​It’s Thursday which means that it’s time for another Team Building Tip. This week’s question gets you thinking about where you were as a team a year ago, and where you are now.
Think about what you were doing this time last year. 
What was the context?
What were you focusing on?
Now, consider where you are. What projects have you completed? How is your work different? What makes it feel different?

We don't always stop to pause and look at what we've done - what we have achieved and what we have learned. This is an important process for teams. If we don't stop and pause along the way we may not tap into the learning available. Running without pause is also not sustainable and can lead to burnout.

What pauses are you creating in your work right now for the team to stop and look at impact?  How can you do more of what is giving you impact?

Enjoy!
​Jennifer

This month’s focus is on building relationships. One type of team which often does not get attention is virtual teams. Today’s post goes into 5 ideas you might incorporate around boosting your virtual team. This could include some of the following activities:

1. Creating a set of peer partners who you are paired with for the course of a year. Peer partners may be invited to connect on a regular basis – i.e. quarterly to share information and resources and generally share best practices.
2. Hosting co-working sessions.
3. Providing the opportunity for part of a quarterly or regular team meeting to focus in on having each person share what they are working on and/or what their portfolio is all about.
4. Hosting a weekly or bi-weekly team huddle to update each other on what you are focusing on. Huddles are generally short and quick in nature (15-30 minutes). Done regularly they benefit from bringing the team together on a regular basis to share their focus, build connection and notice interplay.
5. Another option is to have people share a photo or resource with each other every month via the team’s communication channel – this could include a series of threads in Slack or part of your Leaning Management System or a Community Portal like Mighty Networks.

What are the activities and events which will benefit your team right now?

You might also be interested in checking out the January 2019 Effective Virtual Conversations call I hosted where I cover 5 Virtual Team Builders.

Wishing you the best,
​Jennifer

This week’s Team Building Tip #221 is “To Magnify things 10x we can….”.

Magnifying things that are currently working well, and augmenting them, is a great way to accelerate business, and/or augment what you are already doing. When things are working well, it can be important to continue doing what you are doing but doing more of it or magnifying it in different ways. This can be particularly important as it relates to marketing and/or getting your message out.
​
What can magnifying something 10x look like?

1. Increase the frequency of doing something – if you do it monthly – consider offering it/posting it 3 x a week.
2. Team up with someone else to expand your reach, or partner with a whole collection of people.
3. Consider what other platforms you can leverage to expand your reach. If something only goes out to your mailing list, could this be posted on your other social feeds – FB, LinkedIn. Does your mailing list sign up have a call to action?
4. Apply the pareto principle to determine what is really important and is giving you value and then to strategically focus on that area only.

Linked with this week’s post around the 3 Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, magnification may only mean small tweaks, building onto what you already have so that you are not starting from scratch.

What can you do to magnify things?

Best,
Jennifer

We are at Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #75 which is entitled “Size Matters”. In the virtual space, size has a significant impact on engagement, interactivity and how much the conversation is conversation.
I like to say that in the virtual space numbers become exponential. Adding one person is not just adding one person on, it’s adding on a whole set of layers – different styles, different perspectives, different priorities and different contexts. This can make larger groups especially challenging in the virtual space.
Here’s what I wrote in Effective Virtual Conversations,
​
“Size Matters!
Less is more. Small is beautiful. Whichever cliché appeals to you, the fact is that group size in the virtual realm does not always have to be large. Again, think back to the level of engagement and interaction you want to foster. In developing trust and connection, smaller is definitely better—so if you are a coach reading this book, aim to create your virtual groups on the smaller side. As I mentioned previously, optimum group size from my experience has been around 4-8 members for virtual groups. While we can support more than that on a call, the more voices we have in the room, the more exponential the differences. We’re not just adding one person—we’re adding a whole new web of relationships.

This has been reinforced by research done by Richard Hackman—mentioned by Keith Ferrazzi in his article “Getting Virtual Teams Right.” Hackman found that it only takes 10 conversations for every person on a team of five to touch base with everyone else, but when the number of team members increases to 13, the number of conversations necessary jumps to 78![i]”
(Excerpt: Effective Virtual Conversations, 2017, Jennifer Britton, All Rights Reserved)

What do you know about size in the groups and teams you work in? What is the optimum size for the teams you work with?

What happens when you add in one more team member, or lose a team member?

Best wishes,
Jennifer


[i] http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a136398.pdf

The final team skill we are going to explore is the skill of influence. This is a core skill for remote professionals of all kinds today. Given that we are working across a web of relationships – upwards, downwards, and sideways – team members will need to develop skills in this area.
​
When thinking about the skill of influence, it can be useful to consider:

• What are the relationships I am in that require I use the skill of influence? (This may be where you do not have a direct reporting relationship – think peers, other technical experts, other team members)
• What is the end result I am aiming for around the specific project/initiative?
• What is the common ground you are exploring?
• What is important about the end result for the other person?
• What could a win-win look like?
• What are the key areas you are considering?
• The skill of influence is critical for remote workers today. What would help you acquire further skills in this area?

​
Best wishes,
Jennifer

​This month we have been exploring teamwork skills, taking a look at a range of them. One skillset which is critical for remote teams is that of change management. In supporting team members through ongoing change, it can be very stressful. It may be useful as a team, and as individuals, to explore questions such as:

• What is your natural tendency to approach change?
• How quickly do you approach change?
• What do you find problematic, or challenging, as it relates to change?

We often think it’s enough to think about and speak about the changes required. In fact, what is important is also to consider what changes are required as you move forward and sustain the changes over time. This might involve new rewards, new habits and  new accountability structures. What are the things that will support the changes you are going through as a team? What are the requirements you have to evolve?

For more on the topic of change management check out these past Teams365 posts. 

Best wishes,
Jennifer

This time of year can be a transition for many – with some team members leaving, and others coming on board. How intentional are you with your onboarding of new virtual team members? What do you do? Do you pair people up with  a buddy? Do you create a way for people to shadow others virtually, to get a sense of how things are done on the team. Onboarding and orientation can be a hit or miss for many organizations and teams. Often, it is left up to the leader to make sure new members are welcomed and starting their job off on the right foot. In the virtual space, where a team member may start weeks or even months before they have contact with the main office, providing them with a structured process at the start of their involvement with the team is important.
 
While this list is no means comprehensive, some questions new virtual team members may have, and areas you will want to cover are:

Team Issues:
What is the culture of the team? Remember, how are things done around here.
What are the team priorities?
Who is on the team? What are their strengths?
What could you reach out to them for?
What else should the new team member know about the team and its focus?
 
The new team members’ role
What are the roles and responsibilities of the new team member’s role?
What key priorities and deadlines are there?
Who will they need to reach out to?
What feedback loops are there?
What is expected in terms of performance?
 
Relationship between the team leader and new team member:
 What are your expectations of me as a team member? Team leader?
How do you like to be communicated with?
What are the issues I should surface directly to you? When?
What are the things I should keep in mind in terms of reporting? Connecting with others on the team?
What issues should I call about? Email about? Use the web about?
 
Who should I reach out to around:

• How to do things?
• Technical IT issues

What other issues are important to note?
 
What have you found useful in terms of onboarding new virtual team members? Do you assign a peer partner from the team? How often do they meet? What works well? Feel free to comment below.
 
Enjoy!
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) 
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

It’s the start of a new month and this month we’ll be lasering into more team development processes. Whether you are a virtual and remote team, or an intact team rubbing shoulder to shoulder, teams excel when they are able to focus on both enhancing their RESULTS and boosting their RELATIONSHIPS. If this is your first time to the Teams365 blog, welcome! Do check out past posts I’ve written over the years on Team Development.
 
Today’s post zooms into the area of a pulse check for virtual and remote teams. While this can apply to all teams, there are some specifics for virtual and remote teams here.
 
Questions to consider as a virtual team:
As we look across the team:

• What have been our major successes this year?
• What’s been working well?
• What systems have helped us do our best work?
• What has helped us keep aligned?
• What information have team members benefited from?
• What communication strategies are keeping us updated?
• What ways are we supporting each other – through skills, sharing of information etc?
• Who else needs to be looped in?

 
On a scale of 1-10, how would we rate our focus on results?

​What’s working?
What’s not?
 
On a scale of 1-10, how would we rate our focus on relationships?
What’s working?
What’s not?
 
What is needed to do your best work going forwards?
 
Have a great week!
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) 
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

One of the skills which is important to develop in the virtual world today is empathy. One of the challenges is that we don't get to see beyond the screen.  What are some ways we can be building more empathy and understanding with other virtual team members?

​What comes to mind in terms of ways you can boost more connection and understanding amongst team members?

​Empathy is a skill set critical for teamwork and leadership. In fact I probably coud do a series of post on this topic.  In today's post I want to zoom into the question of "what are some practical ways to build more empathy across virtual teams, while also boosting connection". 

​There have been some great writings by others on the topic of empathy. Consider these articles - Empathy in Leadership - 10 Reasons Why It Matters by Tanveer Naseer. Read it here.
​Matthew Taylor's Empathy in Leadership: Coaching Leaders to Manage Their Stories. Read it here.
Center for Creative Leadership: Empathy in the Workplace. Find this  here.

​As virtual teams, what are some ways we can build our skills in empathy while building connection:

​1. Provide opportunities for team members to get to know each other - online and offline. While some virtual teams will never meet, building in time for "getting to know" each other is critical. This could entail dedicating some time to sharing "What's outside your window" or"on your desk" as I describe in Chapter 7 of my new book Effective Virtual Conversations.

​2. Create formal learning partnerships with others on the team. Many virtual teams benefit from having peer partners to meet with on a regular basis. This helps us to learn more about each other, what projects we are working on. As we listen and learn more trust, connection and understanding is created.

​3. Be present, and listen. We continue to see how important the ability to focus on virtual conversations is. Nothing will destroy trust and connection faster than hearing other person on the end of the phone or streaming typing away -doing an email while you are speaking together. What will it take to be present, focus, and deeply listen in your virtual conversations?

​4. Listen for the deeper layers - typically in listening we may be staying at the surface. Hearing with one ear, and thinking about what we are going to say back to the other person. In the deeper listening needed by virtual teams today, listen to what the person is saying. Notice the pace, pitch of the conversation. Notice what is the emotion behind the words? What is being said? 
​
​5. Take time to share more about your world, your work, your priorities. An important part of empathy is understanding. It's a two way street - being open to share, and being receptive to listening. how much are you sharing about your world, your work and your priorities?

​There are multiple ways be can be focusing on the skills of empathy as we build connection on teams. What are some approaches you as a team want to focus on?

​With best wishes,
Jennifer

​

Back on September 20th I started a series of posts that took us through the fall - 20 Focus Areas for Virtual and Remote Teams, and activities you might consider using with your teams.

From vision work, to developing a team charter, building relationships and EI, to making matrix management work, I shared different activities you might bring into your next team meeting, as well as questions which might frame your next team conversation.

Over the last three months I've covered activities in these areas:

• ​Who are we as a team? Check out Teams #1359: Who are we as a team?
  
• Getting to know each other - team individuals
• What's our vision?
• Creating a team charter or team agreements
  
• Team Roles
  
• Goals - immediate work planning for the next month/quarter. Check out Teams365 #1380 on Goals.
  
• Identifying Strategic Goals. Check out Teams365 #1386 around working with strategic goals.
  
• Knowing our strengths (i.e. StrengthsFinder)
• Knowing our styles (DiSC ) - this can impact communication, decision making
• Difficult Conversations. Check out Teams365 #1394:
  
• Conflict Management
• Providing Feedback to Each Other
  
• Other performance management issues
  
• Time Management and Prioritizing
• Matrix Management. Check out Teams365 #1421 around Matrix Management.
  
• Work-life
• Intercultural skills and knowledge
• Project Management
• Emotional Intelligence
  
• Relationship Building
  

Check out all of the 20 Virtual and Remote Team Activities here.

As a former team leader myself I know that many times we are left with the task of developing our team members, and the 2016 Culture Wizard Survey found, only 22% of virtual teams receive any development support. Read their survey here. Are you one of those 22%?

Mid-summer my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, was released and it's started making its way into the hands of team leaders all over the world. Chapter 7 is dedicated to different activities you can use with teams. Please check those out.

During November I was able to draft the manuscript of another new book, this one which will be for virtual and remote team leaders, addressing the topic of skills, competencies and practices. It will also include 20 different tools for team leaders and their teams. Keep your eyes open for this new book from me in mid to late 2018!

I've highlighted a number of the activity posts here and hope that you will check out the posts, to build your baseline. Enjoy and let us know which ones you have tried.

Best wishes,
Jennifer