Teams365 Blog - Potentials Realized

TEAMS365 #2167 – Flashback Friday: Expectations and CLarification

12/6/2019

This week I am reaching back to one of the original Teams365 blog posts.

Here’s what I wrote, which might be an interesting conversation starter as you go through your year-end discussions. Expectations are often at the heart of a high performing team.

Our final team building tip of the year gets you to think about the expectations which need to be clarified for the team. One of the biggest hindrances to exceptional team performance is lack of clarity around expectations.

Earmarking a focus around clarifying expectations in the new year can pay off in dividends.

Areas you may want to ensure you have clear, and shared, expectations around are:
- What does success look like? For us individually? Collectively as a team?
- What are our start and end times?
- What does quality mean?
- What does being an exceptional team mean?
- What are we committed to creating? What do we need to do in order to get there?
- What do you expect of me as leader this year? What do I expect from you this year?

What other expectations are important for your team to discuss as you get back to work in January?

Enjoy the conversation,
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 #2160 – Flashback Friday: Bringing Projects to A Close

11/29/2019

We’re just a few days away from the start of December and this is the time of year when EVERYTHING needs to get done. With that in mind, I thought it would be useful to take a look back at last year’s post about Bringing Projects to a close from Teams365 #1794. Here you go:

“At this time of year, the clock is ticking and it may now be GO TIME to get projects across the finish line. Where there was once time and leeway, now things need to get done and completed. What is it going to take to get the project completed before the end of the year?

To bring the project across the finish line consider:

What is it going to take to bring this project to a successful close?
What resources are needed? Do we need to pull new resources?
Are there any lessons learned from other projects that we can incorporate?
Are there any specialized, or talented, human resources we can bring in at this time to move the project quicker? Are there experts or seasoned team members who can complete tasks more quickly than others?
What elements can be completed consecutively? We often think that tasks are sequential (i.e. this has to be done before that), when in fact, we might be able to complete some tasks consecutively.
What does complete look like? Think about quality and scope. Are we still within the original scope of the project, or has there been scope creep?
Do we want to reconfirm project requirements, checking for any assumptions which may not be correct?
What can we do to minimize distractions and focus on what is really important? Are there some tasks which need to be devolved from those on the project team so they can focus 100 % on the task at hand?
What does project close out look like?
How can we capture the learning so we don’t repeat these cycles next time?
What’s going to help your projects move to completion phase quickly?”

Enjoy the conversation,
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 #2150 – The Last Mile of the Year

11/19/2019

We’re about six weeks away from the end of the year, a time which I like to frame as the LAST MILE of the year. It’s at this point where we start getting really clear on what needs to get done, what needs to get carried forward and what needs to get delegated.

Today’s post is an encouragement to think about what you want to accomplish in the last six weeks of the month. As we consider the last mile there may be many areas we want to consider including:

Projects:

What are the projects which still need attention?
What are the projects which need more resources to wrap up?
What has moved out of scope and needs to be readjusted?

One-on-one time with your team:

When was the last time you held 1-1's with your team?
What are conversations which need to happen before year end?

Team Events:

What team events need to happen before year end?
What supports do they need individually? Collectively?

Planning and Performance Events:

Have you already prepared your 2020 plans – at the organizational, team and individual levels?
When did you last hold a performance conversation with each team member? Ask for feedback yourself?

Stakeholder Events:

What stakeholders do you want to reach out to?
What conversations and/or collaborations are important to have?
What updates are important to provide?
Who do you want to set meetings up with before year end, or at the start of the year?

Communication and Reporting

What reports need to be completed?
What information needs to be shred with others?
What reports need an update?
What tasks have you been putting off? What needs an update?

Other Items:

What other items need to be wrapped up?
What do you need to put in hold or closed off on?
What are you going to do to capture lessons learned and lessons to carry forward?

The last couple of weeks of the year can feel like a whirlwind, and sometimes the important tasks get set aside and missed, including time set aside for the team. In one of my newsletters this month I included 8 different ways to wrap the year up with groups and teams – link to newsletter here.

What daily steps do you want to take going forward to get important items focused on?

Best wishes,
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 #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 #2119 - Weekly Journaling Prompt 72

10/19/2019

It’s Saturday which means that it’s time for another Weekly Journaling Prompt. This week’s question gets you to consider the question “I want to celebrate”.

As we step into the last part of the year, and this decade, I hope that you’ll find this week’s WJP a great opportunity to take stock of what your achievements have been this year, as well a some of the past years. It can be easy for our memories to fade so as we step into a new decade would it be useful to explore your achievements each year.

Here are some questions to consider:

What major projects have you been engaged with this year/decade?
What were the major accomplishments during these initiatives?
What are you able to do toady that you could not do at the start of the year? At the start of this decade?
What are the key lessons learned or “Ahas” you have had as you have progressed with your career?

Enjoy your reflections this week!
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 #2108 – Performance Reviews in the Remote Space

10/8/2019

This week takes us into the interesting landscape of performance reviews in the remote space. Just as feedback is important in the in-person realm, feedback in the remote space is also important. Perhaps even more so, given the isolation and possibility that things can get off the rails very quickly.

Just as in in-person work, it is important to provide feedback and checkpoints on a regular basis. Usually the pace around everything is faster in the remote space, so consider how you might build in monthly or bi-weekly checkpoints for team members to see how they are doing.

Questions to consider when shifting performance reviews and conversations to the remote space:

HOW do we evaluate? Considering your feedback process is critical for remote workers. We want to be sure that they are getting regular, consistent feedback. No comments, or radio silence, is not enough. Consideration around HOW we evaluate - through written feedback, verbal feedback, review of job products - is a great starting point.

What are the different sources of feedback? Given that people are liaising with lots of different members, WHO is well placed to provide feedback? HOW do we invite them to provide feedback?

Getting really clear on outputs - In the remote space what we see in work is usually the end product. Being super-specific around outputs and what success looks like is very important in any type of performance conversation. Measuring on the process is usually a little trickier as it often is not seen, so consider how you are speaking to success measures and outputs in your performance conversations.

Provide multiple checkpoints - Formal feedback cycles may be much quicker than in-person given that we usually don’t see each other and informally connect with updates. What are the checkpoints you are going to put into place to make sure that people are feeling supported, and that issues are being “caught” in time?

Micro-monitor, don’t micro-manage - Micro-monitoring is a key part of virtual team success. When we have staff who work remote, it’s key that we are monitoring their results and outputs, rather than trying to micro-manage what they do. Micro-management is usually impossible or improbable given distance. Together with members of your team, set up a schedule to track, report and discuss key metrics and milestones.

What is important to put into place for your performance reviews?

Best,
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 #2101 – Welcome to October – Continued Focus On Remote Work

10/1/2019

This month we are going to look at several interesting topics including:

The variations of remote work
Remote Team Tools
Getting organized in the remote space
Performance Reviews in the Remote Space
Remote Myth Buster – Things need to take longer
Setting up the team for remote team success – Going back to the basics

Given that it's the start of a new month, let's take a few minutes to look back at September and consider what's important for your month ahead.

AS you think about September, make sure you have captured your thinking around these questions:
1. Key successes in September were...
2. Lessons learned were....
3. Next month I will
4. Something which surprized me this month was...
5. Something I want to replicate is....
6. Other things to note are..

Questions to consider as we step into October:
1. What are your top 3-5 goals this month?
2. What needs to get completed, no matter what?
3. What habits and practices do you want to lean into?
4. What do you need to say NO To?
5. Who do you want to collaborate with?
6. My theme this month is....
Be sure to check out yesterday's post as well about Q4 planning.

Look forward to diving deeper into the remote work space this month!

Best,
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 #2095 – Remote Working Success Factor: What You Need

9/25/2019

Getting organized and set up with the space and processes you require to work at peak performance is critical for those new to the remote space. It’s tempting to say “I’ll deal with it later”, and it’s likely that later may never arrive. Build in time at the start of your remote work to put into place these items at your new, dedicated work space:

A place with good lighting, privacy and space to work

A place to close the door and have private conversations
Place to secure files – physically and digitally
Cloud based storage for when you need it
Contact list you can access
Back up - where are you saving your files?
Super strong internet
Clear boundaries with loved ones and family about when and when you are not available. What are your working hours? Break times? Just because you are home it does not mean that you can walk the dog, take out the garbage, cook dinner etc. Developing a series of “go-to” phrases for when neighbors ask you to do things that will distract you from your focus can be useful.

What else do you think you will require to help you be at your best in the remote space?

Best,
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 #2090 – Flashback Friday: Minimize Distractions with Remote Work

9/20/2019

This week’s #FlashbackFriday post takes us back to 2016 and a post I think is still very relevant – minimizing distractions in the remote space.

Let’s revisit Teams365 post 797: Four Ways to Minimize Distractions with Remote Work.

Over the last week we have been focused on remote work. Today's post looks at four ways to minimize distractions when working remote. They are:

1. Clear space for where you are going to work. Whether our workspace is a small table which folds back into the wall when we are done or we have dedicated office space, clearing the clutter can be an important step in creating space to focus and be productive.

Consider where you work - what needs to be cleared? Spend 15 min this week clearing yourself more space.

2. Make sure you have what you need in order to do your work. Small issues can become big issues when working remote. An old laptop which crashes regularly, taking with it your hard work, becomes a liability. Slow internet speeds can also take a toll. While these issues might be minor pain when working remote once a month, if you need to work remote several days a week, the cost adds up. Consider what you might be tolerating in terms of equipment/resources that just aren't cutting it.

What's the cost of replacing them? What's the cost if you don't?

3. Consider when you are at your peak for different types of work. Some of us like the early morning to get out thoughts down on paper, while others like to tackle calls first thing in the morning. Consider your style and preferences in terms of when you would like to get different tasks accomplished, and SCHEDULE IT IN.

4. Sometimes we get distracted because we don't allow ourselves time for a break, or we don't allow ourselves to get into the flow of one activity at a time. While there are many tips to time management that we've covered (check out all our time management tips here), months ago I wrote about the Pomodoro approach where you set a timer for a set amount of time (i.e. 25 minutes) and work until the alarm goes off. Other time management gurus recommend a 10-minute break every 50 minutes. What is going to keep you focused and at your prime in terms of productivity?

Let us know which tips you try out and what you find useful!

Best,
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.
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 #2089 – TEAM BUILDING TIP 254

9/19/2019

This week’s Thursday Team Building Tip gets you to consider the question “What needs to be collapsed?”. Just like this photo there are sometimes things that need to be demolished or face implosion before they are ready.

An alternative view on this is what needs to be condensed or abbreviated?

Think about current projects and initiatives as you consider these two questions.

A reminder of this month's Effective Virtual Conversations call which focused on creating more impactful meetings. Time spent does not always equal impact. Check out this month's 20 minute call for more tips on meeting management.

Enjoy your 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.