Remote teamwork is here to stay for a little longer in many organizations. While team development may not be the first thing on everyone’s mind, it’s likely that teams will require some attention in the upcoming months. Research continues to indicate that teams of all kinds need both a focus on results as well as relationships.

Several months ago, in early March, before the pandemic hit North America, I released a Remote Working Whitepaper. In it, I explored 7 Different types of Remote Enablers, things that help us do better work in the remote space. While many have become experts in remote work in recent months, this has been the landscape I’ve led teams, programs and businesses in for almost 30 years.

A few weeks ago, I launched a new on-demand program entitled “Remote Team Builders” which covers a couple of activities in eight different areas which remote teams can benefit from. The areas I cover in the nine-part program are:

Module 1 – Remote Team Enablers
What helps remote teams thrive? I dig more deeply into what I call the 7 Cs or the Remote Team Enablers.

Module 2 – Openers for Remote Team Building – Two Activities
We remember the start and end of things. Having a strong start to a virtual meeting is key, signalling that this is not just going to be “Any call”…

Module 3 – Creating Connection in Remote Teams
What can you do to quickly connect remote teams? Check out these two activities and think about others you might have at your disposal.

Module 4 – Working with Goals – 2 Frameworks
Goals are key to alignment in the remote space. Listen and watch the short video I share about creating SMART-E Goals.

Module 5 – Strengths and Remote Teams – 3 Activities
What are the strengths your team members bring to the table? How are you harnessing these? What blind spots might they be creating?
Don’t know what yours are and want to learn more? Contact me to discs a Remote Team Day and/or some 1-1- coaching for yourself.  You can reach out by phone to 416-996-8326

Module 6 – Collaboration in the Remote Space – 2 Exercises
Collaboration is key in the remote workspace. What are some of the essential ingredients for collaboration? Check this out.

Module 7 – Styles – 2 Areas to Explore
What are the different preferences of those on the tam? What do you know about how others like to communicate, make decisions, and what they prioritize? Being clear on this is critical.

Module 8 – Closers in the Remote Space – 2 Exercises
What are the different was you want to create a solid ending to a call? What will support ACTION and RETENTION after the call? Check out these two closers in the remote space.

Module 9 – Now What? Putting This into Practice in Your Work!
What are the areas your teams might benefit from? If you’d like to explore these eight areas more in depth, check out the Remote Team Builders on-demand course. It’s normally $129 US and save $32 by using the code TEAMS365 until July 15th. 
​
Enjoy the focus!

With best wishes,
Jennifer

It’s the start of another week and this week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #152 is all about PAUSE. Where could you benefit from taking a bit more of a pause – figuratively and literally?

One of the challenges professionals have faced this year has been the lack of pause in their work. For many, shifting to the virtual and remote space involved a tsunami of flurry. For those of us who already worked in the remote space it also meant a flurry of people using the same technologies and often access points we do.

Many have complained about Zoom fatigue and how exhausting virtual calls can be. One reason may be that leaders of calls don’t always leave in a pause during their calls. Consider how you might incorporate one of these pauses in an upcoming call –

• Giving people 2 minutes to capture and schedule their next steps after a call
• Providing group members with the opportunity to pause and have a 5-10-minute conversation with others
• Providing people with a quick opener or energizer at the start of the call, geared to get them thinking about what their own connection is to the issue. Note, this will likely lead to a better call quality overall!
• Having a short co-working session with colleagues to boost focus and attention

What else might you be able to do to boost your time in having a pause?

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

Check out our Digital Resources to support you in your work and conversations 
​

Welcome back to another Sunday in Review.

We’ve just passed the Summer Equinox, and I had indicated that many would want to take some time this weekend to note your goals and focus areas for the next 3 months of summer (or winter – if you are in the Southern Hemisphere).

Here are some questions to get you thinking about this season:

1. What are 3-5 key priorities for the next 90 days?
2. What do you want to do consistently for the next 90 days?
3. Is there one habit or routine you want to focus on?
4. What relationships do you want to cultivate?
5. What projects are in focus this season?
6. What do you want to be saying YES to? What do you want to be saying NO to?
7. If you track metrics, note your metrics today (sales, outreach, social, achievements) and compare them to 90 days ago, as well as think about where you want them to be in another 90 days.
8. What else is important to note?

This week we’ve taken a look at a lot of topics which are important and might warrant some more reflection or “percolation time”. Our posts this week were:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt around “I love”…
• Friday’s Flashback Friday post around Five Focus Areas for Team Leaders: Teams365 #2213
• Thursday’s post around “What needs more percolation time”?
• Wednesday’s posts about Inclusivity in virtual meetings – bringing all voices into the virtual room
• Tuesday’s post – Remote Teamwork – Back to the Basics – Communication – What’s important to note? What needs more consistency? What’s becoming NOISE?
• Monday’s post around TRACK IT!

Enjoy the focus!
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 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, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

Inclusivity in the virtual space is an essential area to explore in virtual meeting spaces. What are we doing to ensure that we are bringing all voices into the room?

From time zone differences, to language differences, different technical backgrounds, and geographic differences, working in the virtual space often expands the diversity of those in the room. It’s not uncommon for most virtual conversations to vary on these different areas, along with many more – gender, race, sexual orientation, social identity, as well as the different thinking and learning styles, and ways we interact with the world.

For example, some of us need more time for reflection that others. Some of us may be learning by doing (kinesthetic) while others learn by hearing (auditory) or seeing (visual).

As a leader, facilitator or virtual host, what are you doing to ensure that you are incorporating a variety of techniques to bring all different voices in the room?

Consider these tips:

• Mix it up to ensure that you are incorporating approaches for different learning styles. For those that like visuals and learn that way, what images (versus text) can you incorporate? Might you include a video?
• For those that have a kinesthetic preference, what can you do to make the call more interactive and physically active? Can you incorporate annotation? What can you do to ensure that there might be some movement (safely!)?
• For those that learn auditorily (by listening), what can you do to incorporate more opportunities for virtual breakouts, dialogue and small group sharing?

Another dynamic you will encounter is those who are possibly dialing in by phone, and those on the web that can see each other. Consider what you are doing to speak to group members from both locations. If people cannot see others (i.e. dialing in by phone), I will usually get them to go first, to connect them in more quickly.

Geographically, what’s important to consider? Are you moving West to East, East to West, South to North, and North to South?

If group members on the call speak different first languages, what can you do to incorporate more visuals, and/or written prompts so people who have stronger reading ability can follow that rather than spoken words?

What else is important to note?

Enjoy!
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 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, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

Each week I’m going to be sharing a new remote team basics post. Given that at a lot of teams will not be returning to a full in-person team experience, it can be important to return to the basics of remote teamwork. Today we explore teamwork skills.

In the paradigm shift of remote leadership, all team leaders need to develop capacity with leadership skills such as relationship building, communication, influence, decision making and prioritization. When our work needs to be managed by ourselves and we can’t physically get together, these core skills are really important.

As I wrote back in February in the Remote Working Whitepaper, in addition to these teamwork skills, we also want to make sure we foster the 7 Remote Enablers™, what I also term the 7 Cs to Remote Work™ - Communication, Clarity, Connection, Culture, Consistency, Community and Collaboration.

What are you doing to build these and foster these throughout your teamwork, processes and practices?

Today let’s explore one of the foundational teamwork skills: COMMUNICATION.
Communication in the remote space does illustrate two fundamental principles in remote work those being “things get magnified in the remote space” and “things can be more complex”.

In terms of things being more complex, communication in the remote space happens along many different channels – slack, IM, text, phone, Voxxer, dashboards, email, social channels. It can be dizzying, and exhausting, if boundaries aren’t incorporated. What are the expectations regarding how many channels communication can occur on? How quickly do you need to respond? When are you “on” and when are you off?

Each of us is also likely to have a preference in terms of what we like as our primary and secondary channels, also creating more complexity.

To what level of detail do people on the team require information? High Level? Granular? Big picture? Regardless of level, be sure to connect people into the WHY and what’s important.

To the point of things getting magnified, what do you notice about what does get communicated? What does not? And what becomes noise, when it’s being overly communicated?

Consistency is key around communication, so consider how you are being consistent with core messaging?

As you consider communication this week, what’s important to notice?
​
Enjoy the conversation,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 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, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

As most teams move into an extended working relationship virtually, making sure that you are regularly focusing on trust and connection in the team is paramount. Without it, it’s likely that teams will not be able to get the traction that they really need.

The topic of building trust and connection in the virtual space is a focus of chapter 2 in my 2017 book Effective Virtual Conversations. In it I discuss the varied ways to build trust and connection virtually. Whether it’s being CONSISTENT, or communicating regularly with consistent messaging, trust and connection is key.

This was also the focus of the mid-May Community Call I co-host with my podcast partner in crime Michelle Mullins.

I’d invite you to check out the call – 30 minutes (and mark down Thursday June 4th at 7 am ET as our next call – held in zoom room 270-302-0415. Scroll ahead to about minute 15 as we talk about the duality of trust which I first shared here at the Teams365 blog in Teams365 #413 – view it here.)
 
What are the actions you want to undertake consistently to build trust and connection?
​
Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 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, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

Today’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip gets you thinking about MAKING THINGS VISIBLE. While many professionals have spent the last three months in the virtual and remote workspace, it’s likely that you might have felt bombarded by video streaming. The lexicon and language of video conferencing has shifted dramatically – from things like “zoom-bombings” (people dropping into your zoom calls), to “zoom fatigue” (the feelings of exhaustion from yet another video conferencing).

One of the downsides to digital life and work is the fact that other things aren’t as visible. Unlike being able to flip open a notebook, or look at a posting on the wall, it’s much harder to be able to “see things”.

Virtual calls also benefit from a rich array of visible cues. From incorporating graphics to video, what is going to jazz up your next presentation?

Even using the DESIGN feature in PowerPoint may shift a content rich presentation to one that has icons embedded with it.

Always be sure to respect intellectual property and copyright. Consider investing in commercial stock photography at places like istockphoto or AdobeStock or turn to the generosity of sites like Unsplash or Pixabay. Always read the fine print in terms of how you can, and cannot, use materials.

What are the things you want to draw attention to? What can you do to convert these into photographs or icons?

Is there content that could be converted across to a video? Consider using AdodeSpark to turn your jpgs to a short video with music and/or voice over or turn to Lumen5 to convert text to a short video using their AI based program.

Enjoy your focus!
​
Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 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, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

How much time are you spending in meetings these days? One of the greater pain points right now is virtual meetings. It’s a topic I covered in the April 2020 Effective Virtual Conversations newsletter. I thought it might be useful to share the 6 things you can put into practice right now to make your virtual meetings more effective:
​
Article:  Better Meetings - 6 Things You Can Do Right Now
Unfortunately, bad meetings and bad meeting etiquette have followed most of us to the virtual space. Consider these five areas to make the most of your meeting.

Consider these areas:
 
#1 - What do people ABSOLUTELY have to do before they join the meeting? Be very clear with any pre-work, input or reading/viewing that needs to happen, including a TIME FRAME. 
 
#2 - Who REALLY needs to be there? Many of us get pulled into meetings like a VORTEX. Who absolutely needs to be at the meeting to have input, make decisions etc?
 
#3 - Is a meeting REALLY what's needed? We often defer to large meetings as the best way. Could this be covered in a different way - i.e. a short video you put out if it's information, or something people can schedule and read.
 
#4 - Is it the best time of day? Consider your team and what they are juggling at the moment. The more traditional times of day (i.e. breakfast, lunch) may not necessarily be the best times for people to be meeting at the moment. 
 
#5 - Be clear with next steps and accountabilities.  Another big pitfall is not clearly confirming what agreements and accountabilities are. Have you confirmed and summarized what next steps are? Are you building in time at the start of the next meeting to check in or ensure that you have a running dashboard or reporting structure? This may be a role you want to assign in the meeting - not a note taker but a person who is noting accountabilities, action steps and who is doing it.
 
#6 - Leave time for the group to be able to note what steps they need to take and what's next for them. We've all been there - we move from one meeting to the next so, unless we leave a pause to note down next steps, accountabilities, we may forget when we next surface for a break.
 
#7 - Consider making a habit of wrapping up the meeting at the 50 minute mark or 25 minute mark so people can make it on time for their next meeting, with a little time to spare to shift gears and have a bio break.
 
For more on this topic, check out a recent article on Keeping Your Virtual Meetings on TRACK.
 
If you want to read the whole April 2020 newsletter, check it out here.

Want to receive it? Sign up here.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 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, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

As remote work moves into month four for many teams, this is now the new way of doing things. Many companies, Twitter, Shopify, Facebook and others have indicated that remote work is going to be the forever way of doing things.
We’re also stepping into a new month, and at this point in time it can be useful to be strategic around boosting your team capability. As you step into this new month think about how many meetings you want to have and what type. While meeting fatigue is a real thing, it’s important to keep conversations going. What are the conversations you want to have?

Consider these five types of team meetings:

• Status Meetings: Regular status updates are key to keeping a team aligned. In former days, reports would be circulated through the team. Today, online dashboards like Asana and Monday.com provide an opportunity for team members to keep things visible, projects moving and be continuously updated by those who may be working in different locations.
• Planning Meetings: Planning is key for success in the remote space. What type of planning are you engaging with? Consider both immediate, medium and long term planning? Given our virtual nature, what’s going to keep this visible? What’s going to be help people focus?
• Team Development Meetings: Understanding team capability and who is who on each team is critical for success. Team development meetings might be focused on rolling out:
  • A remote team day focused on incorporating one of the many assessments we offer including StrengthsFinder 2.0, or Agile EQ. Remote Team Days also help teams clarify working processes and accountabilities, as well as helps team understand and assess along the core elements of remote teamwork. Contact us to discuss your needs for a remote team session. Our sessions are offered as 2 hour, half day and full day sessions – and yes, we can do a full day online! We specialize in Everything DiSC, Agile EQ, StrengthsFinder, Strengths-based leadership.
• Creation Meetings: Creation meetings focus in on creating something real time. Sprints and hacks live in this space. Whether you are building tools and processes over a condensed time like one week, or have a special project dedicated each month, creation meetings help to focus on innovation and design.
• Social Meetings: The quarantine became the part of many person’s lexicon in recent months, and while many teams used to head out for an after work social time, what could social look like for you? Might a trip to a virtual escape room promote some team development time? Note, my son recently hosted his 15th birthday online at a virtual escape room – they had a blast.

What are the types of meetings which you want to incorporate this month?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 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, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

With the tsunami of professionals who have had to shift over to remote work this year, many are getting into the groove of remote work. Whether remote is your new normal or still something temporary, even with the best of intentions, distractions can get in the way.

As someone who has worked in the remote space for several decades while leading virtual teams and a virtual business, I’ve been writing on remote productivity on a regular basis at the Teams365 blog since 2014, and thought that it might be useful to dip into some of my older posts.

Here are four areas I shared back in 2016, in Teams365 blog post #797 about four ways to minimize distractions when working remote. They are:

1. Clear a dedicated space for your 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 minutes 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 our 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. We know that as Peter Drucker said, “What doesn’t get scheduled, doesn’t get done”.

4. Distractions can occur when 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 approaches to time management (check  out all of the Teams365 time management tips here), one favorite I’ve shared with many professionals over the years is the Pomodoro approach. The Pomodoro Technique recommends 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?

As you think about your current working situation, what distractions are getting in the way? What’s going to help you be most productive? What’s going to help you do your best work, when working from home?
​
This was originally shared as Teams365 #797 https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-797-four-ways-to-minimize-distractions-with-remote-work

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 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, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​