This week’s Flashback Friday focuses on Back to Fall Routines and takes us back to post a couple years ago -  Five Areas to Consider with Back to Work 

I thought it would be very apropos for this week’s Back to Fall Routines
In the next few weeks and month, many of us are getting back to our regular work routines. Whether our children are back to school, or our team at work is back to running at full speed, August and September often signal a “new working year”.

Earlier this month I launched a new business workbook and planner – the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner. While it’s geared for coaches, I am working on another edition for virtual and remote professionals in addition to leaders which should be out later this year.

As you step into your new routine this September there are five areas you may want to consider:

1. What are the key activities you need to direct attention around?

What are the core initiatives you need to keep your eyes on? Steven Covey made famous the phrase “big rocks” years ago. The notion is, if you fit these in first, there's more space to do what we now term "work in the margins". What are your "big rocks" this fall?

2. Keeping the home fires rolling.

Having stepped away from city life for a few months this past summer and working out of a much smaller cottage, I recognize the cost and time invested in some of the more mundane, but essential tasks, it requires to keep an almost 3,000 square foot home in order. From groceries, to meal prep, to home maintenance, what are the tasks that are needed to keep things rolling at home while you work at full-tilt? From online grocery ordering, to meals in a box, or one of our favorite – family meal prep at Supperworks – keeping the home fires burning is essential to many of us.

What are the core elements which are important to you?
 
3. Scheduling in time for your own self-care.

Whether it’s working out, or building in time to renew, we only have one body, and keeping it in top condition is essential. What are the key activities you want to leave time for this year?

4. Clearing the clutter.

While some say that a disheveled office is often seen as part of a creative mind, clearing the clutter can be essential for high performance. Can you take some time before September rolls around to do a purge of items, or clearing of an area which has been growing in size?
 
5. Reviewing, or making your plan, for the fall.

Earlier this week I hosted the first of a series of "back to fall" virtual planning workshops, in a condensed 45 minute hack format. I brought in several of the resources and planning tools from my latest book, Coaching Business Builder: Workbook and Planner.

An older project management adage asserts that 10 minutes of planning can save 20 minutes of unfocused effort. What are your plans for fall? Each month? Each week? Are you taking 5-10 minutes daily, or on a regular basis, to make a list of all the important items?
 
Enjoy your back to work routines this week,
Jennifer

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:

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

 
Looking ahead to the month ahead:

1. What are your major goals?
2. What do you want to focus on?
3. What do you want to let go of?
4. What will help you simplify?
5. What will help you MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY?
6. What habits do you want to focus on?
7. What relationships do you want to pay attention to?
8. What actions/projects do you want to complete, not matter what?
9. What else is important to note?

Enjoy your planning!
Jennifer

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt is #108 in the series. The prompt is TRACK – What I notice is…
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As some of you may know, my 2019 planner for Virtual and Remote Professionals is PlanDoTrack. As along time program manger and also entrepreneur, I’ve been fascinated by the importance of tracking metrics and results.

Tracking can be a key part of busines success, especially when things are not always clear. In fact, one of my favorite busines activities are the virtual planning sessions I host, as well as the VIP working sessions. Usually we get clear on the different areas people want to track in their work and/or marketing. Here’s a quick list of things you may want to track with different hats on –

For those that are entrepreneurs:

• Revenue
• Sales
• New contacts
• Social media numbers
• Speaking engagements or presentation
• What else?

As a remote worker you may want to track things like:

• Time spent on projects
• Time spent on emails
• Time spent on administrative tasks (reporting, filing)
• Time spent in networking
• Time spent connecting with peers
• Time spent learning
• Best time to work on projects
• Focused elements
• What are the things that are going to help you as a remote worker?

As a leader you might track:

• One on ones
• Time spent in meetings
• Time spent on administrative tasks
• Time spent learning
• What else?

You can pick up a digital copy of the first 52 of them over at the Potentials Realized Store. Take a look at them here at the website and pick up an immediate download.

Best,
Jennifer

Welcome back to Teams365 #150 – TRACK IT!

As many have seen in recent months, digital retention is different than analog retention. What we remember about what’s on the screen, may be very different than what we remember from what we write down. Noticing patterns and seeing trends is also really important in today’s world of disruption and change. Our memory does not always remember things as they are.

With that in mind, today’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip (which is #150 in the series – where has time gone!?), is all about TRACK IT!

Questions to consider as you think about TRACKING:

• What are the things you are tracking in your work?
• What are the tools and systems you are using to track things? Are you using a tracker? A dashboard or other?
• What are the elements which would be useful to track as an individual? On your team?

One of the tools I use consistently as a professional are the trackers I developed for my two workbook planners – PlanDoTrack (for virtual and remote professionals) and Coaching Business Builder (for coaches wanting to grow their businesses).

If you take a look at Section 5 check out these different trackers:

• The 31 Day Challenge: Really useful if you are tracking 31 days of consistent action
• The Monthly Content Journal: I usually use two of these each month. One to capture key activities from each day (looking back now in mid-June 2020 and having done this since January, I can see that in fact I have accomplished A LOT!). The second one I use to capture any new ideas I have during the day. This can include ideas around blog posts, program ideas, marketing and things to do with teams. What do you want to track?
• Daily Tracker Around Categories: The final type of tracker you might want to consider is a daily tracker, like the multicolored one you see in the graphic. This is useful for tracking activities and tasks. Maybe you have a goal of writing every day, or marketing, or outreach. Each one of these could have be tracked on a daily basis.

What do you want to track?

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
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PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

As a coach who works with entrepreneurs (Remotepreneurs) and remote teams, I spend a lot of time in dialogue around systems. As I write in PlanDoTrack, systems create consistency which is so critical in the remote space. Systems also allow us to scale which is so important in the remote space as well.

This week’s blog post is a systems check. It gets you to think about the systems you have in place, as well as which ones you might want to, or need to develop.

Consider these different areas:

• Recruitment
• Financial
• Sales
• Marketing
• Client support
• Communication
• Reporting

What else?

Enjoy your reflection!
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. ​

This week’s Team Building Tip is a systems check. Systems are key in the remote and virtual workspace. They are the things that keep us doing things in a consistent manner, creating a seamless experience for our team members and customers. Consider a team that is spread across Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Paris and Shanghai. We want to ensure that a customer will have a similar experience across the different areas.

In my PlanDoTrack Workbook Planner and the Coaching Business Builder Workbook Planner, I explore five systems which can help remote workers and solopreneurs.

They are:

1. Financial systems - Invoicing, Accounts Payable, Cash Flow, Accounts Receivable etc
2. Client systems - Welcome Kits, other supports
3. Onboarding systems - Questionnaires, Agreements, Welcome Letters
4. Marketing - Websites, Social Media Feeds, Frequently Asked Questions
5. Content - Do you know what you have created? Do you have an accessible listing of what there is?
6. Sales - What do you notice about sales? What can generate more? What follow-up do you have with those you have sold to?

 

• What is the current state of these five areas? What could use attention?
• What systems do you as a team have in place? What needs focus?
• What new systems could benefit the team?

All the 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. ​

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you to think about the question “Where do you want to get more grounded?”. In today’s volatile, ever-changing environment, it can be very important to be grounded. Grounding ourselves helps us feel anchored, even if things are ever-changing. Our foundation usually consists of our values, beliefs and ways of working.

These foundations help us with decision making, prioritizing, and communicating what’s important, even if everything else is changing.

In PlanDoTrack, I provide several exercises for professionals to explore their values and belief systems. If you have a copy of the book, be sure to check out Section’s 1 and 4 exercises including the Iceberg, Values Ecosystem and some of the Values check list.

When we are able to work and lead from our values things become aligned, and usually flow more freely.

What are you noticing about your foundations and grounding?

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. ​

​It’s Sunday and time to borrow from the PlanDoTrack blog. Earlier this week I shared this week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip around honing listening. I recently shared this blog post over at the PlanDoTrack site. 

Here’s what I wrote about listening for Virtual and Remote Teams:
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Last week I focused on the first of three coaching skills which can be important to equip all virtual and remote team members with. While these are often considered “coaching skills for leaders” in the virtual and remote environment, building this capacity in our virtual team can enhance productivity, peer support and results.
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Last week I explored GOALS. This week let us look at listening.
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Communication occurs in many channels in the virtual space – from conversations by phone, to texts, to email and IM (Instant Messaging).

Each one has its advantages and disadvantages.

Research shows that a significant portion of our understanding comes from tone, which is lost when we lean into digital channels of communication – text, email and IM. This can lead to a lot of misunderstandings, misinterpretations and lack of clarity.

Our listening can be heavily influenced by a number of factors:

• Distractions (what we have on our plate, not reading things fully)
• Our relationship with the sender (what do we know about their context, their intent, their focus and priorities)
• Our understanding of the topic
• Thinking about what we want to say, rather than listening for what is really being said

When we are able to meet for voice conversations, we may hear the tone, if we are listening for it. Adding on visual cues – like streaming for a meeting instead of just using the phone – can add additional layers on to the conversation. Being able to share our screen and work together real-time can also help us understand the full context.

What are the things that are helping and hindering your virtual conversations?
Are distractions getting in the way? How are you using all the tools you have available?  What are you doing to increase your understanding of other’s context and priorities?

There are many more tools and ideas available for virtual teams in these various resources from me:

• Part 3 of my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations, focuses on virtual team development, meetings and communication. 
• Check out the posts related to Coaching Skills and Virtual and Remote Teams over at the Teams365 blog.

Let me know how I can support your virtual team development. From virtual retreat facilitation, to offering virtual team coaching services, we specialize in virtual team support.  

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.

​It’s Sunday which means that it is time for another Video Montage from PlanDoTrack. Take a look at this week’s video montage.

In bringing this work out into the world, one of my favorite program offerings at the moment is the four-hour PlanDoTrack Virtual Retreat.  Check it out here.

The program is geared for business owners and professionals who are looking to reconnect or create their vision OR take action on a creative project. We meet throughout the four-hour retreat every hour as a group, leaving you ample time in between our group touch-points to engage in structured activities to help you PLAN, take action (DO) and TRACK your results.

Here’s what two participants from the April session wrote about their experience:

"The PlanDoTrack session was everything I hoped for and more! These 4 hours were a super useful and productive pause to work on my business vision and goals for the year. It was a hands-on approach, very much helped by the worksheets in the Coaching Business Builder and also Jennifer's guidance.
I would certainly do at least one more session!”
- Rute Silva - Organizational Development Consultant/Executive Coach - PCC 

"Jennifer - thank you for creating a space to allow me to focus on the deep work that I am committed to getting out into the world.  On a normal day, the whirlwind of life would have prevented me from putting pen to paper and designing a problem that could have easily been put off until "someday". Today I prioritized the important over the urgent and I feel so accomplished to have created content that will make a difference. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you are committed to creating a program, a business plan, content, or whatever is meaningful to you and your clients, but you do not have the space or time to focus, this program is a game changer. Block the time. You will be thrilled with the outcome and the support along the way.” 
- Jacyln M. Bradley

The next one will be held on Thursday May 30th from 10 am – 2 pm Eastern/Toronto.

I hope that you will join us. The cost is $129 US and includes a virtual retreat workbook, structured exercises to work on during the afternoon and access to me during the 4 hours for some individual coaching.

You need to bring a copy of the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner, OR the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner, an idea of what you want to focus on, and four-hours of dedicated space.

Reserve your spot at the next PlanDoTrack Virtual Retreat – Thursday May 30th here.

Look forward to connecting!
​Jennifer

It is time for video montage 17 from the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series. Take a look at it here.
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I also wanted to reach back to share a number of other posts on Teamwork in Complexity from last year’s blog posts. A reminder that this month I am focusing on Teamwork in Uncertainty – stay tuned for the new posts on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

Teams365 #1610: Teamwork Skills in Complexity – Prioritization – Read it here. 

Teams365 #1604: Teamwork Skills in Complexity – Problem Solving - Read it here.

Teams365 #1603: Interesting articles about teamwork and complexity - Read it here.

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.