what I wrote back in Teams365 1577:

Change is everywhere in many industries and our ability to stay grounded in order to make decisions is key. Today's Thursday team building question get you to think about the question "What is going to help you be successful within a context of rapid change"?

​Teams explore different approaches to rapid change including:
​Embracing ongoing learning - in a context of rapid change ongoing learning becomes critical. Figuring out what "good enough" looks like rather than mastery may be an important mindset shift if this is possible in your work.

​Becoming more curious - When change is ongoing the context may be changing and what we "know to be true" may also be changing. Being curious and open become key skills to foster.

​Shortening cycles - Think about what needs to happen in terms of communication and feedback cycles as things speed up. What about work cycles? If you are now seeing change every quarter, rather than once a year, what implications does that  have for how you share information, provide feedback and change processes.

​Simplify - Process is key in rapid change, AND older ways of working and processes may be cumbersome. Is it time to simplify different processes? Is it time to simplify other components. What does simplify mean for you as a team?

​Empower - Empowering your team and providing them with the responsibility and authority to do certain tasks is likely to be critical. Everyone's eyes and talents may be required. Helping the team bring their best skills and use them is also key to success.

​Create peer sharing opportunities- Going hand in hand with empowerment is making sure that you build in opportunities for peer sharing. Whether it is formal job shadowing and mentoring or peer partners who meet informally throughout the month, part of rapid change often means a reduction of the silos and barriers which can exist in teams and in our work.

​What changes are needed for you as a team in becoming more fluid in light of rapid change?

With best wishes,
Jennifer

This week we’ve focused on the Week in Review:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt: Collaboration Means..
• Friday’s Flashback Friday – Back to Fall Routines
• Thursday’s Team Building Question on Results Focus (one part of the high-performance equation)
• Wednesday’s post 5 Productivity Tips to Support You as You Get Back to (Virtual) Work Routines
• Tuesday’s Post – Back to (Virtual) Work Routines
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip – Mix it up!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Jennifer

This week’s Flashback Friday focuses on Back to Fall Routines and takes us back to post a couple years ago -  Five Areas to Consider with Back to Work 

I thought it would be very apropos for this week’s Back to Fall Routines
In the next few weeks and month, many of us are getting back to our regular work routines. Whether our children are back to school, or our team at work is back to running at full speed, August and September often signal a “new working year”.

Earlier this month I launched a new business workbook and planner – the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner. While it’s geared for coaches, I am working on another edition for virtual and remote professionals in addition to leaders which should be out later this year.

As you step into your new routine this September there are five areas you may want to consider:

1. What are the key activities you need to direct attention around?

What are the core initiatives you need to keep your eyes on? Steven Covey made famous the phrase “big rocks” years ago. The notion is, if you fit these in first, there's more space to do what we now term "work in the margins". What are your "big rocks" this fall?

2. Keeping the home fires rolling.

Having stepped away from city life for a few months this past summer and working out of a much smaller cottage, I recognize the cost and time invested in some of the more mundane, but essential tasks, it requires to keep an almost 3,000 square foot home in order. From groceries, to meal prep, to home maintenance, what are the tasks that are needed to keep things rolling at home while you work at full-tilt? From online grocery ordering, to meals in a box, or one of our favorite – family meal prep at Supperworks – keeping the home fires burning is essential to many of us.

What are the core elements which are important to you?
 
3. Scheduling in time for your own self-care.

Whether it’s working out, or building in time to renew, we only have one body, and keeping it in top condition is essential. What are the key activities you want to leave time for this year?

4. Clearing the clutter.

While some say that a disheveled office is often seen as part of a creative mind, clearing the clutter can be essential for high performance. Can you take some time before September rolls around to do a purge of items, or clearing of an area which has been growing in size?
 
5. Reviewing, or making your plan, for the fall.

Earlier this week I hosted the first of a series of "back to fall" virtual planning workshops, in a condensed 45 minute hack format. I brought in several of the resources and planning tools from my latest book, Coaching Business Builder: Workbook and Planner.

An older project management adage asserts that 10 minutes of planning can save 20 minutes of unfocused effort. What are your plans for fall? Each month? Each week? Are you taking 5-10 minutes daily, or on a regular basis, to make a list of all the important items?
 
Enjoy your back to work routines this week,
Jennifer

Welcome to the week in review. This week we covered the following posts:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt
• Friday’s Flashback Friday
• Thursday’s Team Building Question inviting you to do a systems check
• Wednesday’s focus on 6 Areas To Consider With Your Virtual Meetings and 8 Questions To Always Ask. Read it here.
• Tuesday’s Monthly Kick Off and Review
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Welcome back to our Sunday weekly wrap up. This week we’ve explored a variety of topics including:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt – What are you excited about?
• Friday’s Flashback on Listening in the Virtual Space (and revisiting Teams365 #1981)
• Thursday’s Team Question – What’s the cost of NOT?
• Wednesday’s post on Delegation in the Digital Space
• Tuesday’s post on Are You Making These Remote Working Mistakes?
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip About Building Your Toolkit

 
It’s also almost the end of the month. What time have you built in to take stock of how the month went? I hope that you’ll join us in a few days for the month end review and monthly planning post. Stay tuned!

Be sure to note your metrics as you move into the new month.
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Enjoy
Jennifer

This week’s Flashback Friday zeroes into an area many professionals are struggling with at the moment – Listening in the remote space. I thought that it would be a good place to explore as we start gearing up for fall. Here’s what I wrote in June 2019 – in Teams365 1981
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Welcome back to another Monday Effective Virtual Conversations tip. This week’s tip focuses into the skill of listening.

As both leaders and team members listening is a critical skill, particularly in the virtual space. It is important for all of us - leaders, entrepreneurs, individual contributors and team members.

Keys to listening in the virtual and remote space are to ensure that we are:

• Focusing – Focusing 100% of our attention on the person who is speaking – not using other devices or focusing on other things.
• Listening to the tone as well as the words. If you are streaming, what do you notice about the body language?
• Listening for the pause points – What does their speed and rate of pitch say? How quickly or slowly are they speaking.

Finally, do you fall into one of the biggest pitfalls of listening today? We want to make sure that we are listening for what is really being said, rather than listening to respond. One of the greatest challenges for most professionals today is that they are so focused on figuring out what they plan to say, that they really are not listening to what is being said. What are you listening for?

I recently came across a great article by Ben Gross on the importance of listening. Here's a link to this article on listening.

It is often said that employees leave managers, not companies. What can you do to boost your listening skills? What did you notice about your last conversation?
End of Teams365 #1981 blog post

While I wrote this more than a year ago, it’s as relevant today as it was then.

Here are some more additional questions to be exploring:

• What’s important to note about your listening?
• What’s getting you distracted?
• What’s helping you focus?
• What assumptions are you making and maybe need to check out?

Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

This week I wanted to reach back to a post I wrote in 2016, and get you thinking about how it translates to the type of support you are providing your team leaders in the virtual space.

Here’s what I wrote in Teams365  #1026

Earlier this week I was part of a panel discussion on Team and Group Coaching at this week's Columbia University's Coaching Conference. As a coach, when I come into work with teams, team leaders play a key role in creating the conditions for success in building and maintaining a coaching culture. This was a precursor for success in work I undertook last year in developing a coaching culture with The Scarborough Hospital here in the Toronto area. This work just won a PRISM Award for Coaching Excellence from the International Coach Federation Toronto Chapter earlier this week.

While in the thick of things, team leaders sometimes forget the critical role they play for organizational success. Here's ten ways team leaders contribute to organizational success:
1. They translate the organizational objectives, KPIs and vision down into the tactical team realm;
2. They are the conduit for feedback and information up the leadership and organizational ranks;
3. They play a key role in creating a coaching culture (see above);
4. They are often the eyes and ears of what is really being spoken about in an organization;
5. They are the human face of the organization for team members, especially in larger organizations;
6. They are often the link and relationship with external stakeholders;
7. They often get called into be the voice of the organization for customers or clients when things go wrong;
8. They are able to share best practices quickly across their web of peers;
9. They have direct impact on the morale, culture and spirit of the teams they lead;
10. They play the unique middle role of being a conduit up and down the organization. This role is often overlooked by teams and leaders above them alike.

Based on this, what support are you providing right now for your team leaders? How are you involving them in communication and decision making? What development opportunities are they getting.

As you may know here at the Teams365 blog most of our work is geared to supporting teams and team leaders in doing their best work. If have questions about how coaching skills training, or some of our other leadership development programming could be of support, please reach out and let's set up a time to talk.
 
As many of you know virtual programming has been our preferred way of operating since opening our doors in 2004. What can we do to support your virtual and remote teams and/or organization in doing your best work?

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Welcome back to another Sunday week in review. This week we’ve explored:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt – “It’s easy for me to….”
• Friday’s Flashback Friday post on Remote Pathways podcast episodes you’ll want to catch up with
• Thursday’s Team Building Question around the Devil’s Advocate perspective
• Wednesday’s – Beat Zoom Fatigue With These Tips
• Tuesday’s Back to Basics – Focus. What are you focusing on?
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations post on Pulse Check. How are you taking the pulse of the groups you are working with?

Enjoy the review!
​Jennifer