Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

TEAMS365 #3320: Week in Reflection

2/5/2023

This week we’ve taken a look at a number of additional posts on team culture, our current focus here at the blog.
In case you missed them, take a look at this week’s posts:

Saturday’s Weekly Jounraling Prompt on - Mash Up
Flashback Friday – Team Culture – Flashback to Teams365 #1526
Thursday - An Ode to GroundHog Day – What keeps repeating?
Wednesday - Welcome to February and Monthly Review and Planning
Tuesday - Team Culture Focus Area #3 What Is Important to Us?
Monday - Team Culture Focus Area #2 How we do things?

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 #3318: Flashback Friday – Team Culture – Flashback to Teams365 #1526

2/3/2023

Today we are reaching back to share again Teams365 #1526 on Team Culture. I hope you have been enjoying the recent focus on team culture:
Team Culture: The Every Manager’s Desktop Reference defines organizational culture as “a set of shared values, goals, practices, and management styles that characterize an organization and are expected to be reflected in its public face and member behaviors” (pp 414, Every Manager’s Desktop Reference).

Today’s VUCA business context, characterized by ongoing change and flux, has pointed many teams to the importance of team culture. Our team culture may be different, or aligned with, our organizational culture. Simply put, team culture is “HOW WE DO THINGS”. It is the behaviors, practices and values which shape our every day interaction. Think about a team who has as part of it’s culture “customer service”. Actions and activities around providing exceptional service will be prioritized over ones that value quality and/or time, unless they are linked to customer service.

What are the adjectives that describe your culture?

Team Culture doesn’t always get the attention it deserves, and HR writers like Susan Heathfield reminds us “team members understand that 20% of the problems that they will experience as a team will fall within the context of the task or mission the team is assigned to accomplish. The other 80% of the problems they experience will relate to their team culture and the processes team members establish and commit to for interacting with each other as team members.” Link to her great article Team Culture and Clear Expectations at The Balance.com - https://www.thebalance.com/team-culture-and-clear-expectations-1919255

There are many different models of what comprises team culture:
Culture includes our behavioral norms and agreements - How do we do things here. What is acceptable and not acceptable.
It also includes team identity – How do I connect with others, how do we see ourselves
What we value: Culture is shaped by our values, beliefs and actions. It also includes our mindset. Consider what some of the mindsets are for you as a team. This might include: “We are able to flow with the changes that come our way” OR “We go above and beyond or “We rise to the challenge every time”.
When cultures are strong new members and external people can sense what our team is like. It’s almost a visible layer to others. This is especially true when we have a culture of collaboration, having each other’s back, or helping each other.

What's important for you to note and be in dialogue around as a team with respect to team culture?

Enjoy the focus!

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 #3317: An Ode to GroundHog Day – What keeps repeating?

2/2/2023

Many readers are likely to be familiar with Groundhog Day – Where actor Bill Murray relives Groundhog Day time and time again. With today being Groundhog Day it’s an opportunity to step back and ask yourself about the PATTERNS you are noticing in your work, results and relationships.

Here are a selection of questions to ask yourself:

What are the patterns which are present in work right now?
What relationships are supporting results?
What relationship issues are surfacing regularly?
What are the elements which are leading to results? What is getting in the way of results?
Like Groundhog Day’s repeating patterns, what else is important to note?

Enjoy the reflection and what’s the ending you want to get to?

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 #3315: Team Culture Focus Area #3 - What is Important to Us?

1/31/2023

Over the last week we’ve had a number of posts taking us into the WHO, HOW and WHAT of Team Culture, the Three components which are foundational in shaping a distinct team culture.

Take a look at the WHO post here –
Take a look at the HOW post here -
Today we look at WHAT…Namely What is important to us.

For today’s post I am also pulling from the Day 35 of the 90-Day Guide For Success

What is important to us. Clarity around priorities and goals for the entire team helps with alignment, prioritization, and decision making. Spending time on a regular basis, discussing what is important to us, may also involve:

A list visible to the entire team (i.e., Think Intranet or other social network; have each team member post their
Top 5 Goals for the month
Top 5 Priorities for the week
Top 5 Priorities for the quarter
Enshrining your Team Agreements or Ways of Working into something that is visible. Some teams have enshrined this into a plaque or a screen saver, for example.

There are other what’s which are important to teams including:

Strategic Directions or Priorities
KPIs or OKRs

What else?

Enjoy the focus and I’ll be back with more posts on team culture later this week.
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

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 #3314: Team culture focus area #2 - How we Do Things?

1/30/2023

Last week we started exploring 3 key areas of building a robust team and organizational culture- what I like to call the WHO, HOW and WHAT. These are at the heart of my latest TEDx talk.

Last Thursday we explored Culture Focus area #1 – WHO WE ARE. Take a look at it for some suggestions on what you might be able to explore together in your meetings.

Today, we are looking at culture focus area #2 – HOW We do THINGS. As I share in the 90-Day Guide for Success, HOW WE Do Things:

How we do things. Each team will have its own unique practices and ways of doing things. This will vary from team to team. Spending time discussing how you do things, and what the expectations are, creates clarity and builds trust, boosting both performance and results.

To explore this topic further consider:

Discussing “how we do things” (communicate, make decisions, work across differences, address conflict). It can be a series of different discussions and activities. It might include a Rules of the Road, which everyone has signed off on.
What makes you unique and distinct in terms of how you do things?
Another tool is to look at the Is/Is Not table.

Tomorrow we are going to explore area #3 – What is important to us. Stay tuned and I hope you’ll return back to take a look at it.

Enjoy the reflections,
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

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 #3313: Week in focus - Team Culture

1/29/2023

This week we have wrapped up the 23 for 23, 23 posts to kick off the year and get you started powerfully.

We have also started exploring one of our first thematic focus areas for the year – TEAM CULTURE. This year I hope to double down into about 23 focus areas. This will allow us to take a deeper dive into some fo the core areas shaping todays teams, leadership and organizations.

First up, TEAM CULTURE. Stay Tuned as we’ll be exploring this again next week.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,
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

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 #3312: Weekly Journaling Prompt - What is the culture we want to create?

1/28/2023

As we have been exploring this week, the topic of team culture is critical especially when things are changing and in flux.
.
With that in mind, today’s focus is What is the culture we want to create?
If you are not part of a team right now, another way to frame this is “What is the environment I want to create with my work?”.

Taking time to get clear on our values, and intentions are key. What do you want to create?

Enjoy the reflection!
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

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 #3311: Flashback Friday: Team Culture #2368 - Building a vibrant Remote Team culture

1/27/2023

Welcome to another Friday Flashback. This week we are exploring TEAM CULTURE, with more posts coming next week, so do return back!

I have been writing about, and working around team culture for many years. It’s a critical topic today, especially when team membership can be ever-changing. Culture creates stability in an uncertain environment. This is part of what I share in my most recent TEDx talk, which I gave here to a live audience in Toronto in early December. Link to the recording should be live soon.

Here’s what I shared in Teams365 #2368:

Team culture is all about HOW WE DO things here. Remote Team culture and fostering a sense of connection and identity is critical in a space where we may be members of multiple matrix teams. Take a look at yesterday’s Teams365 post - #2366 on roles in the remote space.

Our team culture consists of many different components – consider how you are building these out:

Our beliefs – What are the things we hold true? What do we believe in?
Our sayings – Consider the impact of a mantra of “better done than perfect” versus “review until all the t’s are crossed, and i’s dotted”.
What we value – How do our values show up in WHAT we do? What do our values look like in action? For example, is it speed or perfection?
Sense of identity – Who we are. What are the adjectives which describe us as a team?
Our practices and commitments – What will we ensure we always do, no matter what? Examples might include ALWAYS having a Friday afternoon status update no matter what OR ensuring that someone is available to serve customers (virtually or physically) within working hours (even if we have a meeting).

What areas of your culture could benefit from being intentional around?

Take a look at this past post #1526 here.

Check out the audio I did as part of one of the Team Leader Breakfast Café Series back in 2014 here.

What do you want to be more intentional about communicating? A strong team culture is important as it fosters a sense of identity and also signals to our team members and others, HOW we do things and what we value.

Enjoy your conversations!
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

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 #3309: In Focus: Team Culture - Day 35 of the 90-day Guide for success

1/25/2023

Developing a robust team culture is a key element for high performance in any space – whether you are working in-person, hybrid or virtually. Having a robust team culture is also critical in times of change (i.e. NOW!).

Take a look at this short 1 minute video and also consider the questions asked. These can be valuable as a conversation point for your next team meeting:

As I share in the video, there are 3 elements which make up team culture:

Who We Are – Consider Strengths, our Roles
How We Do Things – Our team practices and agreements as well as team norms
What is Important to Us – Think Values etc

These three areas are at the heart of the work we do with teams. Book a 15 minute call with me to discuss how my team and I could support you and your team, or organization, in building more robust culture. You will find my calendar at https://calendly.com/jennbritton.

Enjoy the video!
Jennifer

I’ll be exploring part 1 – WHO WE ARE in tomorrow’s blog post.

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 #3808: In Focus: 90 Day Guide for Success - Decision Making and the Decision Tree

1/24/2023

On Tuesdays I will be sharing a different day from the 90-Day Guide for Success. One of the areas many are struggling with at the moment, whether they are back in the office, or still working hybrid is Decision Making.

A useful tool you may want to incorporate is that of a decision making tree. A decision tree helps all of us understand the WHAT IF…, especially if we are hitting a roadblock in our work.

Troubleshooting may involve working through a decision-making tree of what do you need to do and when.

Questions to ask:

What’s the issue?
What are the factors contributing to it?
What are some possible solutions?
Which one do I start with?

NEXT STEPS—CHOICES AND THE DECISION TREE
Given that we are often on our own in the hybrid space, it can be challenging to make choices. What do we do to make choices? Where do we activate others?

Decision trees are also useful in helping the team think through and make decisions. Follow the decision tree from the following example.

Decision trees prompt remote or hybrid teams to think through the questions in a similar fashion.

What is important for you to note?

Choices and checklists you need to make:

What are the choice points for remote workers?
What are the inflection points in business? (For a remote worker—who do you surround yourself with?)

FIELD WORK—NOW WHAT?
Work though the Decision Tree for a current challenge you are facing. Read this in tandem with Day 34.

Consider these things as you work through the Decision Tree:

Identify the main challenges you think you may face in your work.
Identify what the decision tree is.
Who do you go to at different times?
What might you take to your boss rather than to your mentor?
What might you reach out to your peers around first

(Source: 90-DAY GUIDE FOR SUCCESS | DAY 32 | pages 221-222, © Jennifer Britton, All Rights Reserved)

Enjoy the conversations,
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

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.