Performance conversations are challenging for many at the best of times. What about now that you are likely having to have these conversations virtually? What are the things you want to do to keep the performance conversations going virtually?

Performance issues become even more complex when you are not able to see people in their own element. In fact, our feedback is likely to be framed by what we can see on the screen (which might be one-tenth or one-hundredth of the time in a week) as well as what we see with output.

With that in mind, here are several things to keep in mind around performance support and feedback in the remote space:

• Watch assumptions – be super explicit around what you mean with this.
• Clarify what the end results need to look like.
• Have more frequent check-ins or walk-throughs. It’s important that is not seen as hovering, but it creating a more frequent monitoring process.
• Be sure to return back to measures of success, and things like the IS/IS NOT framework.

As it relates to feedback:

• Make sure that feedback is specific, and demonstrable – again, check assumptions.
• You may want to lead with “Walk me through “ to identify where processes or practices get derailed.
• Be open to feedback in new ways.
• Remember that feedback is a two-way street. It’s often best to get it to give it. Feedback is reciprocal.
• Be sure that you are also having people share what areas they are going to value feedback in first.

What else is important to note about feedback and performance conversations for your team right now?

Enjoy your virtual conversations!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

In the Remote Working Whitepaper, I released earlier this year, I summarized seven of the areas I consistently see as things that help, or enable, exceptional performance in the remote space. As a former remote leader myself for many years, I knew that these things were always areas to check in around first, to see if perhaps, one or more needed attention, clarity or modification.

Whether your team is now working remote all the time, or for just this period of time, it can be useful to focus in on these 7 areas which I like to term Remote Enablers – The 7 Cs. Here’s an excerpt from the Whitepaper which you can pick up a copy HERE.
 
What’s different in the remote space?

Copyright 2020 – Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized. All Rights Reserved

Remote teams operate across distance, time and culture. This usually requires enhanced skills in communication, boundaries, clarifying assumptions and being able to navigate the diverse preferences, cultures and ways of working of a global team. What is not clear or visible can become a challenge or pitfall for a remote team.

What ingredients enable exceptional remote work? I like to call these the 7 Cs which anchor exceptional remote work – Communication, Clarity, Connection, Culture, Consistency, Community, and Collaboration.

Communication is likely to take place along different channels, and at different times of day. The communication realm of the remote space may include phone, text, instant messaging, email, video streaming calls, and messaging across multiple apps like Slack and Trello.

The challenge with communication is that is often has no context - we don’t see “what’s beyond the screen”. Many times, we don’t have the visual cues that tend to make up the majority of regular communication messages.

On top of this, communication can vary across both geographic culture (some cultures are more direct than others), and industry culture.

Finally, we have our own individual preferences to communication. As a Gen Xer, I may prefer to have communication bundled and emailed to me, rather than up in the Cloud. Taking time to understand each team member’s focus and preferences is critical to remote work. Conflict may emerge for a variety of factors including different styles, lack of clarity, misunderstanding or interpreting instructions differently.

Connection with others helps remote work and includes connection to others inside and outside the team and understanding their work. Remote team members are likely to be part of matrix relationships, where they report to, and are part of, multiple teams. Matrix relationships offer another layer of complexity and opportunity in this work. Connection also means understanding how our work fits into the bigger picture, as well as fits into the bigger context of others work. Given the isolated nature of remote work, proactively focusing on connection is important. Take a look at the Remote Working Myths for more on this.

What can you do to create more connection across the team? Beyond the team?

Clarity is one of the most important enablers. This involves clarity of focus, clarity of priorities, clarity of expectations, clarity of roles and clarity of responsibilities. In the remote space, we need to make things EXPLICIT, and be regularly exploring our ASSUMPTIONS.

What clarity is needed for team members to do their best work?

Team culture becomes even more pronounced or diluted in the remote space, so a focus on this can be really important, especially when people are part of multiple teams. Culture is “how we do things here”.

Culture encompasses both visible (behaviors, language, artifact) and invisible manifestations (norms, values, basic assumptions or beliefs).” – Rosinski, 2003, p 20.

In shaping a culture there are the things we can see and help to define us (our taglines or the way we start meetings) and there are things that we don’t see. Team culture can remain very diffuse and not clear in the remote space. Taking efforts to clarify and intentionally shape what team culture is, and how we do things, becomes paramount for remote team performance.

Consistency is also key when we are dispersed or operating in different locations. It’s consistency of messaging, practices, and the way we do things. For example, every Monday we meet at 7:30 am ET, regardless of how many people can attend live.

Community – Remote Workers are hungry for connection and community. What are you doing to build a sense of connection and identity across your team or organization?  Community can range from boosting communication across internal social platforms to interactive virtual lunch and learns.

Collaboration – Collaboration is an essential skill set when we work remote. As you’ll see in the remote work myth of “no person is an island”, we still need to place an emphasis on relationships. Who do you need to collaborate with in order to get things done? What can you do to collaborate better? Where are those collaboration windows and requirements?

Connection – Beyond community, how are we connected? What are the process pieces which help us do our best work? What type of communication exists? What helps bring people together on a regular basis both formally, and informally? Across a team and between teams?

End of Excerpt – Remote Working Whitepaper: When You Need to Get Up to Remote Working Speed Quickly. Copyright 2020, Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized
 
Pick up a copy of the Remote Working Whitepaper for yourself here.

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

In this month’s Effective Virtual Conversations newsletter, I shared an excerpt from an e-book I created a year or two ago on virtual and remote teams. I wanted to share this excerpt with you here as well, knowing that many professionals today have needed to shift their conversations to the remote space.

In the remote world of work, many things get magnified as our touchpoints before less frequent. We are framed by the screen.

What do you notice about your team and their focus?

When making the transition over to the remote space, it’s important to go back to the basics around team work and our team culture – Who are we? How do we do things? What’s important to us?

Providing the team with time to connect and share what they are working on is also an important part of the team process.

Don’t forget to go back to the foundations of effective teamwork, commonly known as the Six Factors. Here’s how I’ve described them before in Teams365 1920:

“One of the frameworks I continue to share with teams is what I call the Six Factors of High Performing Teams. These are six things that teams need in order to excel. The ingredients come from the research of professionals including: Katzenbach and Smith (The Wisdom of Teams), Hackman and Wageman (A Theory of Team Coaching) and others.

As you step into the new month, as a team you’ll take the pulse of where you are on a scale of 1- 10 in each of these six areas:

1. Shared purpose or mission (Your WHY)
What is your purpose? Your mission? Why do you exist? Does everyone hold the same understanding? What does this mean practically for your work? What priorities does your purpose or mission naturally create?

2. Shared behavioral norms
How do you do things? What is acceptable and unacceptable on the team? What behaviors and habits exist? Which ones are supportive of exceptional performance? Which ones aren't?

3. Shared commitment
What are team members committed to? What will you get done, no matter what? Is there anything that needs to be dropped off the list?

4. Shared performance goals
What are key goals for the team this year? What are key individual goals? How do your goals align? Overlap? What does success look like for each member? For the entire team? Does everyone have an understanding of the key goals of others on the team and how they feed into them?

5. Shared team practices
Teams that work together effectively share common practices such as a Monday morning huddle, a Thursday night out or some other regular event. What practices support your relationships?

6. Clear Roles
How do our roles overlap, align and connect? What changes, if any, are needed this year around your roles giving your priorities?”
A quick activity to undertake together is to have some discussion around how you are doing in each of these areas this week, especially if you are now operating in the remote space."

Check out the many posts I’ve written on remote teamwork including Teams365 #2130 – Remote Team Toolbox.

Best, 
​Jennifer

Earlier this month at the Remote Pathways podcast which I host, we released Episode 8 which focuses on Strengths and Remote Work. We were joined by Coach Jennifer Grote as a special guest. You can listen into it here.

Strengths often play a key role in helping professional excel, particularly in the remote space when we are operating in isolation.

When’s the last time you explored your strengths?

Research around strengths has found that individuals and teams that are able to lead more by strengths, are:

• 6x more engaged
• 3x more likely to report having excellent quality of life
• 8.9% greater profitability
• Teams which focus on strengths have 12.5% greater productivity

(Gallup Strengths Center)

Today’s invitation is for you to explore how strengths shape your work.
​
Questions to consider:

• What are your strengths?
• What do you do to magnify them?
• What happens when they are not magnified?

Enjoy exploring your strengths!
​Jennifer

​As an increasing number of people are moving to remote working conditions, what are the things you can do to set yourself up for remote working success?

​Let’s take a look back at Teams365 #2066. Here’s what I wrote in that post from earlier last year:

A tipping point around remote work seems to be starting to occur - with more and more organizations realizing that a key part of the talent equation is more flexible working arrangements. With large and small companies embracing remote work arrangements, we are seeing very compelling research and data around how remote work can support employee engagement and productivity. Read about what Craig Thornton of Telus shared recently about how remote work benefits both employer and employee.

This was a focus of my 2017 writing in my book Effective Virtual Conversations and continues to be a significant part of the work I am focusing on with teams and organizations today.

As someone who has supported remote workers and teams for several decades now, it’s great to see the tide turn again back to putting the flexibility in workers’ hands.

Today’s post and tomorrow’s post will explore what organizations and teams will want to do in setting themselves up for remote work success this fall.

Today’s post looks at it from the macro, organizational level. Tomorrow’s post will look at it from the employee’s perspective.
​
Four things organizations will want to ensure they do, are:

1. Specify expectations around work output and quality. What gets measured in any work space should be the work output. Unfortunately, what often gets equated with success is how much time goes into making something happen. In the remote space, the success unit is OUTPUT.

Therefore, consider questions such as: What will success look like with work output for each employee? What are the expectations in terms of work, use of materials, security etc.?

2. Provide connection with the office and other team members. Collaboration is just as important – and sometimes even more so – in the remote space. Be sure to spend time focusing in on orienting people across the organization and provide virtual events so people can get together. Invest in remote team development. How are you connecting people formally and informally?

Beyond meetings, are there virtual events people can join – lunch and learns; co-working opportunities etc.?

3. Adopt the mantra that “out of sight does not mean out of mind”. One of the pitfalls to the transition to a remote work environment is that people can feel that they are not connected. Out of sight does not mean out of mind. Look at how you communicate and value connection and teamwork. Think about how communication and meetings can become more intentional and focused. Think about how you are bringing people together and connecting them with the communication which is needed.

4. Provide the tools and resources to make this happen. The transition to working remote arrangements takes time. It also requires a mind shift in many instances. What tools and resources are needed? What changes in the way you work is required?

For more tips on working remote be sure to check out my 2017 book Effective Virtual Conversations. Part 1 focuses on the ecosystem of the virtual space where conversations take place (from education to coaching to teams), Part 2 explores HOW you can work more effectively (meetings, program design etc.), and Part 3 focuses on virtual leadership, and virtual teams in the remote space.

What can you be doing to set yourself up for remote working success?

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

Today I wanted to take you back to #Teams365 #1750 – Teamwork Skill – Partnering, Collaboration and Relationship Building. Check out the original post here.

“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” – Theodore Roosevelt

​The skills of collaboration, partnering and relationship management are all critical for success in today’s workplace. Whether we work in-person or virtually, being able to build solid relationships with other members of our team, others inside the organization, and potentially external partners and customers/clients is critical for success.

It’s important to be able to build relationships:

• Upwards with our boss and other leaders in the organization.
• Across with peers in the organization – in other teams and departments.
• Downwards with anyone we manage or lead.

Whether we have a formal title of leadership or not, partnering, collaboration and relationship management are all critical skill sets.

One of the biggest adjustments remote team leaders and members face is how to build relationships, and work through others in the virtual space.
 
Consider your work and what it may look like as a professional in today’s context. Who do you relate with on a regular basis? What value are you providing in the interactions you have? What type of support do they need from you?

We often use the term “collaboration” around in today’s workplace thinking that all tasks and projects need collaboration. As I have written several times, collaboration may be overused at times, employed when individual effort may be best, and under-utilized when a collaborative approach would be best.

Questions to consider when you collaborate or partner with others:

• What are the outcomes we are looking for? How will we know we’ve been successful?
• Do we need to collaborate, cooperate, collaborate or co-create?
• Each one of these requires different risk, input and levels of relationship. To what level do you need to be involved?
• What’s important to acknowledge about the impact of collaboration?
• When we do collaborate how can I be relied upon? What do others need from me? What do I need from them?
• What check-ins will we have along the way to identify what’s working, what adjustments are needed, and what learning we are having?

I hope that you have found it valuable to return back to this former blog post.
Don’t forget to download a copy of the February Calendar. Many of these posts are ones you will want to explore. 

Warm wishes,
​Jennifer

Today’s Milestone post (#2200!) is all about accelerating your teamwork this year. While the context of teamwork has shifted dramatically, the fundamentals of great teamwork has remained the same. I thought that it would be great idea to revisit what I term the 6 Factors of High Performing Teams: six core ingredients for team success. (Six Factors of High Performing Teams – Copyright Jennifer Britton 2017 - 2020)

Regardless of if you are a remote team, or an intact team, taking time to focus on these elements will help you go faster in the medium- and long-term.  I write more on this in part 3 of Effective Virtual Conversations.

As a team, have you taken time to clarify and agree upon these areas?
(as built upon from Teams365 #1920)

1. Shared purpose or mission (Your WHY)
   What is your purpose? Your mission? Why do you exist? Does everyone hold the same understanding? What does this mean practically for your work? What priorities does your purpose or mission naturally create? What are people doing to keep the vision and priorities VISIBLE?
   
   2. Shared behavioral norms
   How do you do things? What is acceptable and unacceptable on the team? What behaviors and habits exist? Which ones are supportive of exceptional performance? Which ones aren't? Is it time to revisit your shared agreements or TEAM charter and how you operate?
   
   3. Shared commitment
   What are team members committed to? What will you get done, no matter what? Is there anything that needs to be dropped off the list? How do members of the team have each other’s backs?
   
   4. Shared performance goals
   What are key goals for the team this year? What are key individual goals? How do your goals align across the team? Overlap?  What needs to get done by one team member and then passed on to another? What is contingent upon another task completion? What does success look like for each member? For the entire team? Does everyone have an understanding of the key goals of others on the team and how they feed into them?
   
   5. Shared team practices
   Teams that work together effectively share common practices which support both a focus on RESULTS and also a focus on RELATIONSHIPS. This might include team practices such as a Monday morning huddle, a Thursday night out or a daily check in at 3 pm ET for a team that needs to get things “out the door” by 5. What practices support your relationships? Your results?
   
   6. Clear Roles
   How do our roles overlap, align and connect? On the team, what are people’s strengths? Who is good at initiating things? Completing things? Checking for quality? Innovating things? What changes, if any, are needed this year around your roles giving your priorities?

As a team what’s important to note? What areas need further clarification?

All the best,
Jennifer

​It’s Monday which means that we are back to the Effective Virtual Conversations tip day. It’s 126 in the series, and today’s tip is “Learn about each other”.
​
Successful teams aren’t simply CLEAR about the results they need, they are also knowledgeable about, and connected with, each other. This week’s Remote Team Tip is all about taking some time in your upcoming meetings to learn about each other.

While some teams will choose to make a strategic investment in structured team development activities throughout the year, many teams may choose to incorporate something into their weekly meetings. Either approach can work well, if it’s done consistently.

As someone who is often brought in to facilitate Team Days, I know how valued the connection piece is by other team members. Feelings of isolation and working alone are prevalent in the remote working space, and helping team members learn about WHO is WHO, and what people do, is an essential component to team development.

In the 20 Activities for Remote Teams, there are a number of structured activities you can facilitate with your team.

Some other ideas include:

• Dedicating time each team meeting to having one person’s role “in the spotlight”. They may have the floor for 5-15 minutes during a meeting to share what they do, their priorities and possibly a little bit about what’s unique about their context.
• Having team members work together in smaller pairs around team building activities or real-time team problem solving.
• Having people share what’s outside their screen or window – see chapter 7 of Effective Virtual Conversations around this.

Also check out Teams365 2097 – Remote Team Activities – for more info.

Want to learn more about how a team day could support your team’s results and relationships? Let’s talk. Email me to set up a conversation to learn more about the Team Days I facilitate (virtually of course!).

All the best, 
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the start of the year, get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.

Winter 2019 programs start this week including the Coaching Biz Growth Lab (an annual focus on coaching business development), GroupCoachingEssentials (8.75 CCEs), the Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs) and the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program (8.5 CCEs) - geared to support you in creating more exceptional virtual conversations. Finally the Mentor Coaching Group for Winter 2020 will begin - aimed at coaches who are working towards their ACC, PCC or renewing.

This week I am reaching back to one of the original Teams365 blog posts.
 
Here’s what I wrote, which might be an interesting conversation starter as you go through your year-end discussions. Expectations are often at the heart of a high performing team. 

Our final team building tip of the year gets you to think about the expectations which need to be clarified for the team. One of the biggest hindrances to exceptional team performance is lack of clarity around expectations.

Earmarking a focus around clarifying expectations in the new year can pay off in dividends.

Areas you may want to ensure you have clear, and shared, expectations around are:
- What does success look like? For us individually? Collectively as a team?
- What are our start and end times?
- What does quality mean?
- What does being an exceptional team mean?
- What are we committed to creating? What do we need to do in order to get there?
- What do you expect of me as leader this year? What do I expect from you this year?

What other expectations are important for your team to discuss as you get back to work in January?

Enjoy the conversation,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.

This year teams of all kinds have been finding micro-windows for conversation. The business context is not slowing down, change is ever present, and teams are needing to manage uncertainty. When we have a context like this, it can be really important to zoom into connecting with our bigger picture, and also focus on prioritization and systems.

As a team, it may be useful to invest time focusing on revisiting or discussing:

#1 - Our Ways of Working/Team Agreements: What are the norms and ways we work together? What’s acceptable? What’s not?

A reminder that much of the recent research, including Google’s project Aristotle, has validated what many of us as team practitioners have been doing for years – helping teams articulate HOW they want to operate. What’s acceptable and what’s not on a team?

#2 – Our Vision: Vision helps us move through the ups and downs of business. When things are changing at the micro-level, our vision may become more static, and can act as a guidepost. What are you doing to revisit your vision? How aligned is everyone around the vision? Does everyone see how they fit into the vision and how they contribute? Note that the time window around vision may be shorter than it was – rather than focusing on a 10-year window it may be 36-month vision.

spending a few minutes as a team at year end to reconnect around what your vision is for the upcoming year can be a valuable exercise.

I wrote more extended posts around working with vision back in 2015, and here are some of the questions I included at that time for discussion as a team in Teams365 #366. Here are some of those questions I included at the time:

Before you get back to work for the year, spend a few minutes reflecting on these key questions for your 2015 goals:

• What are your key goals for the next year - personally? As a team?
  
• On a scale of 1-10, how easy are these goals? Which ones are going to be the most stretch?
• What will keep these goals at the forefront for you this year?
• How do you want to track them? What are key milestones along the way?
• What do you need in order to achieve them (people, resources, finances etc)?
• What are you committed to achieving this next year, no matter what?
  
• How do your individual, team and organizational goals align?
• Who will you be accountable to?

• How will you celebrate them along the way?

Take time to write these down in  a place you can refer back to. When you get back to work, share and discuss these with your team members, those you collaborate with, and other stakeholders.

#3 - Systems and Processes become important given that we may need to shift our role even more. When we leave a role often our knowledge leaves with us. Savvy leaders know the importance systems and process play in helping to build on the learning that people bring. Even if they are moved to a new project, good systems and processes will help capture the learning.

#4 – Relationships. As I write in my latest work around Remote Pathways, “no person is an island”. Relationships play a critical role for team members, especially in the remote space. Remote does not equal disconnected. What are you doing to bring people together regularly to build trust and connection?  With low levels of trust, it’s likely that people will not be willing to bring their best self to work. With low levels of trust, it’s unlikely that the big issues will be surfaced. When people do not feel connected, it’s also unlikely that the real issues get surfaced. We want to make sure we help team members, especially remote team members, see their connections with each other.

For more on trust, check out this earlier Teams365 blog post and related cartoon around 9 different ways to build trust or Teams365 1512 for Building TRust in a virtual team.

Check out this blog post on creating connection and building community across the team.

Enjoy your conversation!
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.