Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

TEAMS365 #2285 Team Building Tip 281 – Values to Action

4/2/2020

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

TEAMS 365 #2283 – Quarterly Reflection!

3/31/2020

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

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!

TEAMS365 #2277 – Projects to Keep Us Moving in the Remote Space

3/25/2020

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

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!

TEAMS365 #2271 – Team Building Tip 279: What will help with focus?

3/19/2020

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!

TEAMS365 #2263 – Keeping Motivated in the Remote Space

3/11/2020

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!

TEAMS365 #2253 – Month In Review

3/1/2020

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:

What were your major accomplishments?
What progress did you make towards your annual goals?
What was your biggest learning?
What surprized you?
What skills and strengths did you leverage?
What habits did you develop?
What helped you be successful?
What do you need to leave behind?
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:

What are your top 3 priorities?
What do you want to make sure you focus on?
What do you need to say no to?
What relationships are important to foster?
What habits are important to create or maintain?
What’s going to be a stretch?
What’s the one thing you might shy away from? What will help you achieve this?
What will help you be accountable to your goals and plans?
What’s your contingency plan?
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!

TEAMS365 #2250 – Team building Tip 276: Micro-Pauses

2/27/2020

This week’s Team Building Question gets you thinking about the question – “Where would we benefit from a micro-pause?”. Teams are often running so fast that they are not taking time to stop and reflect. Micro-pauses are short, focused and brief. It may mean meeting together for only 15-20 minutes. These done regularly may even be more effective than other more long-winded meetings. In fact, they might shorten those longer meetings.

Micro-pauses can take a number of forms:

From quick 5-10-minute individual reflections
15-minute team huddles (in person or virtually)
20-minute reflective pauses on a series of questions
A 10-minute break or movement period you take during the hour when your FitBit indicates that you have not yet walked your 250 steps

What could a micro-pause look like for you?

Questions you might consider asking at a micro-pause are:

What are the priorities we are working on today (notice alignment, clarity and resourcing around each one)?
What is helping you get our results today?
What’s getting in the way of focus?
What else is important to note about our work?
What are the questions you have about other’s work and ours?

Let us know what you are doing to create more of a pause in your work…and what you find by building in these micro-pauses!

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 #2246 – The Week in Review

2/23/2020

This week we covered a variety of posts related to working remote. If you missed, them, be sure to check out:

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
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 #2243 – Team Building Tip 275: Remote Work Enabler: Boundaries

2/20/2020

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you thinking about our second remote work enabler. You can find the first remote work enabler here.

The second remote work enabler is to create boundaries. Boundaries are key in the remote space in order to focus.

What is key is being efficient in managing boundaries, especially if you are part of a matrix team and/or working across many sites. There can also be a challenge of ensuring that there is a good balance or integration of your work and life, especially when you collaborate and work with others in different time zones. This balance may look different that what a 9-5 job could look like, perhaps having you start work at 5 and run to 3 with breaks in between to get to the gym, or for a swim (as I do!).

What are the things that help you focus in your work as a remote worker? What boundaries might you need to integrate into your work?

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!