Many teams globally are needing to continue to redefine how they operate, and one thing is clear; collaboration is essential. Part of collaboration is learning how to synergize. How to blend skills and fuse them together. How to break things down into different packets and weave them together.

This week, I wanted to reach back to a post I originally shared in 2019 – Teamwork in Uncertainty – Synergy. Let’s take a look at what I wrote then:
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When situations are complex and uncertain, it may be difficult to bring all the skills required for success. Therefore, being able to focus in on leveraging the skills that are available to you as a group or team can help maximize your skill base as well as what is available to you.

As I wrote in yesterdays’ post, knowing our strengths is important on the individual and team levels.

In synergy, we are looking at how 1+1 equals more than 2.
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If you have completed some strengths-based work, some additional questions to explore as a team are:

1. What the core strengths we bring as a collective?
2. What can we harness as a team?
3. Where might we be over-developed?
4. What is missing?
5. Where are the gaps?
6. When we think about current projects what strengths would benefit them?
7. Who is best suited to support which project?
8. What else is important to note?

​In situations of uncertainty, it can be important to consider risk, and also contingencies. Given that contexts may be changing rapidly leading from strengths allows us to do things quicker and with less energy expended, freeing up focus and energy for other items.
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What is important to note around synergy?

All the best,
​Jennifer

Welcome back to another Saturday Weekly Journaling Prompt. This week’s WJP is number 114 in the series. It asks the question:
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What are you truly excited about right now?

When we are able to tap into the river of excitement that can course through our body, and soul, it’s likely that we are tapping into that magical place called FLOW. At moments of flow, time takes on new meaning. Things may feel magical. And it’s usually a signal that we are doing the things we are MEANT to.

What are you noticing about FLOW moments?

What are you noticing about what you are truly excited about?

What do you need to say YES to in order to cultivate more of that?

What do you need to say NO to in order to create more space for the flow?

As we wrap up today’s post, here’s a quote about FLOW from the author himself:
“To overcome the anxieties and depressions of contemporary life, individuals must become independent of the social environment to the degree that they no longer respond exclusively in terms of its rewards and punishments. To achieve such autonomy, a person has to learn to provide rewards to herself. She has to develop the ability to find enjoyment and purpose regardless of external circumstances.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Reading this book as a young university student in the early 1990s has been transformational in the work I do and in the way I structure my time. What’s going to support you with flow?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do”. -- Leonardo da Vinci

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt gets you to think about the question “It’s easy for me to….”. What is easy for you to do?

Or perhaps it is a different question. Consider these “It’s easy for me to…”..BE….THINK…Consider…DREAM…SPEAK….GROW

Enjoy your reflection this week – have a great Saturday!
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With 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​

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. 
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Enjoy the focus!

With best wishes,
Jennifer

With the shift to virtual, it can be very easy to shift into all results and business focus. At the same time, it is important to spend time focusing on the relationship element of groups and teams. This week’s post gets you to think about “appreciations” in your team. This is an activity I do regularly in team development programs I facilitate for remote teams.

Length: 5- 20 minutes

Number: 3 to 20 or more

What you need – Breakout rooms

Instructions: Put group or team members into rooms of 2-3 people. Have them share with the other person the following:

1. I see one of your strengths as….
2. I appreciate when you…
3. I’d love to see more….

This activity can be a great opportunity to witness what people bring to their work, acknowledging people for their strengths. At the same time, it can be an opportunity to provide nudge in terms of areas to magnify or even minimize.
After doing the breakout rounds it can be useful to have people return to the main room and share the one thing that they are going to focus on.

When do you have an opportunity to focus on acknowledgements?
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Best wishes,
Jennifer

Whether we are part of a team, collaborating with others or even building a community, there is an art form to bringing people together in the remote space. Today’s topic both curates some of my favorite past posts I’ve done on remote team builders, as well as focuses on some of the areas groups may be hungry for…

#1 - A little bit of grounding: This is where a quick meditation might come in handy.

#2 - A bit of context: Share one thing that’s on your desk right now!

#3 - A little bit of laughter: I recently heard Les Brown share in a presentation that a minute of laughter boosts your immune system for 24 hours. What can you to do create a bit of humor?

#4 - A little stress relief! Check out these 20 stress reduction activities from Sophaya.

#5 - Thinking about things in a different perspective: Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats tool is always a great go-to to explore issues from multiple perspectives.

#6 - Leveraging strengths: Check out this earlier blog post on Leveraging Strengths for remote teams.

#7 - Creating connection: One of my favorite exercises to do at the start of the call (even before stay-at-home became a reality for many of us) was a quick exercise of What’s Outside Your Window?  Check it out in action in the April 15th Community Call I co-hosted for the Remote Pathways podcast.

Here’s a great list on the A – Z of building a remote team from Trello’s blog – you can find it here. 

You may also want to go back to the A-Z series I did back in 2017 as well.

Download a copy 20 Different Remote Team activities you can take your team through at the Potentials Realized store for $27.50 US - (immediate download).
 
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
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PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

One of the legacies of March and April 2020 may be learning how to effectively collaborate in the remote space. This is important whether we are collaborating with our peers, our leader, another team or even stakeholders. Today’s blog post explores four tenets of collaborating in the remote space:

# 1 - Create a clear end result and vision of success for this project. What are you wanting to create together? Why are you doing this? (Note: lack of clarity on this can create a lot of divergence as you go.) How will you know that you will have been successful with this?

#2 - Be proactive and don’t assume. In the remote space, at the best of times, we see each person’s world in a small box. This may not be representative of everything that is on the go.

#3 - Plan it. Take time as a partnership to ask yourselves, what’ important about this? What are you wanting to achieve?

What are your strengths? What are the gaps between the strengths of your partnership?

Find common ground as well as differences. What are the areas we foresee might be challenges? What can we do to mitigate against those?

#4 - Be proactive with communication and ensure you do this on a regular basis. Shift your mindset to one of “of course” to “What should I communicate?” Given that it’s likely we are under-communicating rather than over-communicating.

What’s going to help your collaboration work better?

For more on this topic check out other posts I have done on collaboration.

Wishing you the best, 
​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. ​

Depending on where you are in the world, it’s likely that your team has been working remotely for a few weeks if you have had to Work From Home. With this is in mind, it can be difficult to know “What’s Beyond the Screen?”. We see everyone in little windows of their world and life, and sometimes only see a virtual background. As I write in my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations,  it’s key to explore what is beyond our little boxes.

Getting into the regular practice with remote work about “What does the team need?” is a proactive practice for teams to adopt.

“What does the team need?” may spark conversations around key elements of team effectiveness, which, as I have shared, usually include these six factors.

These six factors of high performing teams include having them develop:
1. Shared purpose or mission
2. Shared performance goals
3. Shared behavioral norms
4. Shared team practices
5. Shared commitment
6. Clear roles
(Source: https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams-365-8-high-performing-team-factors)

What the team needs is a foundation of trust and connection. How is the team self-assessing on these levels? What do they need?

The team may also have a need to feel that they can put conflict on the table and have it be addressed. As Patrick Lencioni writes, ¨If we don’t trust one another; then we aren’t going to engage in open, constructive, ideological conflict. And we’ll just continue to preserve a sense of artificial harmony. ¨ - Lencioni

Research continues to point the fact that teams which excel are complimentary in their skills, not the same. In order to harness the diversity of thought, approaches and perspectives which exist, it is critical to be able to have “spirited debate” to figure our how we need to augment and minimize our perspectives to shape an approach that works for us along both relationship and results lines.

Enjoy your team conversations!
​Jennifer

We are continuing with the focus on the six words series. This week’s post gets you to consider the question – “How would you describe your life?”

Additional questions you may want to consider are:

• What are the things that have defined you?
• What else is important to note?
• What are you known for?
• What moments have defined who you are?
• What is important to note about focus?

Enjoy your reflections!
​Jennifer

Welcome back to Sunday’s post, taking a look back at this week’s Teams365 posts.

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt – “6 Words to Describe My Home:”
• Friday’s Flashback Friday to Teams365 #1729 – Virtual Co-working
• Thursday’s “What will help with focus?” Read it here.
• Wednesday’s focus on Strengths and Remote Work
• Tuesday’s focus on Remote Whitepaper to Help you Get Up to Speed Quickly
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip around "When is off, really off"?

What’s going to provide you with focus and/or a break this weekend?

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 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.
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!
​