Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

TEAMS365 #2528 – Starting a New Month, November Reflections, & Starting to Wind Down the Year

12/1/2020

Here we are at December. It’s hard to believe that we are here already. Given that it’s a new month, let’s take a moment to build in a reflective pause to capture the learning. I hope that you’ll earmark 15 minutes to work through today’s questions:

Reflecting on the month of November:

What were my major achievements this past 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 past month?
As a leader, what have I noticed about my team this past 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 I’m doing with my theme of the year (how I am living it, embodying it)?

Looking ahead to December:

The one thing I am committed to completing this month is…
The project I want to get started…
The project I most want to wrap up is...
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 December or/the year when….

All the best,
Jennifer

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

TEAMS365 #2467 – Welcome to October!

10/1/2020

As we step into October, what are the things you want to get done this month? Innovation continues to be a theme for many businesses, as does simply getting things done, and not only surviving, but thriving. As of today, here are 91 more days left in the year. What do you want to make sure you complete? Focus on? Put aside?

This month we are continuing our focus on thriving in the digital space as a professional or team.

If you didn’t do yesterday’s Q3 Review and Q4 planning, take a moment to review that.

Today we’re going to do our monthly planning review and goal setting for the month ahead. So, chunk it down a bit and let’s look at it:

Here are some questions to consider:

As you reflect on September, what were your successes and accomplishments?
What are you most proud of?
What habits helped you? What routines?
What were key learnings during the month?
What key relationships have helped you so far this year? Which ones need more attention?
What helped you? What hindered you?
What do you need to say YES to this month? What do you need to stop doing, or say NO to this month?
What does your team need to be acknowledged for?

As you look to October, consider these questions:

What are your key priorities for October? Quarter 4?
What are the key goals?
What are the major priorities?
What will you need to place attention on?
What changes do you want to make?
What resources do you want to tap into?
What relationships are important?
What habits are essential?

Enjoy your review!
Jennifer

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

Join us September 17th for the one-day Stand Out Virtually! STtdio Day Masterclass - Learn more about creating exceptional virtual presentations, meetings and programs, and leave the day with your next one sketched out!

TEAMS365 #2437 Welcome to September – August Month in Review, September Planning & Gearing Up For Back To Work & School

9/1/2020

Welcome back to September. I’m excited to step into another month of blog posts with you. This start of September may be a little different than past years AND for many it still signals the start of a new year and new routines.

As we start this month, what are you excited about? What are you looking forward to? What do you want to make sure you focus on?

We’re going to start the month with our typical monthly review and stock taking. If you haven’t participated in one of these before, I hope you will take 5-10 minutes today to work on it. What’s important to note and pay attention to?

Looking back to the month of August (and/or the summer):

What were your achievements?
What didn’t get completed but is going to be carried forward?
What learning did you undertake?
What strengths did you leverage?
What got in the way of your plans/achievements?
What helped to MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY things?
What helped you FOCUS?
What helped you SIMPLIFY or streamline?
What else is important to note about your past month? (metrics, lessons learned, other…)
What did you do to renew?
What habits did you lean into?

Looking ahead to the month ahead:

What are your major goals for September?
What do you want to focus on?
What needs to be completed by the end of the quarter/end of this month?
What is the one routine you want to make sure you develop or maintain?
What’s important to let go of?
What will help you streamline or systematize?
What will help you MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY?
What habits do you want to focus on?
What relationships do you want to pay attention to?
What actions/projects do you want to complete, not matter what?
What else is important to note?

Enjoy your reflections!
Jennifer

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

TEAMS365 #2406 – July in Review and August Planning

8/1/2020

It’s the beginning of August which means that it’s time to stop and take a pause to check in around your plans and goals.

How did July go? What progress are you making on your Q3 goals? What’s your focus going to be this month?

What did you notice about your metrics last month?

My hope is that today you will take a few minutes to stop and pause and do some planning for the month of August and beyond, while also taking some time to reflect on July.

It’s been 2 years since I launched the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner, and about 18 months since PlanDoTrack was released. Since that time, many of you have gone through one planner, moved to the other. Did you know that this spring I also made the planners available at our site for digital download? While they are intended for analog use (ie. hardcopy) you can now order a digital copy and print it off for personal use.

Pick up a copy of the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner (for virtual and remote professionals) here at our Potentials Realized site here.

Pick up a copy of the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner for coaches at our Potentials Realized site here.

If you have a copy of either one of these, you will want to explore:
#1 – The Month in Review
#2 – The Monthly Daily Trackers
#3 – One Line a Day

And for now, here are some reflection and planning questions (I’ve gone back to July 2019’s post for these!):

Looking back to the month of July:

What are you pleased with achieving?
What didn’t get completed but is going to be carried forward?
What strengths did you leverage this month?
What got in the way of your plans/achievements?
What helped to MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY things?
What helped you FOCUS?
What helped you SIMPLIFY?
What else is important to note about your month? (metrics, lessons learned, other…)
What did you do to renew?
What habits did you lean into?

Looking ahead to the month ahead:

What are your major goals?
What do you want to focus on?
What do you want to let go of?
What will help you simplify?
What will help you MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY?
What habits do you want to focus on?
What relationships do you want to pay attention to?
What actions/projects do you want to complete, not matter what?
What else is important to note?

Enjoy your planning!
Jennifer

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

TEAMS365 #2375 –Mid Year Stock Taking: Happy Canada Day and Kicking off a New Month and the 2nd Half of the Year

7/1/2020

Welcome back and first of all, Happy Canada Day to other fellow Canadians. I hope that you are enjoying a day of rest and relaxation and maybe some good BBQ and sunshine.

As we kick off a new month, what’s important for you to keep an eye on?

What are your top 3-5 goals?

What are the most important habits and routines to consistently undertake?

Like we’ve done in past months, what do you want to ensure you focus on?

Once you are done that, earmark some time to focus in on your mid-year review.

Here are a number of questions to take stock of the first half of the year, and look ahead to July, as well as the second part of the year:

What have your successes been?
Who have you been working with?
I have PIVOTED BY…
Where has your focus been?
What have you taken a stand for?
What have you become known for?
Which goals are becoming new habits, or something you can check off?
What do you notice about your metrics?
Which goals need to be adjusted or let go of?
The thing that helped me be most successful this year has been __________
The thing that has helped me be happiest this year has been __________
What has helped me be most healthy has been __________
What I have noticed about my work/productivity/results and/or relationships is __________
What’s your focus for the rest of the year?
Looking ahead to the next six months, my top 3 – 5 priorities are:
My theme for the rest of the year is…
Success at the end of the end of the year includes:
I also need to think about __________

Aristotle wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do”. What are the habits and routines which shape your world?

Planning Support with Your Business
Looking for a mid-year Virtual Work Planning session for yourself or your business? Check out the half day, one day and multi-day VIP working day sessions. You can find out more here.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

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

Check out our Digital Resources to support you in your work and conversations

TEAMS365 #2314 –Monthly KickOff!

5/1/2020

It’s May and it’s time to take stock and pause and welcome in this new month! I’m excited to be back with you with some new posts this month around Teams, Mindset, Planning and Productivity in the remote space from my 2019 workbook planner PlanDoTrack, and also Boosting Connection with Groups, Teams and Communities.

Before we get going, let’s take a pause to reflect on our last month – the month of April:

As you think about April:

What are the top 3 positive highlights from the month for you?
What skills and strengths helped you?
What habits did you lean into?
What did you accomplish?
What distractions got in the way?
What surprized you?
How did you navigate the changes you were faced with?
What projects, tasks and activities are going to carry forward?
What Q2 goals have been achieved? What’s shifted already?
What else is important to note?

As you look ahead to the new month of May:

What are your top 3-5 priorities?
What’s important to take action on and/or wrap up this month?
What key activities are important to put boundaries around?
What distractions do you want to minimize?
What relationships are important to note?
What habits to you want to count on?

What else?

If you have a copy of PlanDoTrack or Coaching Business Builder take note of the metrics you have been tracking in your Monthly Daily Trackers and be sure to complete the Month in Review as well as your Monthly To-Dos, and new month in review.

Enjoy your end of week and reflection!

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.

TEAMS365 #2253 – Month In Review

3/1/2020

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.

Looking to last month:

What were your major accomplishments?
What progress did you make towards your annual goals?
What was your biggest learning?
What surprized you?
What skills and strengths did you leverage?
What habits did you develop?
What helped you be successful?
What do you need to leave behind?
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:

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

TEAMS365 #2224 – February’s Focus on Collaboration, Teamwork and Relationships

2/1/2020

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:

What were your major accomplishments?
What progress did you make towards your annual goals?
What was your biggest learning?
What surprized you?
What skills and strengths did you leverage?
What habits did you develop?
What helped you be successful?
What do you need to leave behind?

Looking ahead to February:

What are your top 3 priorities?
What do you want to make sure you focus on?
What do you need to say no to?
What relationships are important to foster?
What habits are important to create or maintain?
What’s going to be a stretch?
What’s the one thing you might shy away from? What will help you achieve this?
What will help you be accountable to your goals and plans?
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!

TEAMS365 #2161 – Month End Reflection

11/30/2019

Well another month has slipped by and it’s time to focus in on how this last month went. How did the “last mile” of November fare for you? What are you needing to carry forward to the new month?

In this month’s last post of the month, it’s an opportunity to focus in on what you did accomplish and earmark items for the final month of the year. What do you want to and need to pay attention to as you move into the final month of the year?

Here’s several questions to get you thinking about this month end:

What were my major achievements this month?
What “last mile” activities did I get to complete? What’s still on the list to complete before year end?
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 ones need to be let go of?
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 _______

As I think about the summer overall:

My biggest accomplishment has been....
My biggest learning has been....
My ability to flourish has been supported by....
I'm proud of....
The one habit which has really helped me has been...
I want to continue….

Looking ahead to the month of December:

My top 3 -5 goals this month are:
The things I absolutely want to finish are:
My priorities are:
Wild success at the end of the month will look like …. (Yes, this is one of my favorite questions which I ask each month in PlanDoTrack…)
The interruptions and disruptions I want to minimize are….
The habit I want to focus on is…
I want to take daily steps around…
I want to reach out to….
I want to say NO to…
I want to keep an eye on…
I’m excited about….

Enjoy the reflections!
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.

TEAMS365 #2131 Team Building Tip #260: What's the Cost of NOT???

10/31/2019

As we go to wrap up the month of October, we are that much closer to the end of the year. Today is an opportunity to focus in on the opportunity cost of things you are doing, and not doing. Today’s team prompt is the question: "What is the cost of not…"

You might consider things along the lines of:

What is the cost of not undertaking (insert task, activity or project)?
What is the cost of not delegating?
What is the cost of not prioritizing?
What is the cost of not minimizing digital distractions?
What is the cost of not focusing?
What is the cost of not celebrating? Acknowledging others’ efforts?

Take your pick!

Enjoy the conversation,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) 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.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources.