This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets you thinking about the question “My biggest opportunity is….”.

I hope that this week’s question will provide you with a pause the reflect on what is happening around you. When we get in the flow of work, we may not take notice of what opportunities do abound.

What is your biggest opportunity right now?

Enjoy your reflections!
Jennifer

​It’s hard to believe but Potentials Realized turns fifteen years old today. A big thank you to all of your support over the years in ensuring that the business is even more vibrant and popular today than it was 15 years ago when I metaphorically “opened the doors”.

Over the next 12 months I’ll be hosting a series of celebrations. Each month I’ll be dedicating a post or two to a different focus of the work provided, and also, I will share a different case study or example. There will also be some monthly events to celebrate 15 years.

Today I’m pleased to unveil the new 15 years logo. Back in late 2003 as I was preparing to move back to Canada and establish this business (which still didn’t have a name yet!) I was in a coaching conversation where I was being coached about my vision for the business. The image of a water drop clearly came into my mind, representing the ripple effect I wanted my work to continue to have. While it was only a vision in my mind, I imagined that my work would still allow me to connect with professionals all over the world, providing them with tools, insights and skills to help them ripple their own work out.

A big thanks to Eric for adding onto the logo for Potentials Realized – I’ll be using it for the next 12 months to signal this milestone.

My clients – the leaders, teams and business owners – continue to be at the heart of the success of the business. As the client base has grown, I have been thankful for many referrals (thank you!). I have also felt compelled to turn to an increasing amount of writing given that my books and writing travel much further than I can.

With the 10th anniversary of the release of Effective Group Coaching coming later this year, and thousands of the book sold, I am honored that I have been able to create a ripple effect in the area of group and team coaching, and in an emerging way a ripple in the realms of virtual conversations and remote teamwork.

This month I’ll be spotlighting this blog, given that this has become such a foundation of work and support to teams, leaders and professionals globally. What started as an experiment back in 2014 to see how to generate more traffic to the site, has become a favorite practice of mine where I dedicate a couple of hours a week to writing and curating content here.

Let us know about your favorite experience with Potentials Realized programming, or how you have been able to create your ripple effect by one of our programs or coaching.

Cheers to another 15 years…I look forward to our paths crossing!
Jennifer

Welcome back to our forty-fourth Weekly Journaling Prompt. I hope that you have been enjoying these quick prompts as part of your regular journaling practice.

Today’s prompt is “Things I Am Happy About….”

In my late teens and early twenties, I was fortunate enough to spend the bulk of my summers working in the beauty of Algonquin Park, about 3 hours north of Toronto, at a summer camp. When I wasn’t on the swim dock where I spent several summers leading a team, or with campers, I was hanging out with an amazing group of young women. In those days we had no access to TV, internet or a phone (yes, it was the late 80s and early 90s!). Evening entertainment came in the form of journaling, music and hanging out.

One book which was very popular in those days was a good book called “14,000 things to be happy about.” I remember how one summer it inspired a majority of the staff to start their own happy journals. This was something I carried around the world with me for years and still have on my bookshelf…..Take a look closely at today’s graphic -that’s my happy book! Once in a while (i.e. once or twice a year) I take a look back at it and am amazed how short sentences can bring forward an amazing flood of memories.
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What would you add to your happy book?

Enjoy!
​Jennifer

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

This week’s Sunday post takes us back to some of the varied Sunday audios I recorded for the Teams365 blog. Many of these posts are “Evergreen” and haven’t dated too much. I’ve selected a few to spotlight as I think they are a good reminder for us at this time of year. Let’s take a listen back into them again:

Four Tips to Overcoming Procrastination 
Three Key Facilitation Skills 
Gratitude, Recognition and Month-End Reflection
Your Vision and Goals – while this post was for 2015, it still works for 2019. Listen into this if you are now turning attention to your vision for 2019…You might also want to join me for a year end PlanDoTrack Virtual Retreat. Here’s the link to the Vision and Goals session.
Ten Questions Team Leaders Should Be Asking 

As we move into the end of the fifth year of the Teams365 blog, I wanted to thank you for joining us. Whether you’ve only read a few posts, or followed along with many, it’s been a pleasure to join you on a daily basis for 2014 -2018. I look forward to continuing to provide regular sparks here at the Teams365 blog.

Best,
Jennifer

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt brings us to #23 in the series. It’s the prompt, “What are three things you are grateful for?”.
This question comes from the positive psychology movement that found that people who asked themselves this question were happier.
Action for Happiness goes into a great description of some of the research and other supports, such as apps, that can support you with this gratitude practice. Check out their post here.
It’s a great time of the year to start developing the practice of thinking about, and also speaking to, what we are grateful for, letting those around us know what we are thankful for.
This week, build in some time to reflect regularly about the three things you are grateful for each day. You don’t have to do it every day, just a few times a week.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

It’s Sunday and also the day we celebrate Thanksgiving in my family here in Canada. A lot of my American colleagues are always surprised to hear that I’ll be taking off this Monday to celebrate. We’ve had this as our Thanksgiving for generations, marking it as a time for the end of the harvest, and a time to give thanks.

As you think about your work and life right now, what are you thankful for?
Where would you like to practice some gratitude?

One regular practice which has shown to have positive impact, is commonly referred to as "Three Things". At the end of every day, take stock and note 3 things which you were grateful for. Read more about this practice here from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

I hope that you will enjoy some time this weekend, whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving here with me in Canada or not, to say thanks! It’s good for us too.
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Best wishes,
Jennifer

We are continuing on a look back at different team development focus areas.  In today’s post we are exploring E through H. What are the different things we might explore with teams we are working with?
 
E is for exceptional, excellence, emotional intelligence. Read Teams365 #1070 - Team Development Activities – E is for Exceptional  here.

OR
 
Other posts on building emotional intelligence here.

F is for fair, frank, focused.
 
In team development, one of my favorite travelling tools is to pack a roll of tin foil or aluminum foil. This can be used for a number of team development activities including foil modelling by a team of their vision, next steps etc. Creating a model that they can take back to the office is a great reminder of commitments and their focus. Read my Teams365 post on foil modelling here.
 
Check out these posts on the Leadership A – Z on F here.

G is for goals, gratitude and also the GROW model of coaching. Take a look at this post around the Leadership A – Z of G here.
 
For leaders working on Authenticity you may want to check out this other “G” post where I share some resources around being genuine here.
 
And finally, H is for Habits.
In an era of ongoing change and uncertainty, habits play an even more critical role. Habits are things that we have typically done so consistently that they become second-nature and automated. This means that we often don’t need to think about doing them as much, freeing us up to look at and consider other things. When teams are virtual, habits also play a critical role in creating consistency across the team. It’s an important part of culture.
 
Check out Teams365 #323 for H is for Habits here.
 
I’ve written a lot about habits and you can find other posts here.

Enjoy your Tuesday,
Jennifer

Happy thanksgiving to other Canadians who are celebrating today. Each year our thanksgiving marks a thanks for the bounty of the harvest. 

What are you grateful for? What have you been able to reap the bounty of the harvest from recently?

Gratitude often gets short-changed in today's work environment, and from a wide growing body of research we know that practicing gratitude has tremendous impact, not only psychologically, but also physically. Check out what  UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center has pulled together over the last three years around Gratitude and emerging research.

I hope that you will take at least a minute today to think about what you are grateful for today. 

Enjoy!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders 
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Contact us to discuss coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326