Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

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 #2371 – Weekly Journaling Prompt 106

6/27/2020

Welcome back to the 106th Weekly Journaling Prompt. This week’s prompt is “I appreciate”. What do you appreciate and are grateful for? As I have written in the past, gratitude plays an important role I health and well being.

As I shared in Teams365 #331:

Flowing from gratitude are a number of health and psychological benefits which include higher levels of optimism, increased positivity, more pro-social relationships, happier relationships, and also lower levels of toxic thoughts. As you will read, one practice which has been shown to increase gratitude and the benefits is keeping a gratitude journal, which is as simple as writing down on a weekly basis five things you are grateful for that week.

You can read more about what science has found about the importance of gratitude and how to incorporate more of this at this link from the Center for Greater Good from the University of Berkeley.

What are the things you are grateful for? What would it be like to keep a list of what you are grateful for on a regular basis, even if it’s as simple as listing out the top 3 things you are grateful for?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
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 #2369 – Team Building Tip 251: What could increase your range?

6/25/2020

This week’s Team Building Question asks you to consider “What could increase your range”? Individually? Collectively as a team?

Our range usually is the distance between the start and end of your comfort zone. Consider how this may have shifted in recent months. What in your comfort zone has shifted?

Our range is important as individuals as it allows us to continue reaching and growing.

Our range as a team is often the exponential amount of our capabilities and our collective comfort zone. This is important as it can help us as a team to continue stretching, growing, and also innovating.

What are the activities which could increase your range? Consider things like:

Job Shadowing – Seeing others in action (virtually or in-person) so you can learn about how they do things, how they approach tasks you are not familiar with
Mentoring – Working with someone more seasoned who can provide insights around HOW to do things
Learning – Taking formal or informal courses
Coaching – Working with a coach to explore alternative perspectives and ways of doing things, your mindset and/or belief systems. Contact me to set up a sample coaching conversation.

Enjoy your conversations and action!
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 #2366 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 151: Team Feedback and the REVET Model

6/22/2020

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip, which you can usually find under the hashtag #letstalkvirtual, is all about Team Feedback. With many teams opting to stay Working From Home for the foreseeable future, team feedback is an important loop to help teams excel.

What are the processes you have in place to keep team feedback moving?

We know that feedback is best when it’s specific (detailed about what the person did well or not well, behaviorally – via things that we can see or tangible outputs). Feedback is best when it’s regular, and as close to the event as possible. The longer between feedback and activity, the less valuable it is.

Feedback can be useful when we receive it from those around us – our bosses, our peers and those we interface with on projects, or stakeholders. Who are you receiving feedback from?

For many years I have written about, and talked about, the REVET™ model of feedback. We want to make sure that feedback is:

R – What are the roles the person inhabits; what projects are they involved with? What are their goals?
- Considering these questions helps us to make sure that feedback is relevant for the person.
E – Reflect on performance expectations
- What have been the expectations set about performance? What are the key issues they are focusing on, and most likely value feedback around?
V - What do they value?
- Some people value feedback delivered frequently and off the cuff. Other team members may prefer to have feedback offered in a structured fashion, or by writing, with some time between receiving the feedback and then having the performance conversation.
E – Specific examples. Providing specific examples is absolutely essential for an effective performance conversation.
- Always make sure you have specific examples which you have personally witnessed. If not, you may not be the person to provide feedback in that manner. You could facilitate the discussion with the person and those who seem them every day 1-1.
T – Timing. What is the most appropriate time for the conversation? Is it a mid-morning? Evening? Lunchtime conversation?

(Copyright 2020 – Jennifer Britton, VRTWL)

If you have a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations, you’ll also want to check out what I write about Appreciations and Acknowledgements on pages 257 – 258. It’s important to take time to pause and share appreciations with each other. This serves to boost trust, and connection, across the team. I recently have included this activity in my latest mini-course for teams – the Remote Team Builders. You can find it here.

What are the things you are doing to create a team feedback loop?

Best wishes,
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 #2305 How to Keep The Performance Conversations Going Virtually

4/22/2020

Performance conversations are challenging for many at the best of times. What about now that you are likely having to have these conversations virtually? What are the things you want to do to keep the performance conversations going virtually?

Performance issues become even more complex when you are not able to see people in their own element. In fact, our feedback is likely to be framed by what we can see on the screen (which might be one-tenth or one-hundredth of the time in a week) as well as what we see with output.

With that in mind, here are several things to keep in mind around performance support and feedback in the remote space:

Watch assumptions – be super explicit around what you mean with this.
Clarify what the end results need to look like.
Have more frequent check-ins or walk-throughs. It’s important that is not seen as hovering, but it creating a more frequent monitoring process.
Be sure to return back to measures of success, and things like the IS/IS NOT framework.

As it relates to feedback:

Make sure that feedback is specific, and demonstrable – again, check assumptions.
You may want to lead with “Walk me through “ to identify where processes or practices get derailed.
Be open to feedback in new ways.
Remember that feedback is a two-way street. It’s often best to get it to give it. Feedback is reciprocal.
Be sure that you are also having people share what areas they are going to value feedback in first.

What else is important to note about feedback and performance conversations for your team right now?

Enjoy your virtual conversations!
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 #2299 Team Building Tip 283: Results Check

4/16/2020

Building onto yesterday’s mid-month touchpoint, today’s post is a results check. List out the top 10 things you have accomplished as a team – collectively? Individually?

Isolate what some of the common factors have been in getting you the results you’ve had.

If you haven’t received the results you wanted, what’s gotten in the way? What changes are needed? Where do you need to pivot?

What new skills are required?

Enjoy your conversations. You may also want to check out these additional blog posts –

Best,
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 #2248 – Working From Home: When You Have To

2/25/2020

This year has already had a number of factors which have made working from home a necessity rather than a perk. Whether it’s been weather or health related, some people aren’t quite set up for a great working from home set up. Today’s post gets you thinking about what’s going to help you keep your work flowing, even if you have to work from home.

Consider these items:

Remote (or direct) access to the key files and information that you need. Do you know how to get into the files you need to keep working? Are they accessible?
A way to keep meetings running: Zoom may be a great option to set up for your team.
A way to keep project work meeting: Co-working is also easy when you are able to set up conversations with team members on zoom. What are the conversations you want to build in on a daily or weekly basis?
A secure and solid connection.
Passwords and access codes
A dedicated work space as free from interruptions as you can have.

What are the things you need access to right away to keep your work flowing?

For more on remote work, please check out the remote work tag.

My 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations, explores many of these topics as well. Pick up a copy at Amazon.

Later this month I'll be releasing a new White Paper on Remote Work - Getting Up to Speed in a Hurry. Sign up to receive a copy. It will be send when it is available - likely March 1st.

All the best,
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 #2240 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #132: Matrix Tip

2/17/2020

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip is a matrix working tip, getting you as a team, or partnership to explore the question “What’s the priority?”.

With matrix work and membership of multiple teams become the norm in today’s workspace, it can be important to focus on WHAT’S the PRIORITY?

Are you taking time as a team to discuss what your priorities are?

Are you holding three-way meetings so that team members can learn more about the bigger picture and landscape of the multiple teams they are part of?

As a leader, are you communicating the WHY, or what’s important about the bigger picture of work?

Prioritization is a critical skill set for most remote workers. It may also involve some negotiation when multiple priorities show up on our desk (think – almost every day!).

The challenge is that balancing multiple priorities for two parties who don’t usually connect. This is where getting into the practice of holding quarterly or regular meetings with the matrix teams or leaders can be of benefit. Widening the understanding of what people are working on, can help sensitize thinking, as well as help with weighing in on priorities.

A reminder of the different prioritization tools we might leverage –

Covey’s Urgent/Important Matrix
To Do and Not To Do List
Strategic Issues Mapping

I’ve covered many of these tools in past Teams365 blog posts. Many of these tools can also be found in Section 4 of PlanDoTrack.

Enjoy!
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 #2229 – Team Building Tip 273: Habit Focus!

2/6/2020

Welcome back to our weekly Team Building Tip. These are geared to provide you with a conversation sparker or an area to surface dialogue around.
This week’s tip gets you to think about HABITS.

As I wrote in last month’s post, habits are things we do automatically. They often become subconscious, so we are not aware that we are doing it. Habits can both help and hinder our work.

As a team, what are the habits you are creating? Think about your habits around communication. Meetings? Outreach? Teamwork?

What habits are helping you? Which ones aren’t?

What habits do you want to change? What can you become more intentional around?

Best,
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 #2225 – Weekly Round up & the Teams365 Calendar of Posts

2/2/2020

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:

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!