Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

#Teams365 #3118: Working Pulse Check – Working in the office, remotely or hybrid

7/19/2022

As we move into the later part of July there are often a few weeks where things are quieter. What are you noticing about your working rhythms? I thought it would be interesting to revisit one of my past PlanDoTrack blog posts which explored 10 questions to ask yourself around work right now.

Consider these questions:
1. What are your top 3 priorities for the rest of the year? Where are these visible? Does everyone you interface with know about these?
2. When are your 1-1s scheduled with your boss? Your team?
3. Peer time - When have you scheduled meetings and outreach with your peers?
4. Deep work time - What are the times you have earmarked for the heavier thinking tasks and activities?
5. Organizing- What are the things that need to be streamlined? What items need to be organized – physically and digitally?
6. Tolerations - What is the one thing that bothered you this year that you want to fix? Maybe it was something in your office that didn't work, or something on your computer that wasn't configured right?
7. Learning - What do you have earmarked for learning? What formats will it take? Are you building in time to apply the learning you have already taken, or have you become a consumer of learning?
8. Habits - What are the habits that are doing to keep you at peak performance?
9. Boundaries -What are the boundaries around work which will help support you? As a virtual and remote team member it's easy to have the lines blur. What's important to carve out as "your time" or "Family time". When are you available for others? When are you not? Have you communicated this?
10. Renewal and peak performance - The working life of a virtual and remote professional can be sedentary at times. What are you doing to renew, energize and keep yourself at peak performance?

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 - 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 #3036: Remaining Visible in the Hybrid WorLD - Productivity Tip

4/26/2022

One of the pain points we are seeing in today’s hybrid workspace is the concern on the part of employees that they, and their work, are not being seen enough. I thought it would be interesting to go back to the PlanDoTrack blog from 2020 to take a look at what I had written about visibility. Let’s take a look:

Many workers are concerned that visibility in the remote and virtual workspace is not like being “seen” in the in-person realm. In contrast, many others feel like they have never been more visible. What are you doing to remain visible in the digital and virtual space?

Business continues to leverage relationships and is grounded in results. What are you doing to foster business relationships while getting the work done?

Here are a number of activities you might want to consider:

Mentoring – Many professional associations connect professionals at all stages of their careers with a mentor. Mentoring can be an invaluable way to learn from others in your profession and organization.

Join a professional association – If you are not a member of your professional association, this may be a great time to join. Many host ongoing professional development activities at no or low fee, while others may host Virtual speed networking rounds.

Join a LinkedIn or Facebook group – Whether it’s connecting in for conversation or connecting in to take action in something like a Challenge, joining a social media group can connect you in with core topics of importance. I recently held the Stand Out Virtually challenge and was amazed to see the progress people made during the challenge.

Take an online learning course – There are a variety of courses different providers offer. I continue to offer several courses which are approved for International Coach Federation Continuing Coach Education Units – including Group Coaching Essentials and Virtual Facilitation Essentials. In addition to skill development, online learning courses often connect you in with others with a keen interest.

What are you looking to learn this year? What connections are you looking to foster?

Which activities might you consider?

What else might you consider?

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 #3015: 10 Activities To Consider in Your Hybrid or Remote Team This Quarter

4/5/2022

As we step into a new quarter, it can be valuable to consider how you are doing with your work. How are you doing around these 10 areas:

1. What are your top 3 priorities for the rest of the year? Where are these visible? Does everyone you interface with know about these?

2. When are your 1-1s scheduled with your boss? Your team?

3. Peer time - When have you scheduled meetings and outreach with your peers?

4. Deep work time - What are the times you have earmarked for the heavier thinking tasks and activities?

5. Organizing- What are the things that need to be streamlined? What items need to be organized – physically and digitally?

6. Tolerations - What is the one thing that bothered you this year that you want to fix? Maybe it was something in your office that didn't work, or something on your computer that wasn't configured right?

7. Learning - What do you have earmarked for learning? What formats will it take? Are you building in time to apply the learning you have already taken, or have you become a consumer of learning?

8. Habits - What are the habits that are doing to keep you at peak performance?

9. Boundaries -What are the boundaries around work which will help support you? As a virtual and remote team member it's easy to have the lines blur. What's important to carve out as "your time" or "Family time". When are you available for others? When are you not? Have you communicated this?

10. Renewal and peak performance - The working life of a virtual and remote professional can be sedentary at times. What are you doing to renew, energize and keep yourself at peak performance?

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

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 #2998 - Hybrid Work Tip#1 - Focus on Relationships

3/16/2022

I’ve just started a daily series over at my Instagram page with the Hybrid Work tips, where daily I will be sharing a different statement or tip to consider around hybrid work. I’ll be bringing these tips in here as well, elaborating on what you can view in Instagram:

#1 – Focus on Relationships

Relationships are key to success in the hybrid work space, and while we may not always see each other, we will be focusing on it as well.

As you consider our work at present, consider these questions:

Who do I need to connect in with?
What are the elements which are important for my work this quarter?
Who am I not connected in with yet?
Who else needs to know about what I am focusing on?
Who is a connector to others I need to know?
Who can I connect others with?

Enjoy the 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

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 #2926 - Virtual Co-Working Sprints 22 For 2022: Day 3 of 22 Days- Who Do You Serve?

1/3/2022

One size does not fit all, especially in the remote and virtual space. What are the unique needs of the people you serve or are in dialogue with?

Consider the unique elements of what they really need in their virtual support – whether it‘s a live call, another email, a video they can watch at their own time, or something they can download.

Today, think about who you serve and what’s unique about their world. A great tool to tap into is the Empathy Map process which flows out of Design Thinking.

Consider the full 360-degree view of the world of your client.

What are they seeing? Doing? Hearing? Thinking?
What are the issues which are keeping them up at night?
What’s helping them spring out of bed in the morning?

Activity

Consider who your clients are. Who are they and what is important to them? What are the things which are prevalent in their world?

As you consider these elements, write them out. Then, contrast this with what you are great at, and what you are passionate about.

It's in that space, which I call the Sweet spot, that leverage in your work or business exists.

Conversation Sparkers

The most interesting thing I noticed about my client was.
In order to move my business forward, I want to focus on..
I can get into more conversations to validate these ideas with my clients by....
What is important to them right now

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
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 #2918 - Week in Review

12/26/2021

This week we took a walk down memory lane and looked at the following:

Saturday December 25 – Happy Holidays

Friday December 24 – Taking a Pause for Gratitude

Thursday December 23 – 10 Posts You Will Want to Check Out From 2021 on Remote Teams and Leadership

Wednesday December 22 – Posts You Will Want to Check Out From 2021 on Virtual Conversations

Tuesday December 21 – Year in Review

Monday December 20 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip

It’s been a pleasure to continue bringing you blog posts about remote work and effective virtual conversations. I look forward to continuing to serve you!

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
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 #2914 - Posts You Will Want to Check Out From 2021 on Virtual Conversations

12/22/2021

As someone who has written on the topics of virtual conversations and remote work for many years now, it was wonderful to be featured in TEDx Talk and referred to by others.

Here are some of my favorite posts from 2021 around virtual conversations:

Teams365 #2584 – 6 Layers of Connection in Any Virtual Conversation https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2584-6-layers-of-connection-in-any-virtual-conversation

Teams365 #2291: Virtual Meetings: Keeping them on Track https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2291-virtual-meetings-keeping-them-on-track

TEAMS365 #2608 - 12 Ways to Create More Connection Virtually https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2608-12-ways-to-create-more-connection-virtually

Teams365 #2667 - Effective Virtual Conversations Flashback Tip https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2667-effective-virtual-conversations-flashback-tip

Teams365 #2779 - Effective Virtual Conversation Tip – Consider the Visuals
https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2779-effective-virtual-conversation-tip-consider-the-visuals

Teams365 #2912 - Effective Virtual Conversations Tip https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2912-effective-virtual-conversations-tip

TEAMS365 #2585 – Feedback Conversations in Virtual Teams https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2585-feedback-conversations-in-virtual-teams

Teams365 #2664 - Flashback Friday – Preparing for the Feedback Conversation https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2664-flashback-friday-preparing-for-the-feedback-conversation

Teams365 #2692 - Flashback Friday – Questions for Ongoing Performance Conversations https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2692-flashback-friday-questions-for-ongoing-performance-conversations

Teams365 #2807 - Reconnecting the Workspace Tip – Activate Great Conversations!
https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-2807-reconnecting-the-workspace-tip-activate-great-conversations

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

What were your favorite posts here at the Teams365 blog this year?

With best wishes,
Jennifer

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 #2913 - Year in Review

12/21/2021

This year at the Teams365 blog we’ve taken a deep dive into many of the themes facing today’s virtual, remote, and hybrid workspace including team engagement, leadership practices, and technology.

This year we also focused on

The 90-Day Guide for Success
Making Virtual Meetings More Effective
Remote Pathways Podcast Episodes to Check Out
21 days to stand out virtually
Team Effectiveness
Teamwork practices and skills for results and relationships
The tapestry of teams
Communication and conversations
Systems, Platforms, and Tools
6 Layers of connection in any virtual conversation

And a lot more. What is your favorite?

I hope you 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 #2892 - Principle of Remote and Hybrid Work- Relationships

11/30/2021

Relationships are an important part of high performance. Work is not just about getting results. In today’s VUCA world, change is affected through many. As we consider the mantra of High Performance = Relationships + Results, note that one half of the equation for exceptional performance is relationships.

In Reconnecting Workspaces, we explore the varied facets of remote and hybrid work – relationships.

Questions to consider:
What relationships are important for you right now?
Where is your focus in work – on relationships? On results?
What are the relationships which need attention?
As you think about the new year, what’s important to note about relationships?

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
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.