As I go to write this post it’s a bit bittersweet. I’m sure many of you are feeling the same. The 2010s were a great time – personally and professionally.

I’m excited to step into a new decade and leave a few things behind, as well as carry forward many of the lessons learned of the last decade. While my memories of moving from 2009 to 2010 aren’t as clear, I vividly remember the eve of Y2K. Twenty years ago, as a much younger professional I was based in South America. My original four months in a country had turned into almost seven years at that point. I remember wondering what the new decade would bring. As it turned out amazing things – 3 years as a Manager with the UN, and then transitioning into establishing Potentials Realized in 2004.

What are you hopeful for?

As we step into 2020 as a business, we’ll be continuing our focus on providing teams and leaders with exceptional learning experiences grounded in coaching, mentoring and conversations. Our focus on remote work will also continue to expand with:

• The Annual Remote Pathways Lab meeting on Fridays during the 2nd and 4th week of the month.
• Team Days being custom designed for remote teams – focusing on strengths-based work, team effectiveness, clarifying result and boosting connections.
• In-person team days focusing on strengths-based work and team effectiveness.
• Our Teams365 series of programming – delivered as virtual modules.
• On-demand learning – short, video-based primer courses – Feedback and Team Effectiveness available.
• Support to coaches throught the 60 Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator which starts on January 1st 2020. Coaches - hope you'll join us!

Thank you for visiting and spending time here at the blog. Stay tuned for some exciting changes for 2020 writing.

Wishing you an amazing start to the new decade!
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, 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.

Coaches - Don't forget we start the 60 Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator January 1st - I hope you'll join us for this blended -live and on-demand - program.

As we go to wrap up the year, I wanted to take this opportunity to stay thanks for reading. When I began this experiment in hosting a daily blog ack on January 1st, 2014 I thought that it would run for perhaps one or two years. Here we are, six years later.
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There have been several themes that have remained the same throughout my six years of writing here – the focus on teams, leadership and also the remote space. Those working in the remote space have mushroomed in recent years, and I hope that those of you who work remote continue to find this a useful resource.

The Teams365 series of programming has expanded widely in the last six years as well – from what used to be in-person training deliveries, today, most of the Teams365 work is delivered virtually to groups ad teams across industries. There are also on-demand programs (including a focus on feedback, and teamwork essentials) which you can take at your own pace.

The Teams365 brand has been joined by the Remote Pathways Podcast a short while ago. Highlighting the adventures of the Digital Dozen I’ll be exploring twelve different pathways to remote work today. I’m super excited to be co-hosting it with colleague Michelle Mullins, who also provides coaching and training support for remote professionals.

One of the Remote Pathways offerings you may want to explore in the new year includes our Team Days, geared for remote teams. Held virtually, these are a half-day to one-day programs delivered on Zoom for teams. Most teams call in from their usual location – and are amazed at how connected they become over the course of the day, and how clear they get in terms of the results they are all working towards. I hope that in 2020 we can provide your organization with Team Day support for your remote teams. Please contact me to set up a time to connect.
 
This year brought another 365 days of posts. Here’s where we went this year in year 6 of the blog:

• January - Productivity
• February - Collaboration and Relationships
• March - Virtual Team Culture
• April - Teamwork and Team Essentials
• May - Teamwork in Uncertainty
• June - Team Tune Up, Systems Check, Feedback and Performance, Navigating Disruption
• July - Digital Detox, Work-Life, Focus, Simplification, Habits and Creativity
• August - Teamwork foundations, Remote Work
• September - Remote Work Myths and Working Tips
• October - Remote Team Success, and Team Tips
• November - Focus, Planning, The Last Mile
• December - Working Across Uncertainty

 
Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, 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.

Coaches - Join me January 1st as we kick off the 60 Day Acclerator of the Coaching Business Builder. 60 days of focused action on your coaching business.

As an author and consultant, I often work with organizations and teams around the topic of digital transformation. As someone who has usually worked as an early adopter with technology, sometimes out of geographic necessity, digital transformation is an extension of the work I’ve been doing for several decades now.

You can hear more about the various pathways that bring us into remote and digital work at the new podcast I am hosting with colleague Michelle Mullins. Together we are exploring the people, pathways and processes that make up the remote workspace.

Digital transformation has been one part of this equation. From large banks, to healthcare, to education, the way we are connecting, conversing and doing our work is essential.

Many rural areas now have access to medical advisors that would not have been possible years ago. I remember vividly being part of some epiphany moments and paradigm shifters in 1998 (yes, that’s 1998) with a community deep in the interior of South America. A funding grant from the Canadian International Development Agency helped to fund solar panels, a satellite connection and special laptops to link that community with educational materials. When I arrived at the community to meet with my team who had been based there doing related work in primary health and infrastructure rehab, I was struck (as was often the case) with the very limited resources available for students. One notebook each, a small pencil and bare bookshelves. This pilot project was a bit of a game changer for that community, opening up the doorways to education for those children.

While not every project like this is a success, they radically change the paradigm of how we work, what’s available and then what’s possible.

This is also what’s happening in the era of digital transformation.

While we may not be comfortable in letting go of “how we’ve always done things” it’s important that we also look at the questions of:

• What can we do now?
• What’s now possible?
• What new connections are there?

VUCA, digital transformation, and AI (all 3 separate things) are showing up in some workplaces at the same time. IT can be overwhelming for some and spark creativity for others.

Providing a space for people to connect and share their insights in a way where they can be heard.

As a team, over time, be sure to build in time to explore additional questions around:

• What changes do we need?
• What can be evolved? Repurposed?
• What new things do we need to create?
• What do we need to stop doing?
• What conversations are important for you to have as a team? What space and time do you need to earmark so these conversations are taking place?

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, 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.

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip focuses on “Embracing Your Differences”. When we work in the remote space, it’s likely that our conversations are going to take us to a place that may be more diverse and varied than if we were working face-to-face. Time zone differences, role differences, industry differences, geographic and cultural differences, provide the opportunity to learn more about the wider world, and also ourselves.
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As someone whose career over the last three decades has spanned countries, cultures and industries (along with the face-to-face and virtual worlds), one thing that is important in creating effective virtual conversations is to “embrace your differences”.

Part of a great virtual conversation is that there is sufficient trust and connection amongst group members. Without this it’s likely that we are all going to disengage. In a virtual conversation we want to provide opportunities for individuals to both celebrate and honor the differences that exist, while also finding the common ground. While some people might think that this is a dichotomy, it really is more of a creative tension.

Practically it will involve you providing a series of different types of focus:

• A focus on self, and a focus on the group
• A focus on who I am uniquely as a group member, and a focus on what’s common with other group members

When we help group members explore these various layers, they are able to lean into the conversation with each other, creating more trust and connection.

Chapter 7 of Effective Virtual Conversations provides a variety of instructions on different types of exercises you might incorporate across your virtual calls. Most can be adapted to have a focus on these areas for exploration.

Best, 
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, 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.

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip brings us to #122 in the series. You can read others here.

This week’s tip also takes us into a Remote Team Tip. As someone who has spent the majority of my career working either leading remote teams, or supporting remote teams, I always know the importance of connecting people. As I often say in the remote space “Remote does not equal disconnected”. While it may seem that people are far away, business is still done via relationships and we need to take time to proactively build relationships. Trust and connection are still key in this work.

Remote team practices are at the heart of communication and relationships. Team practices might mean a consistent Monday morning huddle or a virtual working session every last Thursday afternoon of the month.

What are the practices you have evolved as a team?

What helps you be successful?
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What else do you think is important to take note of?
 
Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, 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.

It’s Monday which means that it’s time for another Effective Virtual Conversations tip. This week’s tip is a remote team tip. 

A 2018 survey carried out by Indeed.ca found that 65% of employers surveyed found that their employees were more productive when working remote. While many employees want to work remote for flexibility reasons (less commute time, more focused break, being able to navigate caretaking responsibilities), some remote workers may be concerned that they are less visible.

I’ve been enjoying working and writing more in this topic area of remote work and if you listen to podcasts, I would invite you to connect in to the new Remote Pathways Podcast I am co-hosting with Michelle Mullins.

In the remote space, consistency is key. When we see things through micro-windows (i.e. the short amount of time we are on the screen) and given the vast balance of time spent working individually and alone, CONSISTENCY can take on a new level of importance.

On a remote team level, consistency can include a focus on consistency as it relates to meetings, process, procedures, systems, and communication.

Consider:

• Meetings - How often are you meeting as a team? It can be beneficial to get in the habit of holding meetings consistently. For example, every Tuesday morning at 9 am ET. For those on the west coast it may mean an earlier start time, but people can start to plan their day and schedule around this. Booking in advance can help to anchor and protect those time windows.
• Process and systems - Consistency is key for a remote team, spread across multiple levels. Investing time in clear processes and systems ensure a consistent output and standardization across a team. We know that it’s important for team members to have shared goals and performance measures. What do you need to look at as it relates to creating consistency around process?
• Procedures - Related to process, there may be procedures which need tightening up, as the team grows and expands. Consider reporting and sharing of information. What are the things that need to be looked at?

Communication is most likely the one that can benefit from the enhanced focus. Consistently communicating messages that are important is key, especially when team members may have different preferences in terms of how they connect in. What do you notice about communication needs and preferences?

All the best,
​Jennifer

​​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, 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.

Here we are again at the end of another week. This week’s focus has been on FOCUS and starting to consider year-end activities. If you didn’t catch all the blog posts this week, here’s a chance to catch up.

Take a look back at the following blog posts:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt around “I want to let go of….”
• Friday’s Flashback on Planning a Virtual Co-working Session (Teams365 1733)
• Thursday’s Team Building Tip with questions to consider around results.
• Wednesday’s Focus on planning and scheduling the last one-on-ones of the year
• Tuesday’s Focus on Creating FOCUS in the Last Mile of the Year
• Monday’s focus on Effective Virtual Conversations Tip: Skill of Design in the Virtual Space (part 3)

Enjoy your review!
​
Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip takes into Part 3 of Design. Over the past few weeks we’ve covered additional posts around Design in EVC Tip 117 and EVC Tip 116.
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Virtual Facilitation and Virtual Learning have become the norm and “go to” in recent years. Whether we are expanding our skill base via a webinar, or whether we are attending a MOOC to learn the latest in a field of study, leveraging virtual learning opportunities is key.

As a provider of virtual learning services for the last fifteen years and having been involved with leading virtual learning as a leader, there are several things that we can do to enhance the learning involved. This is the focus of my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations, and is also the focus of a five week virtual train-the-trainer I lead called Virtual Facilitation Essentials.

You can also read through posts related to Effective Virtual Conversations in my regular Monday series.

To simplify (key in the remote space), five things that we can do consistently in our Design, include:

#1 - Consider and build in regular and frequent engagement touch points. We’ve all been on calls where the facilitator drones on and on in monotone. We know that creating frequent engagement touchpoints for people to engage with others in the virtual space can boost retention and interest. Different engagement touchpoints could involve inviting learners to:

• Comment via chat
• Annotate on the screen
• Reflect or comment on a question
• Input via a poll

While many of us (educators/facilitators/trainers) used to aim for engagement every 7-10 minutes in the in-person realm, in the virtual space this pace may be even more frequent.
 
# 2 – Create reflective pauses for people to write, and/or note what they are learning. Are you leaving a few minutes for people to note what actions are they going to take? How they are going to apply their learning?

The experiential learning model is grounded in exploring the WHAT? SO WHAT? NOW WHAT? Of a topic. In a virtual session, how are you helping your learners explore all three of these layers?

WHAT – What is this topic all about?

SO WHAT – What is important about this for you? What is the connection for you with this topic?

NOW WHAT – Now what are you going to do?

We’ve all been on calls where there was no time to note what application opportunities there are, and what next steps can be taken. Consider building in reflective pauses to deepen the learning.

#3 – Invite people to share/articulate their thoughts. Many of us create learning via speaking and/or sharing. What opportunities can you build in to create a sharing of information and learning? This might include using a breakout and having people connect with one or two other peers, going around and hearing from each person, and/or using chat or annotation to share their thoughts.

What can you build into your call, or after your call?

#4 – Consider virtual learning in its entirety. While in the “in person realm” it’s often possible to do everything in the room, virtually we may want to consider how to break up the learning process with structured activities coming before and after the learning. I commonly call these “pre-work” and “field work”. Check out an earlier blog post I did on different examples of these at my Group Coaching Ins and Outs blog: Six Ideas for Field work in your next coaching engagement.

Questions to consider:

• What are the different touchpoints people engage in as part of your virtual learning?
• What should they do, read or listen to, before the experience?
• What time should they build in afterwards to focus on application?
• What else is important to note with your programming?

All the best,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Recent books include: Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​

This week’s Team Building Tip is a systems check. Systems are key in the remote and virtual workspace. They are the things that keep us doing things in a consistent manner, creating a seamless experience for our team members and customers. Consider a team that is spread across Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Paris and Shanghai. We want to ensure that a customer will have a similar experience across the different areas.

In my PlanDoTrack Workbook Planner and the Coaching Business Builder Workbook Planner, I explore five systems which can help remote workers and solopreneurs.

They are:

1. Financial systems - Invoicing, Accounts Payable, Cash Flow, Accounts Receivable etc
2. Client systems - Welcome Kits, other supports
3. Onboarding systems - Questionnaires, Agreements, Welcome Letters
4. Marketing - Websites, Social Media Feeds, Frequently Asked Questions
5. Content - Do you know what you have created? Do you have an accessible listing of what there is?
6. Sales - What do you notice about sales? What can generate more? What follow-up do you have with those you have sold to?

 

• What is the current state of these five areas? What could use attention?
• What systems do you as a team have in place? What needs focus?
• What new systems could benefit the team?

All the best,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​

This week has had some very meaty blog posts. Each Sunday I use this as an opportunity for you to take a look back at the blog posts you might have missed. Here’s what I covered:

• Saturday – This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt around Trust
• Friday – Welcome to November and Monthly Review
• Thursday – Team Building Tip asking “What is the cost of not….”
• Wednesday – Focus on a Remote Team Toolkit
• Tuesday – Focus on Getting Started with Remote Work
• Monday – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #117 focus on Design Tips for more Effective Virtual Conversations

What else do you want to make sure you accomplish this Sunday?

Enjoy your weekend,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​