Teams365 Blog - Potentials Realized

TEAMS365 #2148 – Week in Review

11/17/2019

Here we are again at the end of another week. This week’s focus has been on FOCUS and starting to consider year-end activities. If you didn’t catch all the blog posts this week, here’s a chance to catch up.

Take a look back at the following blog posts:

Enjoy your review!

Best wishes,
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.

TEAMS365 #2144 – Planning for and scheduling the last one-on-one conversations of the year

11/13/2019

As we step into the “last mile” of 2019 (i.e. the last six weeks, give or take a few, especially if your business shuts down for the holidays), one of the key activities you will want to make sure you build in time for is a set of year-end one-on-ones with staff. While many organizations have moved to an ongoing feedback and performance management culture, it can be important to ensure that final one-on-ones don’t get forgotten in the rush of year-end.

Some of the elements you may want to include in your final one-on-ones are:

A look back at the key highlights for the individual this year.
Reflections and sharing on key performance witnessed – things that they did very well, times when you saw their strengths in action.
What were their major accomplishments? What skills and experiences were learned/acquired? How can this support them going forward?
Discussion around areas for growth and improvement in the new year.
Looking ahead to the new year, what are the key priorities based on organizational and department goals?
What are their key learning goals? Where do they want to grow? What changes do they want to make?
Support needs for the new year.
Learning needs for the new year. Identification of any areas they would like to acquire more skills within in their work.
Goals they have for themselves and their career.

What other items might you include in your year-end one-on-ones? Every team and organization is different. While not all of these categories may reflect the type of performance conversations you typically have, it can be useful to invite your team to consider the bigger context of their work (i.e. how has this year helped them with future career aspirations).

While it’s top of mind, I hope that you will take a few minutes to make note of the questions you want to include in everyone’s discussion.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success focusing on the Virtual and Remote Space
Author of 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.
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.
Coming soon - the Remote Pathways™ Podcast

#TEAMS365 #2081 – Remote Work Myth: Out of Sight Does Not Mean Out of Mind

9/11/2019

Today’s blog post continues this month’s focus on remote work myths and pitfalls. Today’s myth is a common pitfall – “out of sight equals out of mind”. In fact, both research and practice have shown the need for more consistent and frequent communication to keep things moving on remote teams.

This can be accomplished via a number of avenues including:

Creating opportunities for peers to connect on a regular basis. This might include more formal activities, or it might include more informal events like virtual potlucks or co-working sessions. In a remote team, focus should be made on providing regular peer connections.
Consistent meeting times for the team. It can be a very slippery slope when remote teams try to find a time when everyone is available. This may never happen! Get into the practice of establishing a set time so everyone can start adjusting their schedule to meet this. For those that are not there, have peer partners provide an update and/or check in.
Put attention on team development for the team. It’s often assumed that remote teams don’t need a focus, however, if we treat everyone as separate bubbles, it’s really hard for people to feel part of a bigger entity. Research in the last few years has found that only about 1 in 4 remote teams do put a focus on team development. Going back to the basics around team effectiveness, teamwork skills and building a team identity can go a long way. AND it can be done virtually as well!
Build a strong team identity. Team culture is key in remote team success. It helps with connection and alignment. Check out past posts I’ve written on team culture and team identity in the last few months.

Ensuring regular one-on-ones with staff. Be sure to check out past Teams365 blog posts for more on hosting 1-1 calls, and questions you might ask.

What’s going to support your team from not feeling “out of sight and mind”.

Enjoy your conversations,
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.

#TEAMS365 #1992 – Listening and Questions – FlashBack Friday

6/14/2019

This week’s Flashback Friday takes us back to a spring 2018 on 19 questions to be asking during one-on-ones, project debriefs, and I thought it would be useful to share in light of recent posts about listening and questioning.

Here’s what I wrote in Teams #1562

Today's post focuses on questions to spark discussion around three key spring start up activities. In these three areas mentioned in yesterday’s blog post - one on ones, planning and project debriefs.

Today’s post dives into a series of questions you’ll want to ask yourself, and your team, in three key spring areas. Whether you are a team leader, member or even business owner, this may be one of those posts that you want to highlight and return back to.

One on Ones:
One on ones with your team are critical on a regular basis. Unfortunately, they are also the things that usually get left at the bottom of the to-do-list. While each team leader will have their own frequency of holding these with team members, you do want to make them regularly consistent. Some of the questions you may want to incorporate into your upcoming one on ones are:

1. What are your key priorities this quarter?
2. What support do you need in order to be successful? (From me, from others on the team)?
3. How frequently would you like us to connect?
4. What’s going to help you stretch as a professional? What’s going to be the challenge for you this?
5. What are the partnerships or relationships which are going to help you be successful?
6. What check ins will be useful (time, frequency, type) to see how things are going?

Project Debriefs:
Projects large and small deserve a bit of post-mortem or debrief. Here is a selection of questions you may want to incorporate into your next project debrief.

1. What worked well with that project?
2. What were the three critical success factors (i.e. things that mad the project a success)
3. What key lessons were learned?
4. Which projects do they need to be carried forward into? Who else could benefit from hearing about these lessons learned?
5. What needs to be avoided at all costs in future projects?
6. What systems helped with teamwork, roles, tasks and resources?

Planning:
If you haven't had the chance to undertake some planning, grab a pen and work through these questions. They are also ones you may want to share with your team:

1. What are the top 3 -5 priorities this month?
2. Who (or what relationships) is/are needed in order to make this a success?
3. What’s the one habit that will help these projects?
4. What might get in the way?
5. Where are you getting the bulk of your results right now? How can you do more of this? What do you need to say no to?
6. What can get delegated or deferred?
7. What tasks are not adding value and need to be dumped?

Enjoy the questions. Share your favorite here in the comments!

Best wishes,
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.

#TEAMS365 #1983 - Mid-year Systems Check

6/5/2019

Mid-year also beckons for a mid-year systems check. Are things working the way you would like them to?

If you are an entrepreneur, consider exploring the following:

Client data
Financial info – accounts receivable, cash flow projections, invoicing, accounts payable
Marketing
Strategy
Reporting

If you are a team member consider these things:

Reporting
Successes
Technology
1-1's
Budget requests
Peer meetings
Meetings with mentors
Meetings with partners

If you are a team leader, consider these things:

Feedback conversations
1-1 coaching conversations
Reporting
Team successes
Meeting with you boss
Meetings with your mentors

What are the activities you want to make sure you schedule?

Enjoy the conversations,
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

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. It's a great mid-year activity!

#TEAMS365 #1954 Managing Uncertainty: Building Trust and Connection on Your Team – Virtually!

5/7/2019

We turn our attention to teamwork in uncertainty in today’s post, as well as tomorrow’s. One of the most important foundations for teams moving through change, uncertainty and volatility is TRUST.

Trust is an essential precursor to effective team work. It doesn’t just form. We need to be intentional in creating it.

As I write in my book Effective Virtual Conversations, there are many things we can do to build trust and connection in the virtual space including:

One on One Time: Having regular calls with your team members to check in around how things are going, as well as what their needs are from you, and from the team.
Group or Team Agreements (Ways of Working): Creating shared agreements around HOW you will operate as a team. This helps to create safety, an essential precursor to trust and connection.
Create shared expectations: What does everyone expect from each other? What are your expectations of how you will operate as a team?
Breakouts: Using breakouts regularly in team meetings can help people get to know each other better. Breakouts enable people to connect with one or two others for short periods of time around key discussion areas.
Paired partners: Assigning partners across the team. In my former work we called these peer partners and we rotated it on a regular basis – i.e. every 6 months. The role of the peer partner was to connect on a bi-weekly or monthly basis with another team members to chat and connect, sharing a little more about key projects and tasks they were working on, and focusing in on learning more about their partner. Brainstorming around key opportunities and challenges also ensued, as did some formal and informal mentoring.
Being clear about process and what to expect: Trust is also built on virtual calls by letting people know what to expect about process and key items.
Connect people early on with their WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?): Connecting people around their What’s In It For Me at the start of the call, helps to connect people with the relevance and importance of the topic in their world. Without this, it is unlikely that we will listen.

What will help to build trust and connection for your team members?

Another key element to helping teams thrive in uncertain environments is connection. Knowing other members of your team – who they are, what they do, who they are connected with, and what strengths they bring – is crucial in contexts which are changing regularly.

No person is an island, and our relationships are even more important.

To boost connection on a virtual team we will want to:

Build in moments for teams to learn more about each other – who they are, what they do, what they can be counted on to accomplish.
Help people articulate their role, and how they operate. This might include a one pager with a focus on “Here’s what you should know about me”.

Best wishes,
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 an digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #1926 – Building Trust and Connection as a Team

4/9/2019

A few weeks ago, I was speaking to a large group of professionals active in the area of team development. We found ourselves getting into the heart of a key topic for leaders, team members and team developers alike – Building Trust and Connection as a Team. What are the different ways you are building trust, and also eroding it?

Trust and connection are essential for team success. This is especially true in virtual and remote contexts. When trust levels are low, we may see behaviors such as:

Territorialism – Mine vs. Yours. Us vs. them. Headquarters vs. Remote Workers
Stereotyping
Lack of accountability
Lack of ownership
Blaming

None of these are productive or positive. Over time these behaviors lead to toxicity and conflict, threatening the fabric of your talent.

What are the things we can do to build trust and connection across the team?

A few years ago, I created a short video which I’ve shown to multiple groups. It focuses on 9 behaviors we can practice as a team to boost trust and connection. I originally wrote about them in Teams365.

These behaviors are:

Walk the Talk
Fairness
Build on Strengths
Take Ownership (For What Works and What Doesn't)
Fairness
Transparency
Creating Connections
Clear Expectations and Communication
Regular one-on-ones/communication

As you read through these ask yourself, where are you on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being low and 10 being high):

If this is a topic of importance to you and your team, consider exploring this additional Teams365 post about Trust and Connection:
Teams365 1184: Team Building Tip #129

Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (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
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development).
Check out the new 19 Tips for Productivity On-Demand Course. If this is your year to get things moving, check it out now. Join Jenn for bi-weekly live group calls until July. $129 US. Learn more and enroll here.

#TEAMS365 #1919 Quarter 2 Checkpoint for Your Team – 10 Things to Explore

4/2/2019

As we step into Quarter 2 it can be useful to do a bit of a review – on the individual level, and also with our teams.

For some individual reflection, take a look at the recent Quarterly Reflection Worksheet I created for the PlanDoTrack series of programming I offer around Planning, Productivity and Remote/Virtual Teams. Take a few minutes to complete that before you get too far into the month.

At the same time, it can be useful to do a checkpoint around these items:

How are we going in our progress to our most important goals? Rate this on a 1-10 and get input across the team? What will help you move the #s upward?
Have we had a recent feedback conversation “both ways” – between leader and team member? What’s going well? What’s not? Be sure to provide positive and constructive feedback.
What issues need to be addressed, or have the potential to derail us?
What team practices are working well? Consider meetings, social events, peer mentoring, 1-1 meetings etc.
What systems are helping with information flow and knowledge sharing?
Projects – Where are projects at? What is the status of communication? What project issues require attention? How are they doing according to the spotlight (Red, Yellow, Green)? –Check out this spotlight blog post for more!
Matrix relationships
Reporting
Finances
Other Systems which need attention..

And ANYTHING ELSE?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (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
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development).
Check out the new 19 Tips for Productivity On-Demand Course. If this is your year to get things moving, check it out now. Join Jenn for bi-weekly live group calls until July. $129 US. Learn more and enroll here.

#TEAMS365 #1911 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 87

3/25/2019

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tips #87 asks you to consider the question “What connection between calls work best?”.

In the virtual space there may be things that you want to focus on before the conversation and after. If you are working with groups are longer term, consider what connection between calls will work best for them. This could include:

Emails between calls
A daily focus question for people to explore
A message board where people can post – this could be hosted in a Facebook community, or another private network like Mighty Networks
Peer assignments where peers meet for short 15-minute calls to discuss a question, or talk about action towards their goals
A one-on-one call with you to go deeper into the areas that are most important

What are the things that will help you as a group keep the focus on what’s important for the group – whether this is learning more, having ongoing dialogue, or taking ongoing action? Be sure to schedule time for these activities as they are often the first things that come off the list.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (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
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development).
Check out the new 19 Tips for Productivity On-Demand Course. If this is your year to get things moving, check it out now. Join Jenn for bi-weekly live group calls until July. $129 US. Learn more and enroll here.

#TEAMS365 #1893 – Team Building Tip #226

3/7/2019

Welcome back to Team Building Tip #226. Each Thursday I bring you a different question which I hope you will consider as part of your next team meeting or use as a discussion sparker in your 1-1 meetings.

This week’s question is “Let’s carry forward….”.

We are now two months into the year and there probably have been some key learnings undertaken from things that have worked well, and things that perhaps have not worked well. How are you noting these as a team?

Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (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
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development).
Check out the new 19 Tips for Productivity On-Demand Course. If this is your year to get things moving, check it out now. Join Jenn for bi-weekly live group calls until July. $129 US. Learn more and enroll here.