What team practices are supporting relationships?
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From the realm of high performance we know that teams which excel have strong relationships. Part of this is making sure we have strong team practices – that could include Monday morning meetings, a mini-team event each month, a Thursday night social or a quarterly team development activity.

Consider your team right now and think about what is needed on the part of the team. What will help the team connect, have fun and get to know each other? Having fun as a team is important as it can help people relax and bring themselves more naturally into their work. If they are not able to bring their natural self to the workplace, disconnect may happen between how they work at home and how they work at work.

Here are seven different ways teams may be connecting with each other:

1. Daily huddles or quick status meetings (10-15 minutes) to keep projects on task.
2. Monday morning meetings – a meeting at the start of the week can support focus and alignment for the team, assisting with priorities and information sharing. Monday meetings may also flag issues that need to be addressed but haven’t been noted before.
3. Monthly project assessments – some teams may do a short monthly team meeting, highlighting key projects which need attention and/or doing a review. Some of the more common project questions are included under the next category of team debrief.
4. Team debriefs post major project (or mid-term). These may get the team to identify lessons learned, what’s working, what’s not and suggestions for the future.
5. A weekly or monthly social event around town. PingPong and darts are favorite options. Escape rooms and/or axe throwing are for teams who are more edgy (note: these options may not be applicable or appropriate for every team and their culture!).
6. Quarterly Booster Shots – Dedicating half a day or a full day to team development and/or learning. It could be undertaking an assessment together such as the Everything DiSC, or StrengthsFinder.
7. Key to making these valuable team practices, teams will want to consider the purpose and efficiency of each approach. Just because you do it, doesn’t mean it’s going well.
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What is the team finding valuable? What needs a change?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

​This week’s Effective Virtual Conversation’s tip #66 brings us to tip #3 in the series of Virtual Team Success. This week’s tip gets you thinking about how you want to keep in touch. In today’s virtual space there are several vehicles teams can leverage for keeping in touch, as well as facilitating meetings and planning.
Let’s take a look at three of them:

Zoom – Great for streaming and meetings on the go, zoom provides multiple benefits – from the  ability to screen share to the ability to activate breakouts in meeting space. With the teams that I work with, many professionals like the flexibility of being able to call in via phone, connect via their desk top or lap top, as well as use the mobile app to connect via phone.

Skype – Skype for business is being leveraged by many organizations today. With the benefits of streaming and visuals, it provides a great option for meetings and presentations.

The final platform I wanted to mention today was that of Slack. Slack is a common go-to platform for real-time communication. 

When working with smaller teams around planning and projects you may also want to check out platforms including Trello and Asana.

What are some of your favorite virtual platforms? What do you use for meetings? Presentations? Project Management? Communication?

​Let us know by sharing in the comments.

Thanks!
Jennifer

​This summer I was committed to tackling the growing pile of books I had purchased earlier this year, but not cracked the spine on. The growing pile actually felt like a weight on me. While I love to read, the volume was dragging me down.
Supported by no TV, and a slower than normal internet connection, I was able to reshift some of my usual screen time (which today is pretty much streaming based) to turning in earlier and reading regularly. It helped me not only “get through” but enjoy reading a number of books this summer. It was a pretty eclectic range but I wanted to share some of them with you:
The 5 Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity  by Kory Kogon, Adam Merrill and Leena Rinne –  I’ve written quite a bit bout the influence of Stephen Covey’s Training on my time management and productivity almost twenty years ago. I had picked up the Covey team’s latest book before hopping on a red eye flight from Vancouver to Toronto in June. Edits for my new book, the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner, superseded reading it then, but I got to it just this last week.
For those looking for a quick, and integrated approach to time, this is a terrific resource. Their approach is grounded in Covey’s Urgent/Important Matrix, but also incorporates today’s focus on values and roles. A great read!
The Fire Starter Sessions – Danielle LaPorte – Loaded with short stories, quotes, the Fire Starter Sessions is a great book to dip into over time, with topics touching on time, money.
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin – I continue to enjoy Gretchen Rubin’s weekly Podcast – Happier – and almost heard her voice speaking The Four Tendencies. This book takes us into the dynamic, and important, area of styles, and Gretchen’s framework around Questioners, Upholders Obligers, and Rebels. A must-read for team leaders and team members, this book will support you in thinking deeper about how you approach work, decisions and relationships, and what matters for those you work and live with! Check out what she has to say at her own blog post from 2015 here.
Build an A Team – Whitney Johnson – A terrific read for leaders and coaches and anyone who takes a strengths-based approach to work. With chapters focusing in on supporting new hires, as well as “masters” on  your team, this is a great read to get you thinking about what type of support people will benefit from, and how Johnson writes you can “support them up the learning curve”.
And on a lighter note, I also enjoyed the Agatha Christie-ish mystery – Woman in Cabin Ten. Given that this book was sitting for almost a year on my bedside table it was a relief to dip into this quick read – a solid one for anyone who likes mysteries!

What books did you enjoy reading this summer? What is sticking and transforming the way you work, and/or live?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations |  Coaching Team Leaders  
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) 
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

As some readers may know, earlier this month I released a workbook and planner called the Coaching Business Builder: Workbook and Planner. Part planner, part self-guided reflection journey, it’s geared to support coaches in exploring their own unique ecosystem, potentials and plans for their business. Plans are in the works for additional editions down the road for remote professionals and leaders.

In the workbook section, I touch on a variety of productivity tools, or hacks, to consider. These are things that I have seen transform the work of business owners and leaders I have both coached, and worked with over the years. As we gear up for back to work next week, I thought it would be useful to share with you four productivity hacks and frameworks I think might be useful for you. These include:
 
1. Schedule in time for your regular planning. Whether it’s daytime or night, the act of scheduling time to identify, note and focus on your own tasks which are upcoming can save a lot of time. An old project management adage has said that for every 10 minutes of planning you save 60 minutes  of unfocused effort.  Think about how having a list every day can help you navigate the changing waters of tasks and priorities, as they shift.When do you want to schedule in planning? Daily planning? Medium term planning? Long term planning?

2. Consider what time of day works well. One of the key learnings which still stands out for me almost 30 years after being an undergrad science student at McGill University, is the importance of our circadian rhythms. Research continues to show how we each have a different internal clock, helping, and hindering us to get things done at different times of the day. This concept has been revisited and revived recently with books such as Daniel Pink’s When, where he explores the concepts of larks and owls.
When are you are your peak (morning/night/another time)? What can you do to tweak your schedule to leverage those windows?

3. Build  in pockets to get things done without interruptions. Interruptions are everywhere in today’s working world – from the bings of emails, to phone calls, to people dropping in. Research by Gloria Marks and her team have discovered how every interruption has an extended impact. She has found that after an interruption it can take upwards of 25 minutes to get back on task. 23 minutes and 15 minutes to be exact.  Look at her research here. What can you be doing to build in pocket to get things done? Minimize interruptions?
Check out this article from Inc entitled “Six Tips to Maximize Productivity on Remote Working Days” from Inc here.

4. Finally, consider what the priorities are – yours, your bosses and/or your teams. Schedule in time for this in your calendar and get it done! Covey’s Urgent/Important Matrix constitutes to be a valuable framework to help us all take into account what is truly important and urgent. Check out a past blog post I have done on this here. What would you like to focus on this fall? Which one area would make the biggest impact on your work?

Enjoy,
Jennifer

PS – Looking for some time to plan? Consider joining me this Friday for the month end reflection and new month planning session I am going to host as one of my monthly Virtual Hacks. This is a 60 minute virtual planning session I host on zoom, using many of the templates I have created for the Coaching Business Builder. If you don’t have a copy of the book, pick up one. I also provide group members with digital copies of the relevant tools from the book. This one-hour session, and materials, costs $39 US
Click here to register and reserve your spot.

It’s Sunday and time for a new Teams365 video. This one brings to life one of the back to work videos – Teams365 #960. Take note of these four things as you get back to work this fall. Grab your planner, and enjoy!

​What’s going to help you be at the top of your game this fall?

Best,
Jennifer

It’s Sunday and time to shift our reading attention to video. This week I am pleased to take us back to a few of the past videos I have created around getting back to work which brings to life blog post #613: Creating Healthy Routines.

Here's another short video to watch with a pen or table in hand- Teams365 #1363:Fall planning and reflection. View it here.

Last year's #Flashback Friday which showcased several back to work routines to keep an eye on. Read Teams365 #1357 here.

What's important for you to notice as  you move forward right now?

Enjoy!
​Jennifer

It’s mid-way through August which is always an interesting month. For some, it’s the last gasp of summer and families are hitting the road, and offices are half open. In some other areas, it’s back to work.

I thought it would be fitting to dedicate today’s blog post to a mid-month systems check. These are all things you might consider doing, and also sharing, with your team.

This includes:

• One-on-ones and coaching conversations – when was the last time you checked in with each team member?
• Team meetings – when was the last time you held a team meeting? What’s scheduled? What’s working with team meetings? What changes are needed?
• Financials - Are all expenses and invoices complete? If budget season is around the corner, what do you want to note, or pull together?
• Reporting - What is the status of reporting? What’s due? What’s over-due? What do you need to review?
• Projects - Where are projects in terms of completion? Resourcing? Impact? Results? Stakeholder engagement?
• Communication -  What items need to be communicated?
• Peer relationships – when was the last time you spent time with your peers? What do you want to schedule?
• Relationships with your boss – when did you last spend time meeting, and updating, your boss? Are you in alignment around projects and priorities for the rest of the year? What do they need from you? What do you need from them? What does the team need?
• Administrative – What administrative systems are working? What’s not? What needs attention?
• Personal Productivity and time management – What do you need to DO? DEFER? DELEGATE? DUMP?
  

What other systems, or areas, could use attention?

Enjoy this mid-month stock-taking!
Jennifer

It’s Friday and a great day to get things done! Here’s what I wrote a few years ago now on Tips for Conquering Procrastination in Teams365 489: Read it here.

“It is the start of a new work week and chances are, there may be one or two tasks on your list that you really, really don't want to do. Procrastination is a challenge for many professionals along the way. Today's post points you to some useful resources if you find yourself in the spot of procrastinating around an important task."

Here are a couple of different articles and other posts to refer to:
Business Town.com's Five Reasons We Procrastinate
Jim Selman's Huffington Post article on Why Do We Procrastinate?
And finally a really interesting article from the App developers of Unstuck. You can read their 9 tips for how to stop procrastinating here.

Consider these strategies:
Set a timer for 15 minutes and just get going - It is sometimes hard to get in the flow with tasks and just like in moving through writers block setting a timer and getting into action for 15 minutes may be  the start of creating some momentum and movement around a task.

Create accountability partners: When we publicly commit to task completion with another person, it can up the ante on getting things done. Mastermind groups are often popular for this reason.

Chunk things down- sometimes we put off tasks when they feel too big or overwhelming. Chunking things down in to smaller pieces can help to make things feel more manageable.

Tackle it first in the day or when you are at your best: Many of us have times of day when we are more productive, clearer and more focused. It can be useful to consider tacking those tasks at the times when you are at your best.

What other tips do you have for getting things done when you are procrastinating?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Taking time in this last full month of summer for renewal and mindfulness can go a long way. Whether you have an extended long weekend or a full week off, renewal and mindfulness are important.

What renewal opportunities have you taken this summer? Is there an opportunity to fit in one more renewal burst?

The topic of renewal means many different things to different people. In my work as a coach, this is typically an area we explore together. For some clients it might mean – digitally detoxing – intentionally taking time offline to renew. For others it may mean getting out of the city and spending time in the country or more rural areas. For yet others it can include taking time to purge their own resources.

In today’s hyper-connected world, there may be some initial backlash and discomfort from slowing down…until you get a chance to ease into it. This is what I call the “Decompression” phase, something I experience every summer as I shift my office, and work, from Toronto to the beauty, and more laid-back pace, of Muskoka. This year I’ve been very conscious of the layers of decompression which have occurred. Sometimes uncomfortable, I have found myself more focused, relaxed and productive than I have been for years.

What does renewal mean for you?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations |  Coaching Team Leaders  
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) 
Coaches - check out my new Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner. Now available.
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

This week's Teams365 video addresses the topic of delegation. In today's world of "doing more with less" leaders and team members can benefit from the skill of delegation.  What do you want to delegate? What will make it successful?

Today's post brings to life the 2015 Teams365 post #391 on Delegation.

Be sure to check out other Teams365 videos at our YouTube Channel.

Enjoy!
Jennifer