Who are you? How do people see you?

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets you to think in terms of how you are unique.

What are the six words you would use to describe yourself? What’s important about who you are?

One of the assessments I like to use in my work as a coach is the StrengthsFinder from Gallup. As they indicate, the chances of two people having the same Top 5 strengths is one in 33.4 million. Read this article about this from Gallup.

In a world in which things can seem commoditized, AND people are worried about Artificial Intelligence, we might take heart to recognize that we are all unique.

This weekend I hope you will enjoy reflecting on the question – "6 Words to Describe Me Are…"
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Maybe you outreach to others and also ask them what they think.
 
Enjoy the reflection!
Jennifer

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

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.
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!
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Welcome to a new month! This month’s focus is going to be on teamwork, including remote work. With an increasing number of professionals looking to get up to speed quickly with remote work, I hope that you will find these posts useful, and will share them with others.

Before we get started, it’s time to do a quick stocktaking of the month that’s past and set some goals for the month head.
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Looking to last month:

1. What were your major accomplishments?
2. What progress did you make towards your annual goals?
3. What was your biggest learning?
4. What surprized you?
5. What skills and strengths did you leverage?
6. What habits did you develop?
7. What helped you be successful?
8. What do you need to leave behind?
9. What annual goals are you making progress on? Which ones are stalled or need a review?

Looking ahead to March and the end of Q1 of the year:

1. What are your top 3 priorities?
2. What do you want to make sure you focus on?
3. What do you need to say no to?
4. What relationships are important to foster?
5. What habits are important to create or maintain?
6. What’s going to be a stretch?
7. What’s the one thing you might shy away from? What will help you achieve this?
8. What will help you be accountable to your goals and plans?
9. What’s your contingency plan?
10. What needs to be “knocked out of the park” this month?

 
If you did not get the chance to check out this week’s blog posts, please take a look at the following:

• Monday’s Teams365 2247: Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 133: Catch people doing things right. Read it here.
  
• Tuesday’s Teams365 2248: Working From Home -When you have to. Read it here.
  
• Wednesday’s Teams365 2249 – Meeting Questions – Keeping them efficient, even if you aren’t face to face
• Thursday Teams365 2250 – Team Building Tip 276 – Micro-Pause. Read it here.
  
• Friday’s Teams365 2251 – Flashback Friday – 4 Essential Ingredients for Collaboration. Read it here
  
• Saturday’s Leap year post and some of the past posts to look back at.  Read it here.
  

Enjoy your reading!
​Jennifer

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

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.
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you thinking about the notion of CALIBRATE.

The Oxford Dictionary defines calibrate as “adjust (experimental results) to take external factors into account or to allow comparison with other data.”

As you look across your team, work or processes right now, what are the things that might need to be calibrated or adjusted, given changes in the context?

What are the things you need to dial up and dial down?

Doing a regular scan of the context in which you operate is a key skill set. This is all part of strategic thinking, which is an important skill set for leaders today. As the University of Florida’s Training writes, “To think strategically means to see and understand the bigger picture of what the organization is, where it needs to go, and how it will get there. It means anticipating opportunities and challenges and utilizing that knowledge to guide the organization.” (http://training.hr.ufl.edu/resources/LeadershipToolkit/job_aids/strategic_thinking.pdf)

What is important about developing strategic thinking skills as a team?

What are the things you want to pay attention to as a team?

For more on the topic of strategic thinking, please check out these posts:

• 4 Ways to Improve Your Strategic Thinking Skills
• 5 Areas CMOE Suggests You Focus On To Improve Your Strategic Thinking Skills 
• Check out the questions you might use as part of the reflective cycle of strategic thinking in this article from Terina Allen here.

As you think strategically, you may start to notice those items you need to CALIBRATE. What needs an adjustment?

Have a great day!
​Jennifer

As a speaker I am often asked to speak about remote work. In my presentations I like to share a little more about the pitfalls and opportunities around remote work. I also like to explore some of the myths which exist around remote work. One of the favorite ones I like to talk about is the myth that remote does not equal disconnected.

We might fall into the trap of thinking that those that work remote are more distant and even disconnected. In fact, remote working success requires that we are tied onto others and working in tandem.

Three skill sets are required for remote working success today – curiosity, connection and looking beyond the screen. Let’s look at each in turn:

Curiosity
Being curious and open to learning is a key part of remote working success. Part of adopting curiosity as a mindset is remaining open to not knowing the complete picture. When we “think we know” what the context and world of our remote working colleagues is, we may start making assumptions that are unfounded.

Part of developing more curiosity in our remote work involves LISTENING more, asking more questions and being open to learn. It also involves being open to being challenged on your own biases.

• What are the things you want to learn more about?
• What are the things you want to ask more questions about?
• What don’t you know?

Connection
Connection is part of the 5 Cs I often talk about in my presentations. Connection with those you work with takes place on multiple levels -

#1 - Making a strong connection with the people you work with. We know that relationships can play as important a role as driving for results. What are you doing to get to know the people you work with? Their preferences around work, communication, decision making etc.?

#2 - Connecting your work with others on the remote team. How does everyone’s work fit together? What elements impact and connect in with each other? There is a fallacy that we work isolation, when in fact for many remote projects the pieces do fit together. Spend some time mapping out the way your work connects.

#3 - What is the connection between your values and behaviors? Our behaviors are magnified in the remote space. What do people see when they are with you? Are your values being clearly communicated? What needs an adjustment?

Looking Beyond The Screen
In order to create remote working success and relationships, it’s important that we look beyond the screen. Our window to remote work is often the frame of the screen we see. What is outside of the screen? What’s important to note about the context in which people are operating? While it may seem disconnected from your work, in fact, it’s often an integral part.
In order to look beyond the screen, consider:

• Having a dialogue (two-way conversation) about how you see your work fitting together and synergizing
• How your work does, or does not align
• What your priorities are
• What are the events that are happening outside your window that are having an impact immediately and strategically?

 
Remote does not mean disconnected. What is the reframe you want to undertake?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Welcome back to this week’s Sunday reflection. As we’ve been exploring the topic of collaboration and relationships, you hopefully have also gotten clearer on what you bring to the partnership as well.

Each Sunday I link back to the weekly posts to help you catch up with all there has been.

This week’s blog posts have included:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt – What do you take a stand for?
• Friday’s Flashback Friday taking us back to Teams365 #1750  
• Thursday’s Team Building Tip getting you to think about HABITS
• Wednesday’s post getting you to think about Questions and Listening in your remote conversations
• Tuesday’s post Ingredients for Making Remote Work, Work
• Monday’s post on Sharing the Reins and how to do this

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

​What’s important for you to keep an eye on this week?

Best,
​Jennifer

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” - Winston Churchill

Happy Saturday! I hope that you are finding these weekly journaling prompts to be a valuable resource and reflection point for you.

Each Saturday I share a short prompt and invite you to take 10-15 minutes to write and reflect on them.

This week’s prompt gets you to reflect and write on the question: “I take a stand for….”

What are the things you take a stand for? Go to bat for? Speak up around?

These can be signals for things that are important for you. If you are a business owner, they may be a signal that these are part of what makes you unique as a business.

For more on this topic, check out these articles:

• Marcia Reynold’s Article on How to Speak up and Take a Stand 
• 6 Opportunities Where You Can Take a Stand as a Leader by Avery Blank

Enjoy your reflections,
Jennifer

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

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.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Welcome to Sunday! It’s time for a weekly round-up and also sharing the February 2020 Calendar with you. Now that the Teams365 blog is in it’s seventh year (yes!) there’s a lot of content you may find invaluable. This year I wanted to provide a monthly calendar to showcase some of the more interesting posts from our history.

If you didn’t see January’s calendar access it here.

And now, drumroll please…. Here’s February’s calendar! 

If you missed this last week of posts, here’s what there was:

• Saturday’s focus on Monthly Planning and the Month in Review
• Friday’s Flashback around Team
• Thursday’s Team Building Tip on Small Changes Add Up
• Wednesday’s post on Team Essential – Speaking Up
• Tuesday’s post on Team Essential - Connection
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #129 – Matrix Tip – Reinforce Team Culture (or shape it, if it doesn’t exist!)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and hope that you’ll enjoy looking through February’s calendar. This month we’re focusing on collaboration and relationships.

Don’t forget to download the calendar 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 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.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Welcome to the Teams365 blog for February 2020! This month we turn our attention to relationships, partnering, teamwork and collaboration. While teamwork is always a central focus for us here at the blog, this month we’ll be exploring the wider waters of collaboration and relationships. Whether you work in-person, or remote, business success is contingent on relationships. As I like to say, “Remote does not mean disconnected”.

Yesterday afternoon I hosted my regular virtual Month End Planning and Review session. If you enjoy these posts and want to join us for a live co-working session, join me at the end of every month for a one-hour virtual monthly planning and review session. Imagine what 60 minutes of focused time on your monthly accomplishments and planning for the next month could do.

Learn more about this program, and upcoming dates, and SCHEDULE it in to join us for the next one later this month.

Given that we are starting a new month, it’s time to take stock around your last month – I hope that you will take 10-15 minutes today to review and reflect on these questions.

Looking to last month:

1. What were your major accomplishments?
2. What progress did you make towards your annual goals?
3. What was your biggest learning?
4. What surprized you?
5. What skills and strengths did you leverage?
6. What habits did you develop?
7. What helped you be successful?
8. What do you need to leave behind?

Looking ahead to February:

1. What are your top 3 priorities?
2. What do you want to make sure you focus on?
3. What do you need to say no to?
4. What relationships are important to foster?
5. What habits are important to create or maintain?
6. What’s going to be a stretch?
7. What’s the one thing you might shy away from? What will help you achieve this?
8. What will help you be accountable to your goals and plans?
9. What’s your contingency plan?

Enjoy your reflection and planning!
​Jennifer

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

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.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Around this time of year people start abandoning their new years resolutions in volume! Just as in any change process, building new habits not only takes time, but it also takes energy. Change can be difficult.
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Throughout the change process, there’s also a place we can find ourselves as the “glow of the new year or honeymoon” wears off. It’s often referred to as THE DIP and I reference this in a couple of my books. We’ve also just covered this topic in the 60 Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator program, a course I launched on January 1st. Part on demand, part live, it’s been interesting to see the momentum which gets created when we focus on taking action around our key goals and actions for an extended time. A new group will be starting up the first day of every quarter during 2020 so if you are a coach, or simply want ongoing support around some of your key goals as a business owner, leader or team member, consider joining us. More info here.

I thought it would be interesting to reach back to Teams365 #765 which focused on the topic of THE DIP, particularly as it relates to mentoring conversations, where we may be intentionally focusing on supporting someone’s development. This post will likely be of interest if you’ve found yourself abandoning new years resolutions or other things you wanted to change. Perhaps reflecting on the questions included towards the end of the post will spur you on to re-frame and refocus on your goals!

Here’s what I wrote in THE DIP:

“The first decade plus of my career was spent primarily working for Canadian and British humanitarian organizations and the United Nations. It was typical that mentoring was a key part of our team's development, as well as our own leadership development. Whether involved in passing on our skills to other staff happened formally or informally it was part of everyday work, given that you might only be in a role for six months or three years.

Today, I continue to see how mentoring is transforming organizations. In the last twelve years I've been able to support organizations in financial services, insurance, health care and safety create, and launch their own mentoring programs. It changes conversations, it changes leadership and it changes the culture!

What we often don't talk about in mentoring is the "DIP". Just as in any change process, such as cross-cultural integration when you move locations for work, or change through a coaching process, it's typical to start off with great gusto in what's commonly known as the "honeymoon" phase. At this point, mentor and protege are raring to go - they can't wait to get started and into dialogue with each other. Goals are clear as is usually the way forward.

As the meetings progress, some partnerships find an ever-evolving spiral of conversation and goal touchpoints, whereas others drop down into the “dip”. The “dip” is a place which sometimes feels like you are spinning your wheels, or not getting traction. Proteges and mentors may feel like mentoring is a waste of time.

In fact, the “dip” is natural! It's part of the change process. What you can see in today's photo is a sketch of the cycle of adaptation. It's actually from a recent conversation I had with a leader who was going to work globally and wanted to think about what to expect. I've seen the “dip” throughout my own international assignments, and I've seen it mirrored not in the hundreds, but over more than two decades of work in the intercultural sector, mirrored in the thousands.

The “dip” can, and does, happen in the mentoring process. What to do if you see it? Here are a few things to consider:
Revisit the goals of the protege?
What have they accomplished?
What do they want to aim for next?
Where might they need recharging?
What will "shake" things up a bit?

Tomorrow, we're moving on to look at five activities you might want to weave into your mentoring conversations. Some, or all of, these five could be a great addition to "shaking things up".

You might have noticed there were several other places where we can see the “dip” - in coaching, global assignments, and any change process. Where have you experienced the “dip”? What did you do?”
 
I hope that you will take some time to focus in on these questions and will revisit your most important goals (even if you recently put the journey towards them on hold!).

Enjoy,
Jennifer
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Happy Saturday! What do you have planned this weekend? When are you going to build in some time to reflect on your week?

Today’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets you to think about your travels this year. The prompt is “My favorite trip this year has been….”. Travel has always been a passion for me, even when I was working and living overseas for more than a decade.

I love the learning and new insights caused by travel, as well as the freedom from my everyday routine.

I hope that this weekend you will find some time to reflect on your recent travels, and related insights/learning/observations.

With this now being #84 in the series, you may also want to dip into other posts including:
#81 – I want to put the following in my time capsule..
#77 – I am on the path to...

If you are journaling, are you also building in time to reflect and review what you have written? As you do so, you may want to be asking these questions:

• What journey have you been on as you’ve been journaling?
• What do you notice about themes across your writing?
• What connections do you see across the posts?
• What stands out/jumps out/emerges for you as you read it?
• What is significant?

Enjoy the reflection,
Jennifer