​This week’s weekly journaling prompt gets us to consider the question: “This quarter the theme is….”.

Part of the challenge in today’s VUCA context (were things may be ever-changing as well as volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) is that there is so much to focus on. Having an annual or quarterly theme can help us to ground and focus on what is most important.
What is your theme for this quarter?
As a coach who has asked my clients (often leaders, teams or business owners) this question thousands of times here are some of the themes my clients have set over the years:

• Acceleration
• Laser Beam
• Harpoon
• Clarity
• Rest
• Waterfall – to signify a trust in continued flow

My own theme for 2019 is magnify. I’m finding that this is a great touchpoint for me to return back to as I make decisions, prioritize and consider where to place my time and attention.

This week I hope that you will engage with the question – What is your quarterly theme?

Enjoy!
​Jennifer

It is Sunday and time to explore another weekly video montage. This week brings us to #8 in the series.

Since September 21st, I have been sharing a daily question or prompt over at the CoachingBizBuilder Instagram feed. The questions and posts are geared to support you in reflecting and taking action on key elements of your work or business.

Take a few minutes to explore week 8’s weekly video montage…
What questions resonate most with you?
​
We are now into our 130s of posts…so do check out the most recent posts here at the CoachingBizBuilder Instagram feed.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Happy Groundhog Day!

​This week’s weekly journaling prompt #35 is “The team needs….” As a leader it can be very important to take time to take stock of where you are at – individually as a leader and also as a team.
This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets you thinking about “THE TEAM NEEDS”…
Take some time this weekend to:
Take note of needs around:

• Resourcing
• Information
• Support – from you, from peers, from others, from _______
• Connection
• Collaboration
• Projects
• Elements

What are the things you want to note as a leader or team member?
What’s important to put in place?
What’s important to share?

Best,
​Jennifer

It’s the beginning of another month here at the Teams365 blog. This month I’ll be focusing on wrapping up the 19 for 2019 Productivity Tips, as well as focusing on the topic of team development, relationships and collaboration.
It’s the start of a new month and also time to take stock of what you accomplished in January and also what you have planned for February.  Yesterday I hosted a month end review and planning session. As a monthly event, I am always amazed at how much gets done in any given month, and how valuable it is to take time to do some planning to reflect on lessons learned and take time to plan and focus for the new month.

Reflecting on the month of January:

• What were my major achievements this month?
• What do I want to celebrate?
• As I consider my goals (and resolutions) I made at the start of the year, how am I doing with these on a scale of 1-10? Which ones are becoming new habits or something I can check off?
• Which goals need to be let go of or changed?
• What habits have supported me this month?
• As a leader, what have I noticed about my team this month?
• As a leader, what notes should I make about performance issues? (if I haven't done it already!)
• The thing that has helped me be most productive this month has been ______.
• The thing that has helped me be most successful this month has been ______.
• The thing that has helped me be happiest this month has been ________.
• The thing that has helped me be most healthy has been _______.
• What have I noticed about my work/productivity/results and/or relationships during the winter months (if you are in the northern hemisphere) or summer (if you are in the southern hemisphere)?
• How am I doing with my theme of the year (how I am living it, embodying it)?

Here are some questions you will want to consider as you step into the new month - Looking ahead to February:

• The project I want to get started is…
• The project I most want to wrap up is...
• I want to leave ______ in the month of January.
• My priorities are:
• Our team priorities are:
• My goals are:
• My teams goals are:
• I want to......
• I'll be really happy at the end of February when….

What else is important to note before you move ahead with the new month?

Enjoy your reflections!
Jennifer

This year marked the fifth year of daily blog posts for me here at the Teams365 blog which is geared for professionals interested in leadership and teamwork issues. Writing regularly has become a large part of my professional routine.

There’s no doubt that you may not have caught all 365 of the daily posts this year. Here’s a high level overview of the monthly focus areas:
January - Kick off for 2018 – Read them here
February – Relationships, Trust and Connection – Read them here
March – Teams and Team Resources – Read them here
April – Styles in a Team, Productivity Tools – Read them here
May – Complexity, Productivity and Planning Tools – Read them there
June – Feedback and Performance Conversations – Read them here
July 2018 - Team Development in focus – Check out the July posts here
August 2018 – Gearing up for back to work - Read them here
September 2018 - Virtual Work, Things to do with your teams – Check out the posts 
October 2018 – Teamwork Skills in focus-  Read through October posts here
November 2018 – Turning our attention to year end with posts including 5 things to get in your calendar for 2019, right now!, Planning for Year End Activities for your Team, Bringing Projects to a close  – Read through November posts here
December 2018 – the start of the 19 Productivity Tips for 2019. Read through December posts here

These joined our regular series:
Monday – Effective Virtual Conversations Posts
Thursday – Team Building Tip Posts 
Weekend Journaling Prompts
And Friday Flashbacks

As I reflect back on the year that was, I am very thankful for the many milestones which included:

• The launch of two workbook and planners (Coaching Business Builder, and the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner) 
• The launch of both the Teams365 Leadership Lab and the Coaching Biz Growth Lab - two annual programs that joined the Learning Lab and Design Studio as year-long group coaching  and group learning programming options for professionals and their own virtual development.
• Training more than 300 coaches in the areas of Group and Team Coaching via the Group Coaching Essentials and Advanced Practicum programs. 
  
• Leading three sets of Virtual Learning Training for professionals to become more proficient and confident leading webinars, virtual coaching and virtual training and team development sessions via the five-week Virtual Facilitation Essentials (approved for 8.5 hours of CCEs).
  
• Supporting a wide variety of teams and leaders this year from health care, education, to financial services, to global leadership, in the areas of team effectiveness, virtual leadership
  
• Continued growth of readership here at the Teams365 blog. Page views most weeks surpassed 10,000 views a week.
  

I look forward to continuing the conversation with you in 2019!

Happy new year!

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
​

​This week’s Team Building tip is “What’s your best work?”. As you think about everything you have accomplished in the last few months (or the last year or two), what is your best work?

• What are the things that you are really proud of?
• In your work, what can you to do cultivate, or ask for, more work opportunities like this?
• How did this task use your skills?
• What did it do to accelerate your learning and growth?
• What made it so fulfilling?
• Are there elements of that project which can be isolated and magnified in future projects?
• Helping people and teams connect with their best work, boosts engagement and commitment to task. This helps foster a culture of growth and higher levels of trust.
• What can you do to facilitate experiences so that people can bring their best self to work?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

As a writer and author I never know where my work is going to find it's feet. Recently I was awarded the title of Project Management Influencer by Fit Small Business. They award to those who have “shown excellence in their field”. You can read their press release here.
My writing in the areas of Group and Team Coaching has rippled out the world since late 2009. Last year with the publication of Effective Virtual Conversations, an increasing number of professionals, organizations and teams are finding themselves working remote and virtually. If you join me for any of my speaking engagements you’ll hear me usually pull in a focus around the virtual and remote space, given my own background in remote and virtual leadership as a program manager and entrepreneur for two and a half decades now (how time flies!).
My own involvement in the project management sector started with my first office job in the early 1990s. Whether it was engaging in project development and planning, or writing proposals, supporting implementation, to undertaking Monitoring and Evaluation, projects are the backbone of so many industries.
It’s a privilege to reach so many professionals today through my written word. What are the books which have influenced you this year? What social media sites have supported you through useful content and insights?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Jennifer

​As I’ve been leading different types of conversations in the last few weeks through small group coaching, leadership training and keynotes, I have noticed that the conversation and focus is changing for many team members and leaders right now. In addition to thinking about what needs to get done, I’m also hearing a lot of leaders (and their teams) starting to look at opportunities for the new year.
 
Given that every week I am talking across a range of leadership and teamwork topics, I hear a wide variety of different areas, and key themes.
If I had to identify five that I have been hearing a lot of opportunities  around for the new year it would be:
​
Getting better at hosting meetings. Think about how much time you have spent in meetings this week? This month? How many were face to face? How many were virtual? How effective were they? What would have made them more effective? Spending time getting better at meetings?
Building in more time for strategic thinking and action. With technology has helped us get better at so many things, and does make it easier, distraction and focus are key elements for business success in an ever-changing environment.
Scheduling in time for what’s important – Making sure we have the important items in our calendar and can get them done when we have energy. Daniel Pink’s book WHEN takes us into the realm of WHEN it is important to get things done. Circadian rhythms have been researched for many decades now, and many of us may be aware of what time of day is really best to get certain tasks done in. With the shift to mobile and remote work, many of us now have more flexibility in terms of how we operate and when we schedule our tasks.
Getting better at knowing our strengths and styles – Some of my favorite days are spent with teams who are learning more about their strengths and styles, interfacing this with helping them understand more about team effectiveness. I am pleased to continue to be able to offer support for teams, groups and individuals around strengths and styles. Whether we are exploring the DiSC together or StrengthsFinder, these are powerful frameworks which help to support individuals “lean into” what they naturally do well during times of change and uncertainty.  Change and uncertainty is the new norm for so many workplaces today.
 
Where do you want to put attention around for 2019? I hope that you will grab 15 minutes right now to make some notes for yourself and/or to schedule it in for focus. As Drucker wrote “What doesn’t get scheduled, doesn’t get done”.
 
With best wishes,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations |  Coaching Team Leaders  
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) 
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

Today’s Sunday video takes us back to one that I posted this time last year, entitled “Six Ingredients for Teams in Today’s VUCA World”.
Recently I attended a conference here in Toronto for business leaders and educators. While I’ve been talking about VUCA for many years, I was surprized that this is not a term everyone is aware of. If you haven’t heard of VUCA, it was originally a term that was coined by the military to describe the context.
Think about these four words for a minute and how they are showing up in your work right now:
Volatility
Uncertainty
Complexity
Ambiguity
These factors require that we really embrace new ways of leadership, teamwork and conversation. While we still need planning, we also need to track what’s working and what’s not. Past successes may not guarantee the same results a second time. Working in ambiguity calls for new skills for leaders and teams such as being able to see the patterns across a range of data. Working in complexity means that we want to also consider simplification and synthesis.
What are the things you want to be focusing on as a leader? What skills do you want to be building in your team during 2019?
Here’s a link to the video I did last year in Teams365 #1188.
 
What’s important for you to note about VUCA right now?
What’s important for your team to note about VUCA?
​
Enjoy the conversation,
Jennifer