This week’s Sunday post takes us back to some of the varied Sunday audios I recorded for the Teams365 blog. Many of these posts are “Evergreen” and haven’t dated too much. I’ve selected a few to spotlight as I think they are a good reminder for us at this time of year. Let’s take a listen back into them again:

Four Tips to Overcoming Procrastination 
Three Key Facilitation Skills 
Gratitude, Recognition and Month-End Reflection
Your Vision and Goals – while this post was for 2015, it still works for 2019. Listen into this if you are now turning attention to your vision for 2019…You might also want to join me for a year end PlanDoTrack Virtual Retreat. Here’s the link to the Vision and Goals session.
Ten Questions Team Leaders Should Be Asking 

As we move into the end of the fifth year of the Teams365 blog, I wanted to thank you for joining us. Whether you’ve only read a few posts, or followed along with many, it’s been a pleasure to join you on a daily basis for 2014 -2018. I look forward to continuing to provide regular sparks here at the Teams365 blog.

Best,
Jennifer

​It’s the final day of October and time to take stock of the month that was.
Take note of these questions:

• As you reflect on October, what have been your successes and accomplishments?
• As you reflect on the last quarter, what have been your successes and accomplishments?
• What are you most proud of?
• What successes this month do you want to duplicate?
• What top 3 learning have you head that you want to carry forward?
• What key relationships have helped you so far this year? Which ones need more attention?
• What has helped your successes?
• What has hindered or gotten in the way?
• What does your team need to be acknowledged for?
  
  As you look to November, consider these questions:
• What are your key priorities for November?
• 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 in November or this quarter?
• What habits do you want to leverage?
• When will you check in to explore your progress, and make changes?
• What resources do you want to tap into?
• Who can help you be successful this month?

Enjoy your reflections,
Jennifer

It’s hard to believe that another month has gone by. Here we are at the end of September and it’s time to do our monthly stock taking and reflection.
If you do track your monthly goals and metrics, today is the day to do this!
Take note of these questions:

• As you reflect on September, what have been your successes and accomplishments?
• As you reflect on the last quarter, what have been your successes and accomplishments?
• What are you most proud of?
• What successes this month do you want to duplicate?
• What top 3 learning have you head that you want to carry forward?
• What key relationships have helped you so far this year? Which ones need more attention?
• What has helped your successes?
• What has hindered or gotten in the way?
• What does your team need to be acknowledged for?
  
  As you look to October, consider these questions:
• What are your key priorities for October?
• 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 in October or this quarter?
• What habits do you want to leverage?
• When will you check in to explore your progress, and make changes?
• What resources do you want to tap into?
• Who can help you be successful this month?

This month also is the start to a new quarter. Grab a few more minutes to think about, and NOTE (yes – write it down).

1. What are your top 5 priorities for this quarter?
2. What will “wild success” look like at the end of the quarter in each of these priority areas?
3. What, and who, do you need to complete these priority areas?
4. What do you need to say NO to, in order to focus on the priorities?
5. What else is important to note about this quarter?

If you have a copy of the Coaching Biz Builder Workbook and Planner it’s time to complete a new quarterly planning section. Join me for a quarterly planning hack!

Enjoy your reflection!

Coming up – October and a focus on Teamwork Skills.

Best,
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

​It’s Saturday and time for another journaling prompt. In this week’s prompt I thought it would be important to get you to think about themes. The prompt is “This month’s theme is….”.

As you think about what has played out for you in the month of September, what do you notice about the theme that’s emerged?

Here are some additional questions for you to consider as you go to think about September an the fall:
As I take a 30,000 foot view of the month, what are the common issues which have emerged?
What’s connecting with my experiences from earlier this year?
What are the threads that are showing up?
What is the theme I want to hold for the fall?
 
Be well!
 
Jennifer

Month end reflections and planning for the month ahead.

Earlier today I hosted one of my monthly virtual month end planning hacks. These one hour sessions take professionals through a series of reflective prompts, using the tools I have developed for my newest planner, called the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner. It’s been so well embraced that I am working on editions for other professionals – remote workers, and leaders. Check out the Coaching Business Building Workbook and Planner here.

If you’ve been following the Teams365 blog for any time, you know that I include month end reflection questions and planning prompts for the month ahead. Here are yours for this month:

1. As you reflect on August, what have been your successes and accomplishments?
2. As you reflect on the summer, what have been your successes and accomplishments?
3. What are you most proud of?
4. What successes this month do you want to duplicate?
5. What top 3 learning have you head that you want to carry forward?
6. What key relationships have helped you so far this year? Which ones need more attention?
7. What has helped your successes?
8. What has hindered or gotten in the way?
9. What does your team need to be acknowledged for?
   
   As you look to September, consider these questions:
10. What are your key priorities for September?
    
11. What are the key goals?
12. What are the major priorities?
13. What will you need to place attention on?
14. What changes do you want to make in September?
15. What habits do you want to leverage
16. When will you check in to explore your progress, and make changes?
17. What resources do you want to tap into?
18. Who can help you be successful this month?

I hope that you do take 10-15 minutes to grab a pen, and your journal to undertake this activity. If you have a copy of the Coaching Business Builder,  you will want to use the monthly planning pages to capture your ideas. Also take a look at your trackers and metrics. What do you notice?
​
Enjoy!
Jennifer

Wow! With about a week to go before Labor Day, we are into the homestretch for many. What has this season been like for you? What’s still on your summer bucket list?

It’s an opportunity to take a look back at your summer bucket list and think about what items are still there. What are the things you want to get done before summer comes to a close? What do you want to make sure you get done for fall?

Did you create a bucket list for yourself this summer?

Here’s a link to a great article by Elizabeth Scott entitled The Benefits of a Bucket List - https://www.verywellmind.com/benefits-of-a-bucket-list-3144998
Take a read through and consider what would be useful about creating a bucket list for fall or the longer term.

From speaking with many this month during the Planning Hacks I have been facilitating, I know many have added, and are taking action on their lists.
You’ll see a shot of some of my own summer 2018 bucket list items from the start of summer. Happy to report that many of them were checked off the list!
 
PS – Looking for some time to plan? Consider joining me this Friday for the month end reflection and new month planning session I am going to host as one of my monthly Virtual Hacks. This is a 60 minute virtual planning session I host on zoom, using many of the templates I have created for the Coaching Business Builder. If you don’t have a copy of the book, pick up one. I also provide group members with digital copies of the relevant tools from the book. This one-hour session, and materials, costs $39 US

Click here to register and reserve your spot.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

It's the end of another month and today signals the end of the first quarter. Have you taken some time to reflect on your successes, accomplishments and learning? Today's post gives you that opportunity.

AS you think back to this past quarter (so the period of January until now):

What were my major achievements this quarter?
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 quarter?
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 quarter has been ______
The thing that has helped me be most successful this quarter has been ______
The thing that has helped me be happiest this quarter 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)?

Take note of any key metrics which are important for you, and your work. For corporate leaders this may be progress on key KPIs (Key Performance indicators). For small business owners this may be key metrics around social media.

Looking ahead to Quarter 2:
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 this quarter when....
I also need to think about:

Enjoy your reflections, and if you have not had time to undertake any quarterly planning before, I hope that you will grab a new notebook, and start this new practice.

If you did not know, I provide a series of Teams365 Planning tools for leaders I work with. You can download the quarterly planning worksheet as part of this month's download. Click here to access. If you'd like to receive more monthly tools, join our Teams365 planning list which gets a new email every month or two. You can join that list here.

Best
Jennifer

That’s a wrap! Here we are at the end of January. Another month whizzed by. I hope that you will take 10-15 minutes to reflect on, and write out, your responses to these questions:

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 I’m doing with my theme of the year (how I am living it, embodying it).

Looking ahead to February:
The project I want to get started
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….
As a reminder, our themes this month at the Teams365 blog included:
The 2018 Kickstart – 8 Days of Focus on Goals for 2018
Goals and goal setting
Mindmapping
Be sure to check out our weekly quote and Sunday video!
As we step into February our attention here at the Teams365 blog is going to turn to Relationships, Collaboration and Trust. See you next month!

It is the start of a new month and time for another micro-pause to take stock of July and do some planning for the month ahead. To support you in this 10-15 minute planning and reflection activity, here are some questions you may want to consider:

1. What have been your successes and accomplishments this past month? So far this year?
2 What are you most proud of?
3. What are your key priorities for August? The rest of the year?
​4. By the end of August, what are the top 3 goals you want to have accomplished? What will success look like around each of these? What do you need in order to be successful? What support do you need to make this happen?
5. What key relationships have helped you so far this year? Which ones need more attention?
6  What has helped your successes? What has hindered?
7. What does your team need to be acknowledged for?
8. No matter what, what really needs to get moved forward?

​Have a great start to August!

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

Happy April Fools Day! April 1st will always be a special day for me - it was 13 years ago today in 2004 when I took the plunge and moved back to Canada after working globally for most of the 90s and early 2000s.  Vision loss in one of my eyes made me pause in 2003 to consider my next move. Would I stay working globally but behind a headquarters desk, or would I do something else? I knew that I wanted to keep working with teams and groups, but could not do the same amount of travel anymore with my sight. And so,  with several suitcases and boxes in hand, returned to Canada to start Potentials Realized. As we celebrate our 13th birthday  next week on April 7th, it's pretty neat to see the achievements and thousands of professionals - leaders, teams, coaches - who we've been able to work with, and support in realizing their potential, through better conversations and coaching, or clarified skills and insights. about how to work more effectively - individually or as a team.

​For some today marks the start of a new fiscal year, and with that, new possibilities and options. What are you excited about? What changes do you want to make?

​Given that it's April 1st, it's also a great time to stop an look back at the last month for some reflection and do some planning for the month ahead. I hope that you will grab 10-15 minutes and take stock of the last month (or last year if today is a new fiscal year for you) and do some planning for the month (or year) ahead. here are some questions to consider:

Looking back to March (or the last fiscal year):
1. What key goals did you, and the team, achieve?
2. What helped you be successful?
3. What worked really well? What didn't?
4. What changes do you want to make?
5. What were key relationships helping you to be successful?

Looking to April:
1. What are your key goals and projects this month?
2. What do you want to focus on?
3. What do you want to say no to?
4. Where is it important to place attention this month?
5. What else?

Have a great weekend,
Jennifer
​