Teams365 Blog - Potentials Realized

#TEAMS365 #1878 – Boosting Your Virtual Team – Strengthening Relationships = 5 Ideas

2/20/2019

This month’s focus is on building relationships. One type of team which often does not get attention is virtual teams. Today’s post goes into 5 ideas you might incorporate around boosting your virtual team. This could include some of the following activities:

Creating a set of peer partners who you are paired with for the course of a year. Peer partners may be invited to connect on a regular basis – i.e. quarterly to share information and resources and generally share best practices.
Hosting co-working sessions.
Providing the opportunity for part of a quarterly or regular team meeting to focus in on having each person share what they are working on and/or what their portfolio is all about.
Hosting a weekly or bi-weekly team huddle to update each other on what you are focusing on. Huddles are generally short and quick in nature (15-30 minutes). Done regularly they benefit from bringing the team together on a regular basis to share their focus, build connection and notice interplay.
Another option is to have people share a photo or resource with each other every month via the team’s communication channel – this could include a series of threads in Slack or part of your Leaning Management System or a Community Portal like Mighty Networks.

What are the activities and events which will benefit your team right now?

You might also be interested in checking out the January 2019 Effective Virtual Conversations call I hosted where I cover 5 Virtual Team Builders.

Wishing you the best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats.
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

Join our online community - the Conversation Sparker Zone - where explore topics related to teamwork, leadership, coaching, virtual conversations and business development

#TEAMS365 #1877 – Productivity Tips in Review

2/19/2019

Starting in December 2018 I turned attention to sharing 19 productivity tips for 2019. Each one is relatively short in nature, but applied, has the potential to make a significant impact on your work. We wrapped up with the series last week, and in today’s post I wanted to include a link to all 19 so you can get the bird’s eye view of the tips. Take note of which ones could support you the most in terms of your work and priorities at this time.

Here are links to all 19 of the posts in this series:

1. Have a clear vision. Without a clear vision it is hard to know where to go.

2. Know where you are getting results

3. Know where you are getting your results – 80/20

4. Know Where Your Time Goes. Be ruthless with your time.

5. Systems

6. Chunk it!

7. Make it Visual

8. Tame the inbox!

9. 8 Essential Meeting Questions

10. Support Action & Clarity with 3 Bullet Points

11. Circadian Rhythm – when are you at your best

12. Build in regular time for review

13. Get the important stuff out of the way

14. Content Creation: Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle

15. Avoid analysis/paralysis – Get into action

16. Build relationships

17. Set a Start and an End - Parkinson’s Rule

18. What doesn’t get scheduled, doesn’t get done – Build it in advance

19. Track it!

Which ones would be useful to revisit?

Which one could you apply more fully?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

PS - If you have enjoyed these tips, do be sure to check out the new on-demand, video based course I have created around these. The program can be taken at your own pace, You can stretch the tips out daily, weekly or monthly. Join me this year for bi-weekly calls as part of your registration. Cost: $129 US. Learn more and register here.

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where we explore topics related to productivity, teamwork, coaching, business development and leadership.

#TEAMS365 #1870 – Productivity Tip 18 – What Doesn’t Get Scheduled, Doesn’t Get Done

2/12/2019

PS - Tip #18 – What doesn’t get scheduled, doesn’t get done

“The whole point of getting things done is knowing what to leave undone.”- Oswald Chambers

Scheduling and tracking are key parts of business productivity. Time management in a virtual business includes:

Discernment – Knowing what is, and what is not important. In the big picture, in the immediate. For you. For the business.
Prioritizing – Being clear on your Top 3-5 activities. Today, this month, this quarter.
Scheduling it in- Making sure the big tasks and smaller tasks are scheduled in, particularly those things which are important to you and the business (review time, planning time, renewal time, maintenance, systems etc). Some research has also started pointing to the need for significant enough blocks of time being required to help you focus. For some this may be 90 minutes, others 3 hours.
Saying NO - tactfully! Given that we are usually operating in isolation, negotiation skills are key. Being able to say “I can help you with this, however, that may not be feasible…”, being able to delegate, defer or even say no, are all key skills. It’s not surprising that training I deliver on Communicating and Negotiating for Impact is popular!
Being ruthless with your time. Time is non-renewable. How do you choose to spend it?

Activity
Consider the questions listed above. What do you notice about Discernment? Priorities, Scheduling, saying no, being ruthless with time. What is important for you in staying the course?
Take 15 minutes to make sure your schedule is up to date and includes time for the important activities in the short, medium and long term.
Add an additional 10% of time to projects or tasks which are not yet visible but need to get done.
Consider what your line in the sand is around tasks and new requests. Are you operating at 100%? If you had a new request come in, what would you do? How could you defer other tasks?

What your successes have been?
Where your focus has been?
What products or services have you been focusing on offering?

Schedule it in. If you have not left space now, it’s unlikely it will emerge on its own!

Conversation Sparkers

What projects, tasks or activities are important to schedule this month?
What is your line in the sand around what more you can take on?
What are the Top 3-5 priorities for you today? This week? This month? This quarter?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

PS - If you have enjoyed these tips, do be sure to check out the new on-demand, video based course I have created around these. The program can be taken at your own pace, You can stretch the tips out daily, weekly or monthly. Join me this year for bi-weekly calls as part of your registration. Cost: $129 US. Learn more and register here.

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development).

#TEAMS365 #1865 – Team Building Tip 222

2/7/2019

This week’s Thursday Team Building Tip #222 is the question “We need to say no to….”. While this may be a provocative question in some organizational contexts, it is an important one to ask in highly changing contexts.

Focus and priorities can become even more important in ever changing contexts. It is key to watch for the trap of trying to do it all or trying to respond to every new iteration. If we do, we may run into the danger of spreading ourselves too thin.

In rapidly changing contexts, priorities can also change just as fast. It is important to be able to discern what is truly important.

Asking the question – We need to say no to…. – can help with FOCUS and PRIORITIES.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon

#TEAMS365 #1853 - Weekly Journaling Prompt 34

1/26/2019

This week’s Journaling Prompt gets you to dream a little. To consider what’s possible for your work. In this week’s journaling prompt you are asked to consider “If we were given an additional $500,000 this year, I would…..”
Take a few minutes today to dream about what would be possible if money were more plentiful.
Consider:

What would you focus on?
What would you put attention around?
What would you say yes to?
What would you say no to?
What are the elements you would let others do?
Where would you place your attention?

As you complete your journaling, then take a look at what you have captured. What’s important about it?

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon

#TEAMS365 #1850 – Productivity Tips #13 – Get the Important Stuff Out of the Way

1/23/2019

Tip #13 – Get the important stuff out of the way

“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.”
— Jim Watkins

It is likely that even with the best planning, finding time to execute and get things done can be a challenge. Today’s business context of ongoing change and disruption, means that things can change on a regular basis, requiring ongoing learning and iteration.

Against this backdrop, it can also be important to focus in on items that are moving you, and the business, forward.

With this in mind, what are the windows you have available (or can create) to get the important things out of the way? This might mean starting your day early, or working late into the night, to focus on projects that require quiet work spaces.

Activity

Review your monthly or quarterly goals.
Review your Top 3 or 5 Goals.
What activities are not getting completed in a regular way?
What needs to be focused on more?
When will you schedule this in? For example, is this the first thing you want to do every day? Is it worth arriving at work 30 minutes earlier to make sure it gets completed? Could certain activities be delegated to someone else?
Break larger tasks down to smaller chunks if you have not done so already. Consider what smaller milestones exist and put these in your schedule.
What are the regular action steps you will undertake to make it happen? Work backwards noting additional mini-milestones.

Conversation Sparkers

What are the most important tasks that are going to move your work or business forward?
When are you scheduling in these?
What habits are going to help you get the most important things done?

Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon

#TEAMS365 #1849 – Productivity Tip #12: Build In Regular Time for Review

1/22/2019

Tip #12 – Build in regular time for review

"Big thinking precedes great achievement."
— Wilferd Peterson

Part of productivity is about building in pause points to reflect and think about what’s working and what’s not.
Building in time for regular review helps to:

Identify where we are getting our results
Observe the patterns that are occurring
Think about where we want to go
Identify what is important to be able to move forward

Some of the pitfalls we may experience in review is number one we don't have the data our memories are not good at remembering and capturing where we were at different points in time.

With this in mind, I've included in number of monthly daily trackers in the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack. They get you to regularly track and capture your key metrics. Perhaps you want to track sales. When did sales and revenue come in for the month? Was it on a Friday or was it on Monday?

Another metric you might want to be tracking is social media. How many followers did you have on July 1st? November 1st?

Building in time for regular review helps us to identify what's working and what's not that then gives us the opportunity to make a change.

Activity

Identify the metrics you want to track in your business. Make note of these and start tracking them. Consider using colors to highlight. As you review them consider these questions

What do you notice about your metrics?
Where are you spending a lot of time?
What is giving you impact? What is not?
What changes do you want to make?

Conversation Sparkers

“What we focus on expands”. What do you want to focus on more?
What does the data say?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon

#TEAMS365 #1846 Weekly Journaling Prompt 33

1/19/2019

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets you thinking about, and writing around, the question “If I could go back in time, I would….”

Sometimes it can be useful to look backwards to look ahead. What are the inflection points, or events, you would change if you could?

I hope that you enjoy spending a few minutes this week, writing about this question.

Keep in mind the flipside “If I could go forward in time, I would….”

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon

#TEAMS365 #1843 – Productivity Tip #11 – Circadian Rhythm

1/16/2019

:TIP #11 – CIRCADIAN RHYTHM : WHEN ARE YOU AT YOUR BEST ?

“Perhaps the main conclusion to be drawn from studies on the effects of time of day on performance is that the best time to perform a particular task depends on the nature of that task”. – Simon Folkard quoted in Daniel Pink’s When, 2018, pp 22.

Are you a night owl or a morning bird? As a school girl in the 1970s, I remember teachers getting us to think about when we were at our best. Flash forward to the late 1980s and early 1990s and discussion around circadian rhythm.

Daniel Pink’s most recent book WHEN further delves into the research. He writes, “Our moods and performance oscillate during the day. For most of us, our mood follows a common pattern: a peak, a trough, and rebound. That helps shape a dual pattern of performance. In the mornings, during the peak…. most of us excel at …analytic work that requires sharpness, vigilance, and focus. Later in the day, during the recovery, most of us do better on…insight work that requires less inhibition and resolve.” – Pink, 2018, pp 26

Activity
Questions to consider:

When are you at your best? Check out the Munich Chronotype Questionaire to learn more.
When are you able to focus most?
When are you able to get the most work done?

Take a look at your schedule and think about the major tasks that could be reschedule to better meet your energy needs.
Make the change now.

Conversation Sparkers

What is important to note about the ebbs and flows of your day, your tasks and your energy?
What tasks could benefit from being scheduled in the times when you are most productive? When you are not as focused?

Have a great Wednesday,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon

#TEAMS365 #1834: Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 76 – Keep it Simple

1/7/2019

We are back to the Effective Virtual Conversations Tips today, returning back with a quote I say regularly as it relates to virtual work – “Keep it simple, not simplistic”.
When working with groups, or virtually, this is an important mantra to live by. The complexity we face is usually in the group members we work with, or the inevitable glitches that technology can create.

Keeping things simple helps us to:

Focus on what’s important, and what the key message is (think 3 bullet points, rather than 30 pages!)
Focus on process and flow
Provide clear instructions
Connect people early on to their WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) so that they are able to listen for, and connect with, things that are important for them

Keeping things simple does not mean that we oversimplify things. Rather, it means that we leave space for the message to get heard.
Think about what is going to keep it simple for our learners and what they will value.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon