Welcome back to another Teams365 Team Building question. This week’s team question is “What needs more discernment?”.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines discernment as “the ability to judge people and things well.”

Discernment is always a term that we used to use a lot when leading in highly variable and complex contexts (for example, when there are a lot of competing demands, or things are changing quickly.)

Discernment may be a key skill to foster within your teams.

Here are some questions to consider this week:

• What are the things that need to be looked at more closely?
• What are the things that can be focused on more? What needs clarification (think in terms of information, purpose, process, other…)?
• What needs discernment in terms of priorities?

Enjoy the focus!
Jennifer

Welcome back to another weekly installment of the Team Building Question.

​This week is #252 in the series. Today’s prompt is:
​
What needs to go under the microscope?

In the spirit of the mid-year review we’ve just done, what do you notice about what needs attention?

What needs to be looked at more closely?

What needs to be examined more?

As you zoom in, what do you notice?

What are the conversations you need to have going forward as a team? With your stakeholders?

Enjoy the conversation!
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

In this week’s Flashback Friday post, I am reaching back to one of the earlier posts from January 2020 – Five Focus Areas for Team Leaders. In hindsight, with all that we have moved through in recent months, it’s interesting that I chose these five areas back in January. Take a look at think about what you might want to continue to focus on going forward. Here’s what I wrote in Teams365 blog post Teams365 #2213.

This week I came across a note I had made myself late last year and never got posted. Having worked to support team leaders for a number of years, I often get asked, “what are some of the key conversations they are having with their teams right now”? Here are five areas team leaders today may be in conversation around:

#1 - Focus - With so much occurring in the workplace today – flavors of the month, shiny red objects, interruptions, course changes, external events, etc…helping our team members focus on what is important RIGHT NOW, today, can be an important message to keep reinforcing. Helping team members with prioritization skills and being able to continue to focus on what’s important without adding to the interruptions and divergence is also key. If you are operating in a team context, the impact of one team member slipping may have a domino effect. What are the things that are going to help with focus?

#2 - Connection - What are the things you can do to help people feel connected? Connected to others in the team? Connected to the resources they need? The information they need? What is important about this topic right now for the team?

#3 - Disruption and Change - Disruption and change is becoming more commonplace across industries. Global events can have local impact. Disruption in a related industry can have a trickle effect. What are you doing to help people understand how they react to change, and also build capability in the areas of strategic thinking and/or contingency planning? Having worked for many decades in the areas of strategic planning, critical thinking and contingency planning, I often take it for granted that people are using these tools. What’s important to explore and have conversation with your team?

#4 - Building Trust - As Stephen Covey wrote - and I paraphrase – “Trust is the currency of business”. What are you doing to build trust, and erode trust? In today’s fast, and sometimes remote, business context, we may only see people in “small windows” of time.  Comments, and reactions, may get magnified. Certain activities or patterns of behaviors might be perceived as the norm. What are you doing to build trust, particularly in terms of creating an environment where people can be heard, and listened to? Where follow through is modeled? Where communication fits the needs of the team? What behaviors are visible?

#5 – What can people on the team do to be able to do their best work? Finally, we know from strengths-based research that when people are able to do their best work and use their strengths, there’s greater productivity, engagement and quality of life. Check out Gallup’s Strengths Center for the latest research on this.

Asking the team what they can do to do their best work, as often as possible can be a great conversation. It may also open up a debate point of “Why can’t I do this all the time?”. While we may not be able to use strengths EVERY DAY and EVERY HOUR on every PROJECT, what can we do to magnify or expand this?

Enjoy the conversations and let us know what you are exploring in your team. 

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. ​

Welcome back to another week which of course brings us the Monday Effective Virtual Conversations Tip. Tip #143 is “Don’t Assume”.  When we can’t see each other face to face, our window to everyone’s world becomes the small boxes we live within. Given that we can’t see people’s context, it can become very easy to not see their context.

Today’s post is “Don’t Assume”. What are the assumptions you are making?

It might be…

• Your priority is my priority…
• You have more time than me…
• You don’t have the distractions I have…
  • Listen into a short daily reading I did (link to day 23 or 24 I think Lindsay), which covered the Assumptions around Virtual Conversations and Learning we can hold.  Two of the ones I hear all the time:
  1. Everyone understands what I am saying – Be sure to pause regularly and use polls or chat to check for understanding.
  2. People will follow up – With back to back calls becoming the norm, it’s not uncommon for people to forget their stream of thought from hours earlier. Be sure to leave time for people to NOTE and SCHEDULE their follow up.
• Everyone is going to have the same needs – Learning styles, preferences and focus is usually going to be radically different from person to person. Be sure to vary your approaches and techniques for engagement – from voice, to chat, to things that are hands on. This will ensure that you are meeting the different learning styles in the group.

​What are the assumptions you are making? What changes do you want to make?

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. ​

​One of the most important things in a team context, particularly a virtual team context, is how our values translate into action. When we work face to face, our values are translated through behaviors we can see and notice every day. So, a value of customer service will translate into prioritizing a quick follow through with a customer, while a value of speed may translate to a series of behaviors which resemble more of a checklist approach to work, with the "first past the post" the winner, regardless of quality.

Our values shape the behaviors our team undertakes, regardless of whether we are in person or virtual. A reminder of our behaviors can take many forms - from discussing them, to having them as a screensaver or a poster on the wall.

What is important for you to note as a team right now about your values? Where are they aligned? Where are they not? What's important to further clarify? Define behaviorally?

Values (What we value) and Behaviors (What we Do) play a key role in shaping our team and organizational culture. What is important to explore as you consider these elements this week?

With 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
​

Today’s the last day of Q1. Where did it go? What has shifted for you and your focus? While I’ve been asking these questions every quarter since 2014 here at the blog, my guess is this past quarter has probably marked a huge shift in your work.
 
Here are some questions you might want to consider as you reflect on your quarter:

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/professional, what have I noticed about my team this quarter?
• 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 this season?

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:
• The habits I want to lean into are:
• The things I want to focus on are:
• I'll be really happy at the end of this quarter when:
• I also need to think about:

Enjoy your reflections!
Jennifer

Today’s blog post is all about projects to keep us moving in the remote space. What are the projects you want to work on in your space? What’s going to help you keep focused and motivated?  What are those projects which you have always wanted to work on?

Beyond the immediate need, what else is important for you to be focusing on?

Depending on your work, you might consider:

• Catching up with colleagues and taking time to reach out for a virtual conversation/1-1
• Updating records and projects
• Clearing out items which no longer serve a purpose
• Revisiting your vision – what’s important right now? What is important to keep an eye on in the big picture?
• Spending time focusing on what is important and connected to your vision
• Reviewing the focus of work and impacts you have had
• Catching up on paperwork/administrative tasks
• Getting your finances in order
• Taking time to ensure that you are focusing on family projects and routines
• Carving out time to get through the pile of books/podcasts/blogs you have said you always wanted to focus on
• Starting a memoir

What are the projects which are going to fill you up? What are the projects that are going to help you focus in on what’s important for you right now?

Enjoy your projects!
​Jennifer

Focus and attention are key parts of business success today. It can be very easy to get off track, or down the rabbit hole of distractions. Focus has become an area that is getting explored in greater depth these days.

It’s not always just about whether you are focusing or not, but it is also the question of “What are you focusing on?”. Are you focusing on the things that are immediate and urgent, or are you working on those issues which may be what Chip Heath calls “upstream”? The more proactive, systemic issues, which I would call proactive or strategic. In another week I’ll be leading some strategic thinking training and what we know about strategic thinking is that it’s part creative, and a large part proactive. It can incorporate, WHAT IF, as well as WHAT THEN.

Professionally, I entered the workforce in the early 1990s and was privileged in my work in the non-profit world to be exposed to a lot of strategic thinkers and planners.  This shaped a large part of my work as a leader and facilitator in the global sphere during the 90s and early 2000s. Some of my frontline work was in economies moving through significant transition and change. I had not realized until recently that some of these older stalwarts of strategic thinking had transitioned out of the workspace (which makes sense as I think of age).

We know that in disruption it’s as important to be agile as it is to have an anchoring vision and strategy. What are you aiming towards? How are you holding the tension of strategic thinking along with agile approaches? I do believe there can be an AND. What about you?

Enjoy your focus this week on the main question of “What will help with focus?” as well as “And what do you want to focus on?” or “What’s important to focus on?”.

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.
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!
​

Whether we are working out of choice or requirement in the remote space, keeping motivated is a critical factor. It may feel like we are isolated and on our own. It’s also up to us to keep going. With this in mind, keeping motivated is critical for medium- and longer-term success.

First, consider your drivers, or what gets you motivated. For some it’s all about results, for others it’s about creating relationships. For some it may be achievement, while others it’s legacy.

Our motivation and focus may also vary across the day.

Consider these questions:

• What is important to you – in the short term? In the big picture?
• What do you get motivated by - Deep dives around topics? Getting things checked off your list?
• When are you at your peak?
• What tasks need to get done right away so they are off the list?
• What elements might need a focus later on?

What to do if motivation is flagging:

• Consider reaching out to your network. What do they do to keep on task? What tips do they have?
• Consider making a change to routine or location of work.
• Reach out to your mentor and have a discussion around motivation.
• Take a break to renew. High performance is often as much about creating a renewal break, as it is keeping on high performance.

What’s going to fill up your well again?

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.
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Welcome to a new month! This month’s focus is going to be on teamwork, including remote work. With an increasing number of professionals looking to get up to speed quickly with remote work, I hope that you will find these posts useful, and will share them with others.

Before we get started, it’s time to do a quick stocktaking of the month that’s past and set some goals for the month head.
​
Looking to last month:

1. What were your major accomplishments?
2. What progress did you make towards your annual goals?
3. What was your biggest learning?
4. What surprized you?
5. What skills and strengths did you leverage?
6. What habits did you develop?
7. What helped you be successful?
8. What do you need to leave behind?
9. What annual goals are you making progress on? Which ones are stalled or need a review?

Looking ahead to March and the end of Q1 of the year:

1. What are your top 3 priorities?
2. What do you want to make sure you focus on?
3. What do you need to say no to?
4. What relationships are important to foster?
5. What habits are important to create or maintain?
6. What’s going to be a stretch?
7. What’s the one thing you might shy away from? What will help you achieve this?
8. What will help you be accountable to your goals and plans?
9. What’s your contingency plan?
10. What needs to be “knocked out of the park” this month?

 
If you did not get the chance to check out this week’s blog posts, please take a look at the following:

• Monday’s Teams365 2247: Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 133: Catch people doing things right. Read it here.
  
• Tuesday’s Teams365 2248: Working From Home -When you have to. Read it here.
  
• Wednesday’s Teams365 2249 – Meeting Questions – Keeping them efficient, even if you aren’t face to face
• Thursday Teams365 2250 – Team Building Tip 276 – Micro-Pause. Read it here.
  
• Friday’s Teams365 2251 – Flashback Friday – 4 Essential Ingredients for Collaboration. Read it here
  
• Saturday’s Leap year post and some of the past posts to look back at.  Read it here.
  

Enjoy your reading!
​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.
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!