Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

#Teams365 #3121: Flashback Friday- Minimizing Distractions

7/22/2022

Today we’re looking back at Teams365 #1470

Some initial ideas to minimize distractions may include:
Creating "focused work" periods. Whether it's 30 or 60 minutes a day, focused times, which have no immediate distraction allow us to get things done. Many studies find that our immediate productivity can be boosted by giving projects time windows and a time frame. The Pomodoro technique is one example of accelerating productivity. It posits that focused activity for 25 minutes can be followed by a 5 minute break. Read more about the Pomodoro Technique from its' creator here.

Become ruthless with meetings. Moving the needle on meetings may be a goal for many teams today. If you have not yet downloaded a copy of my bookmark for my newest book - Effective Virtual Conversations - on making virtual meetings more effective, download it here. It includes 8 Questions you will want to ask yourself before every meeting.

An initial question to ask yourself this year is "is a meeting the best way to communicate this information or is there a better way?

Closing email and other app windows at different parts of the day. While it may not always be possible to turn off email for extended periods, it is important to have blocks of time where we are able to focus solely on the task at hand. Providing small work areas for individual and/or groups to meet in for the important pieces of work are critical. It may take a few minutes to get into the flow of these projects, and scheduling in time on a regular basis to have focused work time, is useful in breaking the cycle of ongoing disruption.

Ask yourself if you need to interrupt someone before you immediately hit send on an email which could be delayed, or bundled with some of the other questions you have.

Where does your team get distracted at present? What small, but consistent changes would make a difference to the way you are working?

Stay tuned throughout the year for more productivity tips.

Enjoy your 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 - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

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

Teams365 #3014 - Flashback on Four Keys to Navigating Conflict

4/1/2022

As we explore the topic of conflict management this week I wanted to take us back to a blog post on the 4 Keys to Navigating Conflict from Teams365 #511 back in 2015. It’s is still as relevant today as it was then.

Here’s what I wrote back in 2015:
“We recently explored different approaches to conflict here at the Teams365 blog, namely accommodation, compromise, collaboration, avoiding and n completion when faced with conflict.

What else is possible? Today's post focuses on four things you can do every day when thinking and working around conflict.

Be proactive and address conflict early on – While easier said than done, many views navigating conflict as very challenging, in part because issues may have escalated even more than at the start.
Find the common ground – Finding similar vantage points or even “slivers” where you can see “eye to eye” is a starting point in navigating conflict. These mini-windows are opportunities to open dialogue and mutual problem solving, rather than raising walls.
Recognize that conflict can be a healthy thing when we have the tools to navigate it. Where cultures do not recognize that conflict is a normal and natural part of human relationships, it may be minimized and swept under the rug, or it can be seen as “abnormal” and “vilified” where something is wrong. What is the culture at your workplace around conflict?
Invest in your skills in navigating conflict. Conflict management is not always well modeled in our workplaces and families. If this has been your case it can be useful to invest in some professional development and/or mentoring so you have more phrases and even a model or process to follow. Where is conflict management well modeled? What tools and resources are people using?

Navigating differences is an important skill set for today’s global environment. What actions do you want to take towards building your skills and capacity?

Enjoy your reflections and 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

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 #3000 - Flashback Friday – March 2021’s Blog post on Hybrid, The Next Iteration of the Workplace?

3/18/2022

As part of today’s Flashback Friday I am reaching back to a March 2021 blog post I entitled “Hybrid, the next interaction of the workplace?”. You can read the original here.

The remote work experience lasted longer for many than they would have liked, and many locations have moved, or are moving back to in-person work. Interestingly a recent survey done by Amazon here in Canada found that only 12% wanted to return to the office 5 days a week, and 2 in 5 Canadian Workers would look for another job is they had to go back to the office full time. You can read what the Toronto Star has written about that study here.

So let’s take a look at what I wrote last year:

As some locations start to get their populations vaccinated, workplaces may be reopening in the not so distant future. In some cases, some organizations will go back to work, in other cases they may become hybrid, with some people in the office, and others working from home.

The hybrid workspace can be even more challenging in terms of support, than the all in-person realm, or all remote workspace.

Having worked in the hybrid world for many years, here at Potentials Realized, we will be widening our program support for teams, as well as consulting services for organizations to more explicitly support hybrid working arrangements and teams. We feel that this is an important part of the next phase of work and economics.

Here are some interesting pieces of recent research about the hybrid workspace:

“Among the challenges of managing a hybrid workforce, 30% of business leaders are most concerned with maintaining corporate culture. Thirteen percent of respondents reported concern over creating parity between the remote and in-office experience; 13% also are concerned about providing a seamless employee experience.” – Gartner Study, June 2020 -

“Output driven metrics” along with “Regular meetings to touch base, say once a day at a set time can set the expectation and answer any questions that need answering. From there, it’s a matter of trusting your team to get the job done and making adjustments as necessary.”

A November 2020 study noted, “More than 20 percent of the workforce could work remotely three to five days a week as effectively as they could if working from an office. If remote work took hold at that level, that would mean three to four times as many people working from home than before the pandemic”. - https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/whats-next-for-remote-work-an-analysis-of-2000-tasks-800-jobs-and-nine-countries

Smartway2 study found that 92 percent of people surveyed in fall 2020 wanted to return to the office. They would prefer one of the following:

to work mostly from home with occasional office time (40%)
to share their time equally between home and office (31%)
to work mostly at the office with occasional time at home (21%) (Source

What’s next in your workspace? What’s important for you to note? What is important to start thinking about?

These questions and information is just as relevant today in March 2022 as it was last year in March 2021. Let us know what you are doing and focusing on!

Enjoy your conversations,
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

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 #2986 - Flashback – Review of the 3 Week Series Highlight

3/4/2022

Thanks for joining us for the last 3 weeks for the Chapter 12 highlight of Reconnecting Workspaces. I hope you have enjoyed reading the posts as much as I have enjoyed sharing them.

Over the last three weeks here at the blog we have been exploring the topic of team effectiveness through a variety of posts. Be sure to check out the many posts in the last three weeks including:

Relationships are a Critical Part of Remote Work Success

Principle: Set People Up For Success

Reconnecting the Workspace Tip: Onboarding

Quote: Determining The Right People

Myth Around Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Work – Will You Sink or Swim?

Brain Tip: Mental Models

Team Tool: 90-Day Checklist

Month End Planning

Flashback: Building Onto the Skills of New Virtual Team Members (from Effective Virtual Conversations)

Weekly Journaling Prompt 180: What’s Going to Help You Thrive?

Weekly Journaling Prompt 179: What’s Going To Help You Be Successful In Your Work Right Now?

Remote Pathways Podcast: Thriving Long Term with Remote Work

Mentoring as Part of Onboarding 90 Day Guide for Success Excerpt

Flashback – Six Leadership Questions a Day Onboarding

Productivity in the Remote Space – Six Key Areas to Explore from PlanDoTrack

What the Research Says: Getting Onboarding Right

Enjoy the reading!
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

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 #2979 - Flashback – Six Leadership Questions a Day Onboarding

2/25/2022

Back in the 2nd year of the Teams365 blog I did a regular series of 6 Leadership Questions a day. These in fact influenced the team questions you will find in Reconnecting Workspaces.

I thought it would be interesting to go back and see what I had written in the series around onboarding, and here’s what I found as some questions for leaders to consider with respect to onboarding:

This week's 6 Leadership Questions explores the topic on-boarding new team members. These are six potential questions you can use to spark dialogue and discussion.

1 What does the person need in order to get up to speed quickly?
2. Who are key members the person needs to meet?
3. What are the top 5 things they need to know?
4. What expectations do I need to clarify?
5. What are the key processes they need to master?
6. What are their top 3-5 goals (individual/organizational and team)?

What other questions do you want to make a practice of incorporating into some of the initial 1-1s with new staff members? For more on onboarding, Check out these past blog posts.

Check out that original Teams365 post from 2015 at https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-627-6-leadership-questions-onboarding-new-team-members

Enjoy,
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

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 #2972 - Flashback: Building Onto the Skills of New Virtual Team Members (from Effective Virtual Conversations)

2/18/2022

This Friday I wanted to take a look back to a post from 2017, #1406: Building onto the skills of virtual team members, as we look to this week’s topic of remote work success. A key part is the onboarding experience. So what’s needed in the first few weeks of a virtual team member's role?
Let’s take a look back to Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #20, originally published in 2017 when 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? Let us know what you do to onboard new team members using the comments below.

Enjoy your 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

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 #2958 - Flashback – When Things are Complex, and Uncertain

2/4/2022

Welcome back to another Friday Flashback. This week I am reaching back to what I wrote four years ago on February 4th, 2018. I shared one of my favorite quotes about how collaboration is needed when things are complex and uncertain. Little did I know about how the pandemic would invite all of us to consider how to work more effectively in environments where are ambiguous, complex and uncertain.

As you read through what I shared in 2018 consider how relevant this is for you now. Think about how your work, and need for collaboration has shifted.

Looking forward to continued conversation with you!

Now over to that 2018 post: = https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/february-24th-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. https://www.potentialsrealized.com/apps/search?q=collaboration

Enjoy the focus,
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 #2951 - Flashback

1/28/2022

Today's Flashback brings us to- Learning only needs to take place in the classroom. For employees of all levels ongoing learning can be an important part of development, capacity building and also employee engagement.

Here’s what I wrote few years ago. https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-680-leadership-myth-l-learning-only-needs-to-take-place-in-the-classroom

There is a myth that we need to send "people out for training". As someone who has spent significant time in the last few decades supporting formal and informal educational initiatives, internally and externally in organizations, this is myth.

Today there are so many options we can provide for employees to help them learn and grow. Consider these:

Job Shadowing with another peer or someone in a different department. Cross-training can be an important process with strengthening culture and also building a more agile workforce.

Special projects - Special projects can also provide an opportunity for employees who may not be able to move horizontally to continue to expand their skill set. In my former world of work, special projects I was tasked with continued to sharpen my skills and expand my comfort zone. I attribute the experience on some of these special projects as key experiences in helping me run a successful learning business today.

Mentoring - Mentoring continues to be an overlooked development opportunity to build capacity across organizations. In recent conversations I have had with mentors and proteges I support through designing mentoring training with their organization, I continue to hear what an important learning process it is and "why didn't we start earlier"? Contact me to explore what mentoring might look like in your organization for 2016. Mentoring can also happen virtually and doesn't need to be face-to-fa e.

E-Learning - E-Learning can be a great tool for on-demand and self-paced learning, especially when your organization needs learning now, and in smaller batches. E-Learning is not just about PowerPoint and in fact can be very interactive This year we developed a Coaching and Mentoring E-Learning program, which is now being rolled out in health care. Contact me for more information on this training package.

Coaching - Bringing small groups together to explore topics related to strengths, styles, is another way to build capacity and foster learning (and relationships!) within organizations. Some of the projects i have been involved with in supporting this year around group coaching include design and development of new group coaching programs for leaders, and train-the-trainers for internal staff in group coaching skills.

What learning opportunities would you and your team benefit from this year?

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 #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.