Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

teams 365 #3485: Flashback Friday #TEAMS365 #1807 - PRODUCTIVITY HACK 3 – KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GETTING YOUR RESULTS 80/20

7/21/2023

As you consider your work or business right now, where are you getting your results?
The Pareto Principle asserts that you get a bulk of your results from a significant part of your work. It’s also known as the 80/20 rule, specifying that you get 80% of you results from 20% of your activities.

Activity:
Identify the key tasks and activities you undertake on regular basis. At this time of year you may want to identify the top 20 activities you have undertaken this week, or this month.

Looking at each activity at a time, which ones are giving you results?
Which activities are taking a lot of time, but not leading to results?

Be careful here as sometimes our actions do not translate into results right away. For example, speaking at an annual conference may not lead to immediate business, however, it could lead to some new connections with decision makers or visibility in your field.

Do a litmus test of what activities are important for planting the seed for longer term initiatives.

As you look at your list of high-impact activities, where are they scheduled?
As you look to lower yielding activities, what can you do to minimize them, outsource them or delegate them? These are activities which may need to be said NO to on the longer term.

As with any activity in time management, we need to put this into practice. What will you do to regularly review this?

Best,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Coming December 14, 2018 – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Pre-order a copy today on Amazon
Join us for a year-end virtual planning retreat!

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

#TEams365 #3106 - 5 Productivity tips for Remote and Hybrid Teams

7/7/2022

As indicated at the start of Chapter 18 in Reconnecting Workspaces, everyone on virtual teams will benefit from enhanced skills and practices in the areas of time management and personal productivity. It is not only for leaders or business owners, but for everyone.
Here are five things which support accelerated work in the virtual space.
1. Helping team members learn to leverage their own work: Help team members become better with prioritization. Embrace tools such as sprints (working in shorter periods), time trackers, task lists, and Learning to Say No. It may also involve identifying collaborative partners.

These tips should be read in line with tips around etiquette and systems in Chapter 7 which balance off the personal and technical side of time management.

2. Circadian rhythms: Know when you are at your best. Also known as the science of time, chronobiology studies the circadian rhythms of a person.
At what time of your day are you at your prime?
When is it important to downshift?

3. Knowing where people are spending their time: For many years I have supported individuals, teams, and groups exploring their time through an activity called the time tracker. It gives people a sense of how much time people really are spending on tasks. Many of us get surprised when we find out where our time actually goes. One of the first steps in time management is getting a sense of where you actually spend your time.

In 15- to 30-minute blocks every day, note down what you are doing. This might include commuting, in meetings, taking the kids to tennis, meals, recreation, strategic work, one-on[1]ones with team members, etc. At the end of the week, tally up where your time has been spent.

Questions to consider:
• What do you notice about where your time is being spent?
• Any surprises?
• What’s significant?
• What needs to be changed?
• How does this week differ from other weeks?
• What would be one change you’d like to commit to for the next week? What impact could this have?

There are a number of different ways you can now track your time: old school using paper and pen, as well as apps. If you have a copy of PlanDoTrack or Coaching Business Builder, be sure to work through your trackers in the workbook/planners.

4. Systematize: There are many things we do in any given work day. Some tasks which are fraught with repetition could be automated (think bills), while others we do one way because we always have.

What are the systems which could benefit the team? Areas you can explore which might need attention:
• Planning times
• Meeting times
• Deep work times
• Commute times
• Reporting times
• Times during which you are having to overwork for team meetings and team events
• Email management—what really needs copying in
• Translation times

Check out Chapter 3 of Coaching Business Builder or PlanDoTrack for more on this topic.

5. Getting active, and not always being chained to the desk. It’s commonly asserted in remote work that “sitting is the new smoking.” A sedentary lifestyle can have many impacts.

Regular movement for virtual team members is important. Make things active—our brains flourish when they are hydrated. We need to move as well.

As Thoreau wrote, “Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.”

Studies on movement and the brain have seen that walking helps to boost brain connections and boosts memory and attention.

Exposure to nature also has been seen to have a boost, particularly in the first five minutes.

The same article links to many global studies which have found that time spent in nature helps with focus, creativity, and longevity.

Enjoy the flow!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

TEAMS365 #2557 – The Year in Review – Key Themes for 2020 at the Teams365 Blog

12/30/2020

As we go to wrap up the year, I wanted to take a look back at the many different focus areas here at the blog during 2020. Some of you may know that this blog started as an experiment for me back on January 1st, 2014. I wanted to see what would happen if I dedicated time every day to writing. More than 2500 blog posts later, and several other books which were borne through this writing, the Teams365 blog continues to go strong.

As someone who has written about remote work for many years, 2020 brought it in, in volume. If you didn’t take a look at yesterday’s post around the Top 10 podcast episodes from the Remote Pathways for 2020, please take a look.

Some of the key themes we touched on this year included:

Team Effectiveness in the Remote Space
Virtual Productivity
Leading in Disruption
Leadership
Standing Out Virtually in the Remote Space
Remote Work Foundations
Team Essentials

I also continued with the regular weekly series as well, including:

Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tips AND the more recent Stand Out Virtually Ideas
Thursday’s Team Building Tips – Questions to incorporate into your work
Friday’s Flashback – dipping into more than 52 past posts
Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompts – what have you enjoyed about these?

I look forward to continuing to provide blogs and posts into 2021!

With 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

TEAMS365 #2556 – Top 10 Remote Pathways Podcast Episodes for 2020

12/29/2020

One of my favorite creative projects this past 18 months has been the creation and launch of the Remote Pathways podcast. It’s been warmly embraced by listeners globally. The Remote Pathways Podcast explores the PEOPLE, PLACES and PROCESSES to REMOTE WORK.

I thought it would be interesting to share with you our top 10 episodes for 2020. Here’s what we, and our listeners, LOVED listening to:

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

TEAMS365 #2534 - Stand Out Virtually Principle #4– Strong Hand on Process

12/7/2020

Welcome back to another Stand Out Virtually Principle – Strong Hand on Process. Key to remote work success is having a “Strong Hand on Process” or in others’ words, being very clear around elements such as:

Expectations
Agreement
Purpose
Clarity
Focus

What else would you add?

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

TEAMS365 #2529 - 8 Activities To Be Sure to Slate in This Month

12/2/2020

This month’s focus at the blog is going to be all about winding down the year. While it’s not a usual year by any means there are a number of key activities you might want to undertake this month. Consider if you have scheduled the following:

Team one-on-one meetings – check out the recent post on 10 areas to explore in your year end 1-1s
Time to wrap up the most important projects for 1-1
Reflection time to consider learning
Planning time for 2021 (even though your planning window may not be the same as always, it is important to connect around these). Consider business and personal goals.
Budget time
Outreach to customers (virtually)
Outreach to stakeholders and other partners (virtually)
Time to downshift and recharge. I think we’d all agree that this year has been anything but usual. What do you want to do to create a pause and renewal time for yourself?

Is there anything else you want to make sure you leave time for this year, other than time with your loved ones?

Best,
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

TEAMS365 #2528 – Starting a New Month, November Reflections, & Starting to Wind Down the Year

12/1/2020

Here we are at December. It’s hard to believe that we are here already. Given that it’s a new month, let’s take a moment to build in a reflective pause to capture the learning. I hope that you’ll earmark 15 minutes to work through today’s questions:

Reflecting on the month of November:

What were my major achievements this past month?
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 goals need to be let go of or changed?
What habits have supported me this past month?
As a leader, what have I noticed about my team this past month?
As a leader, what notes should I make about performance issues? (if I haven't done it already!)
The thing that has helped me be most productive this month has been ______
The thing that has helped me be most successful this month has been ______
The thing that has helped me be happiest this month 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 during the winter months (if you are in the northern hemisphere) or summer (if you are in the southern hemisphere)?
How I’m doing with my theme of the year (how I am living it, embodying it)?

Looking ahead to December:

The one thing I am committed to completing this month is…
The project I want to get started…
The project I most want to wrap up is...
My priorities are:
Our team priorities are:
My goals are:
My teams goals are:
I want to...
I'll be really happy at the end of December or/the year when….

All the best,
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

TEAMS365 #2509 - Team Building Tip 269

11/12/2020

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you to think about “What’s an energy booster?” From zoom fatigue to decision fatigue, 2020 is unlikely to go down as a year of too much energy.

This week have some discussion as to what can be an energy booster for you as a team. Consider the following:

Incorporate a mindfulness technique – breathwork, yoga or even a simple stretch!
Bring in a guest speaker
Co-work together – i.e. earmark a 2 hour block where you work live and real-time with others while working on different tasks. You might check in at the top of each hour.
Do a fun task together – ie Do a Cook Off and cook a meal together
Play a round of bingo
Attend an escape room virtually

What else could boost your energy quickly as a team?

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

TEAMS365 #2499 EVC Tip #174 – Micro-meetings

11/2/2020

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip gets you to think about the concept of Micro-meetings. What’s a micro-meeting you ask? A short, meeting burst which is often held on a regular basis, compared to the longer, more drawn out conversations you may be considering with meetings.

What’s the value of a micro-meeting? Given the remote space, and virtual world of work these days, our worlds can shift and change quite dramatically in the course of the week, without our colleagues seeing it unfold in front of them.

What are the elements needed for a micro-meeting to work well?

Time earmarked for the conversation on a regular basis. This may mean daily, or every few days, rather than weekly or even monthly. The value of meeting more frequently often means that you don’t have to cover as many topics, or don’t have to spend as much time on updates, given that calls are more frequent.
A specific topic. Trying to bite off too much in one meeting doesn’t work well. Have a focus, and possibly a micro-agenda – i.e. topic of the day or different days earmarked for different topics
A system so that notes and takeaways are focused on. This might include things like using a Kanban board, to help you keep on focus.
A system so everyone owns the meeting. If meetings fall to only one person on the team, it’s likely that it becomes “their” thing, rather than the entire “team’s” focus. What are you doing to ensure that everyone on the team OWNS it?

Enjoy your focus today on this. What else is important to note?

Best,
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

TEAMS365 #2489 – #FlashbackFriday – 4 Quick Ways to Minimize Distractions With Remote Work

10/23/2020

This week we return to a topic which is still a big one for more workers – productivity in the remote space. Whether we are working “Remote by chance or remote by choice” (as I like to say), minimizing distractions is key to remote work.

Today I’m reaching back to a post I wrote back in 2016, just as relevant today as it was four years ago. Here are four quick tips I suggested for minimizing distractions with remote work:

1. Clear space for where you are going to work - Whether our workspace is a small table which folds back into the wall when we are done, or we have dedicated office space, clearing the clutter can be an important step in creating space to focus and be productive.

Consider where you work - what needs to be cleared? Spend 15 min this week clearing yourself more space.

2. Make sure you have what you need in order to do your work. Small issues can become big issues when working remote. An old laptop which crashes regularly, taking with it your hard work, becomes a liability. Slow internet speeds can also take a toll. While these issues might be minor pain when working remote once a month, if you need to work remote several days a week, the cost adds up. Consider what you might be tolerating in terms of equipment/resources that just aren't cutting it. What's the cost of replacing them? What's the cost if you don't?

3. Consider when you are at your peak for different types of work. Some of us like the early morning to get out thoughts down on paper, while others like to tackle calls first thing in the morning. Consider your style and preferences in terms of when you would like to get different tasks accomplished, and SCHEDULE IT IN.

4. Sometimes we get distracted because we don't allow ourselves time for a break, or we don't allow ourselves to get into the flow of one activity at a time. While there are many tips to time management that we've covered (check out all our time management tips here), months ago I wrote about the Pomodoro approach where you set a timer for a set amount of time (i.e. 25 minutes) and work until the alarm goes off). Other time management gurus recommend a 10-minute break every 50 minutes. What is going to keep you focused and at your prime in terms of productivity?

Let us know which tips you try out and what you find useful!

Enjoy your weekend,
Jennifer

A reminder that early next week the Fall 2020 Stand Out Virtually Incubator program will be kicking off, running to December 4th. Looking to amplify your virtual events, and build a stronger business case around them, in organizations or externally? Join us for live group calls, micro-learning modules and some weekly 1-1 coaching! Grab your spot here.

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