Earlier this month in the September 2020 Remote Pathways podcast community call, I shared the 8 Layers of Remote Work. These are nuanced areas which can be important to learn more about as it relates to your colleagues, stakeholders and work.

In yesterday’s Teams365 blog post, I covered the first four of eight layers of remote work – Digital, Decisions, Delegation and Distractions.

Today’s post is going to explore the final four layers – Design, Dialogue, Do and Depth.

Let’s look at each one of these in turn:

Design – Design skills are increasingly needed by remote professionals of all kinds, given that the way we present our information and ideas may be even more visual and graphical. Likewise, in the remote space it may be likely that you are designing more meetings and programming and presentations. We will be looking at the elements of exceptional virtual design tomorrow, September 17, at the one-day Stand Out Virtually Studio Day Masterclass. Learn more and join us here. 

Dialogue – Talking at people is not communication. With collaboration being an essential, and overlooked, skillset in the remote space, dialogue is critical for success and partnering. The word Dialogue comes from the ancient Greek world of dialogus – which means two way. Dialogue is a two-way conversation. With many remote professionals feeling like they are constantly being communicated to, but not being talked with, fostering a culture of dialogue is critical. This may mean earmarking certain calls for discussion as well as focusing more on using breakouts and other key strategic areas.

Do – The 7th layer of remote work is simple. DO. Get things done. There’s not a lot of time or space for procrastination in the remote space. If you create and lead programs, what can you do to build in more time for people to get things DONE during your time together? Will they pay you to do things for them?

Depth – The final layer is Depth.  As broad as the remote working space is, it is important to have depth in terms of your relationships, levels of trust, connection and clarity around your goals and results. Spending time going deep around agreements, processes, and how you are going to operate is also important.

Be sure to check out the September 1st Remote Pathways Podcast Community Call – you can find it here.

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

This week we’ve focused on the Week in Review:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt: Collaboration Means..
• Friday’s Flashback Friday – Back to Fall Routines
• Thursday’s Team Building Question on Results Focus (one part of the high-performance equation)
• Wednesday’s post 5 Productivity Tips to Support You as You Get Back to (Virtual) Work Routines
• Tuesday’s Post – Back to (Virtual) Work Routines
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip – Mix it up!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Jennifer

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

This week’s Team Building Tip is appropriately entitled “Results Focus”. As we get back to work, what are the conversations you need to have around RESULTS?

Today, as a team, it may be useful to discuss:
What are the core results we are looking to achieve by the end of the:

• Year?
• End of this quarter?    
• End of this month?

It can also be useful to identify:

• What is giving us results? It may be due to processes, people, resources, expertise.
• What is getting in the way of results?
• Which activities are giving us the highest impact? (Think about the Pareto Principle and what is giving more results)

What other questions are important to explore around results?

Remember that results are just one part of the equation to high performance.

As I write in my work:
High Performance = Results + Relationships
 
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​

#1 – Put A Frame Around It. As I shared in one of yesterday’s “Back to (Virtual) Work” Posts, Parkinson’s rule asserts that tasks expand to the amount of time we give them. It can be useful to “put a frame around” bigger projects by putting a framework around the start and end. What are those tasks you want to frame out?

#2 – Related To The First Area Is That Of Boundaries. Framing things out can also relate to boundaries. What are the boundaries you want to put in place? Boundaries can include having:

• Physical space earmarked for
• Boundaries around when you are on, and when you are off
• Boundaries around task time

What boundaries will help you focus?

#3 – Creating time for sprints. Getting things done in faster, deeper dive can be a different way of working. About 5 years ago, I started experimenting with using “sprints” in program design. I take professionals through a 45-minute series of reflective prompts, helping guide them into focus. What are the sprints you want to create around your work?

#4 – Think about meal preparation and batching cooking. It’s likely that your food prep and planning is much more organized than it was this time last year, but perhaps not. Spending time every week to not only plan, and shop, but also prepare, can make a big difference, freeing up valuable time. What are the kitchen implements you have, but haven’t used? This might be an Instant Pot or Slow Cooker. What can you do to incorporate one or two more set-it-and-forget-it meals? One of my favorite video sites is the Seven Sisters….Many of their creations are things we already have in the pantry and freezer.

#5 – Think about creating something different in your routine. Our brains crave, and remember, things that are NOVEL, DIFFERENT or SURPRISING. On a regular basis, what can you do to get out of your routine? Maybe it’s attending a call which helps you think about things in a different way. Maybe it’s about shaking up your routine (moving your workout to a different time of day). Maybe it’s about working from a different location. What can you to do jazz up your routine?
 
For more ideas and virtual productivity hacks, check out the PlanDoTrack Weekly Planning Hacks. You’ll find them here.

You might be interested in reading a recent post I wrote last month – Maintaining Productivity in the Remote Space

Best,
Jennifer

Whether you are still working from home or back to an amended, socially distant, working routine, this month is often likened to the start of the new year. As you gear up for work, consider these routines:

What are the tasks you want to streamline, automate or systematize – From accounting to processing your outreach, what can streamlined, automated or systematized?

What can be batched? The term cognitive switching refers to the processing needed (and associated) energy when we switch from one type of task to another. As I liken it, there can be a need to switch and reset parts of our brain. Think about the different flow you find when you are working with numbers? Or writing? Or creating something? Or reading something? What are the tasks you want to batch? When do you want to schedule them? Would it be useful to earmark a Friday afternoon to filing and financial info when your brain is tired? Or early morning for really important tasks that need to be completed?

What are the boundaries you want to create? If you are working remote, tech time and work time may need some adjustment to provide you with free space to

Fit in workout time. While our work out time and routine may look different today than it did last year, what are you doing to build in workout time? When does it happen? What will help you prioritize that it happens? Do you prefer doing it early morning? Lunch time (yes, we do need to take a lunch in the remote space)? Or at Night?

Give things a start and end – Just as Parkinson’s Rule asserts, tasks expand to the amount of time we give them. What are the time windows you have given on important tasks? For example, with a writing project, are you giving it a month for completion or two weeks? Some tasks can wind up extending onwards much longer. As you look to your major projects this month, what are the time windows you want to give them?

What else will help provide a frame and focus?

If you want to read more, check out this post: Remote Teams: 5 Things to Schedule Before Fall

Best,
​Jennifer

Welcome back to another Thursday Team Building Tip. This week’s tip is “What is the cost of NOT….”

As you think about your vision for the year, what’s important to DO? Focus on? BE?

Consider what you are NOT doing. NOT focusing on. NOT being.

Sometimes it’s as important to look at things through the lens of contrast, and saying NO, not just saying yes.

As you step into your September routine as a team, what might you do to take more of a litmus test around what you ARE focusing on right now?
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Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Many professionals are now 6 months into the global Work From Home “real time experiment” since countries stated locking down months ago. In my work as a coach, consultant and author around remote work, productivity and high performance, I have had a LOT of conversations in the last six months about what’s working and what’s not. When it comes to remote work, there are several core areas and pitfalls professionals can find themselves in. Are you experiencing, or creating, any of these remote working mistakes?

Not creating firm enough boundaries - Working from home, and remote work in general, can be very fluid at times. Without some of the social and practical cues of office work, it can be easy to flow from one task to another, without firm boundaries. While this may work for some, it can lead to overwork, and work-life friction, particularly for those of us who are not only workers and bosses but also parents.

For many, the routine of life and work may be changing again as some schools reopen – What are the boundaries you want to create around work and life this fall (or spring)?

Not communicating enough or in the way people need - Whether we are communicating with our team members, or our customers, it’s likely that you may not be communicating enough, or in the best way. Just because an email is sent, doesn’t mean that is it read, or interpreted as it was intended, let alone actioned!

Consider the key messages you want to communicate this week. What ways do they need to be sent, on what channels, and what follow up is needed?

Not renewing by working around the clock – Related to boundaries is a major pitfall of not renewing. While our traditional ways of relaxation and winding down may not be possible, renewal is key.

Before you get back into the regular routine of fall, what’s important to build time in for? As you step back to the office, what are the habits and routines which are important to foster?

Not planning – With many feeling that the disruption we’ve experienced due to a pandemic is uncontrollable, it doesn’t mean not planning. Having a clear vision of where you want to be at the 30,000-foot view is still important. Operational plans are likely to have shifted, and contingency planning may have become a way of life. Instead of having one plan you may have a cubed plan – A3.

What are your contingency plans for the next week?

As you consider the way you are working right now - What’s important to note about your planning? Your productivity?
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All the best,
Jennifer

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip gets you thinking about SILENCE. How much silence are you leaving in your virtual calls?

In my work and writing I call this a “micro-pause” and the inclusion of even 30 – 90 seconds of intentional silence can make a big difference in the remote space when you are leading virtual calls.

It’s likely that most calls you lead are heavy on the side of content and flow, and less about pause and silence.

With a professional’s day full of back-to-back conversations, it’s really important that we do leave micro-pauses of 30 -90 seconds or more during calls to help people REFLECT, PROCESS and COMMIT TO NEXT STEPS.

Consider these opportunities for incorporating a micro-pause:

• Before opening up a question for discussion, have people write out their response for 30 seconds.
• Structure a call with a component which has a series of timed prompts, with silence in between. I often host calls where we have anywhere from 5 – 20 minutes of reflective prompts, particularly at the end of projects and/or months/quarters. These have easily become people’s favorites and have been noted to be invaluable as they are something people aren’t doing on their own.
• Mid-way through the call pausing for a minute to have people note for themselves what is the “one thing they can apply to their work”. After the minute pause (not during) have them share it with others
• 60 - 90 seconds towards the end of the call, for people to note their top 1-3 takeaways and schedule them in

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It can be useful to have whoever is facilitating the call to set a timer so they too can relax and drop into the reflection themselves.

What other ways might you create a pause?

Enjoy the reflection!
Jennifer

PS - Take a minute and be sure to join us over at the Virtual and Remote Visionaries Hub as well on Facebook. You can join us here. 

This week’s Team Building Question is number 255 in the series. What do you want to say NO to?

Turning away work, or saying no to a project, may provide the space you need in order to focus on your priorities.

A challenge of the remote work space which many have is boundaries. Boundaries around our time, boundaries around availability.

Another challenge of the remote space is that it can be more challenging to identify what’s important. When our team members are scattered and we don’t get to meet them at the water cooler, how do we know what’s important NOW?
As a team, if you haven’t had a conversation recently around what your priorities are collectively and individually, I hope you will use this as a nudge.

As you look at all the things you have on the go, what do you want to say NO to?

Enjoy your conversation,
Jennifer