Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

Teams365 #2909 - Flashback – Review of the 3-Week Series Highlight

12/17/2021

We’ve covered a lot of ground in the last three weeks including:

Myths of remote work
The Relationship Mapping Tool
Several Weekly Journaling Prompts including: What’s Going to Supercharge Your New Year and Where Do I Lead?
Principle of Remote and Hybrid Work- Relationships
Effective Virtual Conversations Tip
Four Areas to Remain Productive in the Remote Space
What the Research Says regarding Social Loneliness
Brain Tip: Mirror Neurons, Virtual Handshakes, and Bonding

And a lot more. What’s your favorite?

Enjoy your reflection!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_britton_virtual_remote_and_hybrid_checklist_aug_2021

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

Teams365 #2902 - Flashback: Making Virtual Meetings More Effective

12/10/2021

One thing that has not changed much in the last two years is meetings. Meetings virtually can be as ineffective, or more, than those in person realm. With this in mind, I thought I would reach back and take a look at Teams365 #2291 around Making Virtual Meetings More Effective. You can view it at: https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2291-virtual-meetings-keeping-them-on-track

Here’s what I wrote:
Just like in the in-person realm, meetings can quickly become a huge time element. Just like most things in the virtual space – communication, teamwork – both the good and the bad get augmented.

In hosting virtual meetings, keeping them on track is critical for success. In order to do this, consider going back to the basics:

What’s the purpose of the meeting? Is it to inform? Create something together? Check in and share information? Be clear on what the purpose is. Use this to create an agenda.
What preparation is needed? Be explicit about what people need to do BEFORE the call. Is there something they need to read? Review? Prepare and send?
How long is the meeting for? Start and end on time. Thinking that everyone needs to be there before you start is likely a waste of precious time.
What’s on the agenda? See #1 – Be sure to stick with the agenda and learn from past experience in terms of how much time is needed.
What are next steps? Be explicit about what’s been agreed to and who is responsible. You may have one person tasked with noting these next steps as you go so they can summarize at the end of the meeting. Provide people 30-60 seconds (or more) during the call to write it down and schedule it in.
What follow up is required? Once again, be clear about next step – WHO, WHEN, HOW….
What learning can you apply to your next meeting? With business pressures today, no one has time for ineffective meetings. Note things that are working, note things that aren’t and stop doing them! As more people become familiar and confident with these tech tools, it will be easier to iterate and share best practices.

I explore more meeting tips in Chapter 9 of Effective Virtual Conversations. What are your next steps around meetings this week?

Be sure to download a bookmark for you and your team to share from Effective Virtual Conversations.com.

Happy Friday!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_britton_virtual_remote_and_hybrid_checklist_aug_2021

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

Teams365 #2881 - Flashback Friday: 10 Year-End Activities With Your Team

11/19/2021

The end of the year will be here before we know it! Today we are going to take a look back at one of my favorite year end posts – 10 Year-end activities with your team. Here it is!

Today's post gets you to think further about year end activities and possible retreat ideas for your team. While not everyone will be able to take a day away from the office, even spreading some of these activities over a couple of weeks, or the next month or two, gets you thinking about and in dialogue about important issues.

Here are ten things to be sparking focus and conversation around with your team:

1. Creating a Year in Summary - Using photos or words how would you describe the highlights of the last year
2. Strengths based work using either StrengthsFinder or VIA Strengths
3. Goal setting for the new year - overall goals, quarterly goals, monthly goals. Looking at how individual, team and organizational goals overlap
4. Creating an action plan for the new year
5. Creating a Vision for the new year
6. Vision Modelling - using tin foil, plasticine or, paper mache coming up with a model for your vision that you as a team can look at regularly
7. Coming up with a theme for the year
8. Taking time to Acknowledge each other
9. Celebrating your successes from the year - a lunch out (or in) or a night out bowling or playing ping pong (yes teams can have fun together!)
10. Setting an Intention for the year

What other activities might you undertake to wrap up the year together?

Have a great weekend,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_britton_virtual_remote_and_hybrid_checklist_aug_2021

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

Teams365 #2860 - Friday Flashback: Another Teamwork Skill in Complexity – Curiosity

10/29/2021

Last Friday I reached back to spotlight one of the blog posts exploring a core teamwork skill during times of complexity – experimentation. Today, I thought I would focus on exploring a second core teamwork skill during times of complexity, that being CURIOSITY. How curious are you?

Here’s what I wrote in Teams365 #1596:

Curiosity is a critical skill set for today’s ongoing change and complexity, given that many times “We do not know” or have all of the information needed to make decisions or see what is next. This could be because things are changing so fast or it could be because things are unclear on the road ahead. Being able to lead from a place of curiosity or “not knowing” can be liberating when the shift has been made.

One thing that can help us on our voyage of curiosity as a leader is questions. We can use questions to check assumptions, learn from others, and harness the wisdom that exists. Some questions that enable all team members to step into a place of curiosity are:

What’s possible?
What’s one thing we haven’t tried?
What else?
What else can you leverage?
What’s the worst thing that can happen?
What’s another option?
What could you do differently?

In order to cultivate curiosity within our team we can:

Encourage risk taking and mistakes
Support team members in pilots and experimentation
Enable learning across the silos which exist within the business
Expose the team to new areas regularly
Support a growth mindset

What can you do as a team to cultivate curiosity?

Enjoy your Friday!
Jennifer

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_britton_virtual_remote_and_hybrid_checklist_aug_2021

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

Teams365 #2853 - Flashback Friday: Teamwork Skills in Complexity

10/22/2021

The last eighteen months have been a learning in practice opportunity for teams to put into practice many of the skills I mentioned conceptually back in 2017 when I did a series on Teamwork Skills in Complexity. I thought it would be useful to pick up with Teams365 #1597 which spotlighted the importance of Experimentation during times of complexity. Take a look at what I wrote, and think about how this skillset is helping you thrive right now:

This month we are exploring the skills required in teamwork, including listening and curiosity. Today I wanted to take a dive into a third skill area, that being the area of experimentation.

Experimentation is key for business leaders and teams today. Many times, the context is changing so quickly that we don’t have time to complete an entire roll-out before having to make a final decision. That can lead to a mindset of experimentation, where it is encouraged to try things out, see what works and what doesn’t.

In supporting experimentation in our team we want to:

Encourage and reward trial and error
Create safety around not getting “things right”
Provide team members with time and resources to experiment, beyond their every day team responsibilities
Facilitate an evaluation of projects or “Experiments” that are completed or are even at the midpoint

Questions we may ask at project reviews include:

What’s working?
What’s not?
What are the things that need to be abandoned or tweaked?
What additional resources do we need?
What unknown obstacles have become visible?
What is the big learning we are taking?
What is the one thing/ or the many things we are going to do differently going forward?
Who else can we learn from (including our own past projects?

If you haven’t taken a look at the article I wrote for the most recent edition of choice Magazine which focused on Disruption, take a look at it here. It’s entitled “Curiosity, Vision, Experimentation, Connection: Helping Teams and Groups Thrive in Periods of Disruption”. You can read it here at the Reconnecting Workspaces blog, including a download of it.
https://www.reconnectingworkspaces.com/post/4-key-skills-for-teams-and-groups-to-thrive-in-today-s-workspace

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_britton_virtual_remote_and_hybrid_checklist_aug_2021

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Reconnecting-Workspaces-Pathways-Thrive-Virtual/dp/0993791557

Teams365 #2846 - Flashback Friday: Peer Coaching

10/15/2021

For today’s post I thought it would be interesting to reach back to a 2017 focus on Peer Coaching, which is just as relevant as it was when I originally wrote this post. Take a look at Teams #1337, Leadership Practice, here - https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-1337-leadership-practice-peer-coaching

Consider the following;
Fostering strong team connections where team members can take turns to lead and offer their expertise to others on the team is essential in today’s VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) environment. Helping team members improve their coaching skills with each other is an important part of creating a more collaborative environment.

Several of the core skills we want to cultivate in moving to a peer coaching environment are:

Questioning – the ability to ask open ended questions which will hep the other person widen their knowledge, explore options, gain clarity or create assumptions. In boosting our questioning skills it is also important to consider Are you leaving enough time for the person to reflect and then respond?

Designing the conversation – helping peers be in dialogue around what they want to purpose and outcome of the conversation to be is important This could include asking questions such as:
What do you want as an outcome for this conversation?
What would be most helpful to you? To brainstorm? Be asked questions? Consider solutions? Other?

Listening – Being able to listen deeply is important. The ability to listen on multiple levels is key to peer coaching. Listening around
One of the biggest stretch areas for peers is learning not to give advice but lead from questioning and listening

A starting point for peers to experiment with their sills is dedicating 20 – 30 minutes a mot to peer coaching conversations. Pair team members and have them bring a current business challenge or opportunity which they want to explore. Give them one to two minutes to outline what that is to their partner and then provide 7 minutes to coach and then one minute to identify specific next action steps. Rotate to the next person.

Peer coaching can be done virtually with virtual teams as well, using breakouts or separate calls between the session. Consider how you could integrate peer coaching into your upcoming conversations and team development.
What role can peer coaching play right now or you as an organization? In what areas is it important to build capability?

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_britton_virtual_remote_and_hybrid_checklist_aug_2021

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Reconnecting-Workspaces-Pathways-Thrive-Virtual/dp/0993791557

Teams365 #2839 - Flashback to Onboarding Needs – In light of the 90-Day Guide Release

10/8/2021

In this week’s Friday Flashback, I wanted to reach back to Teams365 blog post #1406 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #20 - https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-1406-effective-virtual-conversation-tip-20-capacity-development–

Here’s what I wrote,

Today's tip comes from my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, page 331 where I write "In virtual teams, it is also imperative that we build capability in the skills of new team members".

While capacity development is critical in many teams today, it can be absolutely essential to high performance in virtual teams, given that people are working independently in many instances.

As a team leader, consider how you can be building capability within your team around:
Goal Setting
Reporting
Coaching Skills - particularly peer coaching skills
Feedback
Business Acumen (as appropriate to the work you do)
Difficult Conversations
Relationship Building
Emotional Intelligence
Conflict Management
Influence

For many remote team members they are having to utilize these skills each and every day.

Just as onboarding of new team leaders is important, the onboarding of new team members can be just as critical. Some of the areas you will want to focus on in the onboarding process for new team members are:

Team culture - who you are
Who to Go to - Key resource people - other members of the team, internal resources, external stakeholders
Reporting requirements - budget, resources, status updates
Team meetings
Understanding your role
Key Goals, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and Corporate Priorities
Goal Setting (whether you use a one-page plan or other)
Feedback and Performance Management issues
Expectations around:
- Surfacing important issues
- Availability (when you are on and when you are off)
- Quality and completion of tasks
- Navigating Conflict
- Work-life (again boundaries around when you are on and off)
- Reporting
- Collaboration with others on the team
- Meeting focus

What other issues are important for you to brief new team members on? How do you want to undertake your onboarding. Do you spend a day together onsite and/or virtually? Do you spend a few hours together several times during the first week or month?
End of Excerpt

While I wrote this years ago, this is still critical today. Today we may be responsible for re-boarding our experienced team members from a work-from-home situation to a back at work. Or, vice versa.
At the same time, each quarter it can be an opportunity to revisit HOW we operate. This is where the 90-Day Guide for Success can become a valuable asset, whether you are following along as a team, or using is as a self-coaching guide. What do you notice about what’s important for your team right now?
What do you notice about what’s important about onboarding, or re-boarding, from you team?

Be sure to pick up a copy of the book for you, and your team members! You will find the 90-Day Guide for Success here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0993791573

Enjoy your reflection!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_britton_virtual_remote_and_hybrid_checklist_aug_2021

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

Teams365 #2832 - Flashback Friday: Systems to Support Your Work As A Team Leader

10/1/2021

In mid-August I did a post that got us to do a system check around core areas in your business. If you haven’t completed that, take a few minutes to lead on over to that mid-August 2021 blog post and flashback.

Today I thought it would be interesting to explore several Leadership Systems. One things that has shifted in the recent months has been the fact that EVERYONE needs systems to thrive in the remote space, not just the leader. While the leader will be responsible for setting these up, everyone on the team may be well positioned to input. Let’s take a look at what I shared back in Teams365 #532 - https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-532-systems-to-support-your-work-as-a-leader

“As a leader it is important to have a variety of supports to help you and you team run and soar in your work. Systems support you in streamlining and not having to reinvent the wheel all the time. Consider these common areas leaders usually have in place"

Communication systems - Consider how the team communicates with each other - email, text,, face to face. Ask yourself:
- What's working?
- What's not?
- What are the shared agreements you want to have about how and when to communicate?
- What's the accepted norm, what's not?

Meeting systems - How are your meetings facilitated? Face to face? Where could your meetings get a tweak? Review Tems365 #211: Meeting Management Faux Pas to avoid these traps - Click here to read

Email systems - Consider how you will use email, boundaries around this and also how you want to track and file your email. Email management can take up to 40% of a leaders' time

Performance Management systems - What is the culture of performance management? Hopefully it is not once a year but it is an ongoing process and conversation with each of your team members?

Reward and Recognition systems - What do you do to reward and recognize your team members? How does each person want to be recognized and rewarded?

What other systems support you in getting the results you are getting, or are seeking?"

Enjoy your conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk at https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_britton_virtual_remote_and_hybrid_checklist_aug_2021

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

Teams365 #2811 - Flashback – C is For Communication

9/10/2021

Let’s take a look back at Teams365 #808 from 2015, which is just as relevant today as it was back then. Here is what I wrote,

C is for communication - communication plays an even more critical role in virtual and remote team leadership. When teams are not able to see each other every day and cannot drop in to see each other it is critical to be even more focused with communication. Creating the time and space for specific communication touch points with each team members is the key.

Fostering team communication is key as well. Whether it is a group video call using a technology like zoom where people stream and can see each other, or whether it is a traditional phone call fostering the spirit of camaraderie while boosting communication is key.

Several remote team communication considerations are:
What are our formal communication touch points?
What venues do we have to get to know each other to share information? Share successes?
What preferences does each team member have?
What can we do to facilitate sharing among the team members

Pointers to remember with non-face to face communication
*Email is not always the most effective media. We lose any sense of tone – if trust is low this may further inflame situation is especially if the topic can be misread.

Consider what media is best for delivery.
Consider the optimal amount and channel for each person
Make communication regular, and be specific with what needs action, as well as any reply or response period
Build in face-to-face or screen eyeball to eyeball opportunities.

What is important to note about communication for you?

Enjoy your conversation,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk at https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_britton_virtual_remote_and_hybrid_checklist_aug_2021

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

Teams365 #2804 - Flashback – Review of the 3 Week Series Highlight

9/3/2021

As we move into the fall, one area which is likely to benefit from more focus is exploring the topic of feedback and building that in regularly. Here’s what I wrote about feedback way back in Teams365#862: www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-862-foundations-of-feedback-part-3-preparing-for-feedback

Several things you will want to do or put attention around before you sit down to have a feedback conversation are:

1. Know what the person's role, project and main goals have been so that you can provide feedback that is relevant, timely and strategic. Providing feedback in areas that are not linked to a person's role and/or activities is not that useful.

2. Get people thinking about what their own performance has been like - What strengths have they leveraged? What opportunities do they see for growth/development/stretch? "Priming" people for the conversation makes this a two way conversation, where you can supplement self-reflection with personal observations.

3. Ask team members what areas they are going to value feedback in.

4. Have specific examples in the areas you are providing feedback in, making sure that these are things you have observed and/or are validated. When providing feedback we want to make sure it is specific, and grounded in observable behaviors, not stories.

5. Making sure that time has been allocated not only for the conversation but for preparing for it. This is not an activity you want to rush, so be sure to allocate sufficient time and space to have the conversation. Making sure you won't get interrupted within the conversation is also an important consideration. This is not one meeting you want to have to shift or change.

Activity:
Consider what steps you want to take to prepare for upcoming feedback conversations. What is important for each team member as well?

Enjoy your reflection,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk at https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_britton_virtual_remote_and_hybrid_checklist_aug_2021

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.