Teams365 Blog - Potentials Realized

TEAMS365 #2180 – Team Building Tip 267: Feedback

12/19/2019

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you to consider the question “HOW do you want feedback?” As part of team days, I host for teams (virtually and in person) we usually wind up doing work around strengths or styles, helping team members understand the diverse needs and approaches on the team. From there, we usually start exploring what these differences mean in terms of communication, working style, approaches to conflict and also things that get under our skin, or triggers.

One of the areas where you may see significant differences is in the area of feedback – how we like to give it, and how we like to receive it. Feedback should be a two-way street.

This week’s Team Building Tip asks the question: “How do you want feedback?”
Options might include:

Regular in batches or as things happen
Focused on the big picture vs. Granular in detail
Verbal only vs writing which you can review and then connect verbally to speak about

What are the ways you want to focus on feedback?

Feedback should also be a two-way street, and while asking the question to those we are supporting through feedback, you’ll want to consider asking “What type of feedback do you want as the receiver?”

Note that in many teams, feedback is not just between the leader and team members. There may be peer feedback cycles as well. The question how “How do you want feedback?” may be an interesting one to explore with the entire team.

Enjoy the 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.

TEAMS365 #2170 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 123: Remote Teams

12/9/2019

For many years, I have shared the research with teams that they excel when they focus on both relationships and results. The same holds true for remote teams as well.

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip gets you thinking about what you are doing to help remote teams explore both their results and relationships.

A focus on results can include:

Their goals
Their vision
Clarity around communication, tasks and focus
How we measure success
Leadership
Roles

Relationship focus may explore:

How much we know and trust each other
Understanding our connections
Understanding what our styles, and preferences are
How we work across differences, conflict and difficult issues

What are the things you need to focus on as a team?

In the remote space, taking time to build out the relationship focus is essential. We want to make sure that we are exploring who we are, what our strengths are, how we prefer to work, what helps and what hinders our work. No person is an island in any work context today. What opportunities are you creating to ensure that there is a focus on relationships in the team?

Could there be a component that you build into your next team meeting that focuses on having people share what they are working on and/or a little about their work. You might even consider undertaking some work around strengths or other areas.

What are the things you want to focus in around as a team right now?

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.

TEAMS365 #2166 – Team Building Tip 265: Communication

12/5/2019

This week’s Team Building Tip should hopefully surface an interesting dialogue around communication and how people prefer to communicate.

One of the major areas of conflict for teams today can be the varied ways people want to communicate, and becoming entrenched in our own preferences, without embracing other ways of working.

On a team, it’s likely that you all will have different preferences around –

Text vs. Chat
Visual vs. Data
Real-time vs. Recording
Face-to-face vs. Virtual
Big picture vs. Granular detail
Focused on the present vs Focused on the future

This list could continue. As a team, it might be an interesting conversation to go around the table to discuss what:

Different preferences exist along these continua listed above
Focus areas
What you as a team are doing in terms of varying approaches and meeting different people’s needs

Enjoy!
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.

TEAMS365 #2164: Key TOpics and COnversations for Teams THis yEAr

12/3/2019

In my work as a coach, I am privileged to work with leaders (both seasoned and new), as well as teams. At this time of year, I like to pause and take stock of some of the themes I’ve seen and have been working around with clients. It’s been a varied year, but some of the key conversations I’ve been hearing about are:

How do we work most effectively knowing we are a diverse team? This often has involved a deeper dive into helping people understand not only their strengths or styles, but also the flip side of it – what happens when their strengths or styles become over-magnified.

What can we do to focus? Discernment and focus are two areas many teams have been building their muscle in. While the range of what this looks like can be vast, some of the questions teams like to engage with are:

Where are we paying attention?
What do we need to say no to (these may be things that are not adding value, are serving as a distraction rather than an important piece of work or….)
What areas do we need to become more discerning in?

What else is important to note as a team?

What can we do to become more effective as a virtual team? With an increasing number of people going remote, it’s important to think about what is going to make you most effective when working across distance and boundaries. I’m exploring this topic, and several others, in my new podcast series – Remote Pathways Podcast which I am co-hosting with Michelle Mullins. Check it out at https://www.RemotePathways.com

How do we become better at prioritization? Becoming better at prioritization may be an antidote for some teams, and one way to start dialing back on the pressures they experience. What do you notice about priorities on your team? How do you balance out the varying weight of each?

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.

#TEAMS365 #2011 - Simplification

7/3/2019

As many of us step into some holiday time, today’s post gets you to think about simplification. Simpler does not always mean simple. In business, simplification can help with focus, clarity and standing out.

In marketing, simplification may mean smaller chunks, more focused messaging. Consistently on a channel.

In service offerings, simplification may mean one thing instead of three.
In systems, simplification might mean streamlining.

In content creation, simplification may mean repurposing and repackaging what you already have, rather than focusing on creating something new.

Around habits and work style, simplification may mean letting something go, or doing something less frequently.

What does simplification mean for you? What would be beneficial about simplifying right now in your work?

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.

#TEAMS365 #1980 – Weekly Journaling Prompt #52: AT your Best....

6/2/2019

It’s time for another weekly journaling prompt. These are geared to get you to build in a pause point every week and think about what is important to you.

This week the question is “at my best I am….”

In past posts I've shared the benefits of journaling. You can read that post here.

One of the activities I take a lot of teams through is this reflectin of who they are when they are at their best. Reconnecting with what's worked, and who we are when we are leveraging our skills and strengths can create a strong pivot.

Today I hope you will find some time to create a few minutes to capture reflections of times when you were at your best.

Enjoy your writing!
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.

#TEAMS365 #1975 – Teamwork in Uncertainty – Strengths and Go-To’s

5/28/2019

In our last Teamwork in Uncertainty post of the month we’re going to explore a favorite topic here at the Teams365 blog – Strengths. As I have shared in many other posts, strengths have a variety of benefits, from strengthening productivity to creating more engagement in the workplace.

In times of uncertainty the only thing we may be able to rely on are our strengths – our own and others. When we are tasked with new activities and tasks it can be useful to explore who on the team might have brought a similar experience. What are the strengths that can support you as a team?

As I share in PlanDoTrack, there are several key questions you will want to explore on the individual level. Check out the sections on strengths in Sections 1 and 4 of PlanDoTrack.

Some of the more common frameworks include:

Utilizing Gallup’s StrengthsFinder 2.0 - Purchase a copy of the book for each team member and have them bring their reports to an upcoming team meeting.
Incorporating the VIA Character Survey – This comes from the Positive Psychology realm and provides another doorway into exploring strengths. The nice thing about this assessment is that it is free.

As with any assessment, it’s important to reinforce a few things:

This may provide a snapshot in time and can be dependent on a variety of factors.
Take what is valuable from the information. Assessments are intended to provide insights, not a box.
Exploring strengths and styles helps us understand ourselves better. Under times of stress and pressure, some of these styles and strengths become magnified. When magnified, some of our strengths become a liability. For example., if one of my strengths is getting results, this is good. However, in times of pressure I may become dogmatic in getting results, pushing harder than needed and burning myself, and others, out. Success in today’s workplace requires a focus on both RESULTS and RELATIONSHIPS.
Look at both the individual view of things and the collective view. The power of bringing most assessments (not all, but many) into the team context is to provide a snapshot across the team, helping them see the collective. It also provides an opportunity for everyone to have a collective framework for exploration and dialogue.

Questions to consider:

What are the discussions you want to have around strengths?
What’s important about exploring this topic individually and collectively?
What do you notice about the collective strengths of the team?
Where are there gaps? What might you do about this?
What will be valuable for you as a team to explore around strengths?

Are you looking to do more work with your team around strengths? Contact me to discuss our team day sessions for teams around strengths.

Enjoy your conversations,
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.

#TEAMS365 #1941 Four Teamwork Essentials for 2019

4/24/2019

As we move into the last week of the month of April, many teams are staring to kick it into high gear. With summer vacations starting in a few weeks or months, now is the time teams really need to get results. What are the core things teams want to keep an eye on this year?

Efficient meetings. We know that teams need updates and meetings abound. Are they the most effective? I have shared my top 8 Essential Meeting Questions from Effective Virtual Conversations several times, and they warrant inclusion again. Meetings are a huge time expenditure and getting them right is so important.

How to have conflict, constructively and respectfully. Being able to have conflict and work across differences constructively and respectfully is really important. Teams thrive when there is a difference of opinion and different insights; however, not every team is encouraged to, or can, work through differences.

Harnessing strengths and styles. One of the greatest challenges in teams is finding the balance between individualism and collective alignment. This is going to be different for each team, with some teams on the end of the spectrum where there “is no I in team” and it’s all about the collective system, and there will be other team experiences (especially remote and virtual teams) where it is more about the individual person.

Open feedback loops. Regular and frequent feedback and communication is imperative in a business context which is changing rapidly. How is information shared across the team? Open communication and feedback loops are critical for success. What are the mechanisms people have to offer feedback? Where is feedback not getting through? Where is genuine feedback NOT being offered? Why? What’s the cost of this – short term and long term?

What are the core issues you are noticing in your teams right now?

What focus and conversations are needed?

Wishing you the best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development).
Check out the new 19 Tips for Productivity On-Demand Course. If this is your year to get things moving, check it out now. Join Jenn for bi-weekly live group calls until July. $129 US. Learn more and enroll here.

#TEAMS365 #1939 – Effective Virtual Conversation Tip 90: To Drip or Not to Drip?

4/22/2019

For those that work on creating and delivering on-demand courses which people consume at a later time, this week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip gets you to think about the question “To drip or not to drip?”. What’s dripping you ask? Dripping content that is.

When you create a course that may be several hours in length, it can be useful to consider if you are going to release all the information at once or if you are going to release it “drip by drip”. It could be released on a fixed schedule (ie. weekly, daily or monthly).

There are pros and cons to both approaches. When dripping content, it can provide a continuous stream in bite sized pieces. When releasing it all at once it allows the person consuming the content to do it at a pace that works for them. This may be really beneficial if someone has a limited window of time to work within, but it may not be as advantageous if the content needs to be put into practice before they move on. Withholding the content in that instance may be more advantageous so they need to “put it into practice” rather than move on.

Consider your design work right now – is it best to drip or not to drip? What’s going to work best? What do your colleagues do?

What do your clients want?

Take a look around and see what other courses do. Discuss with others what could work best.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development).
Check out the new 19 Tips for Productivity On-Demand Course. If this is your year to get things moving, check it out now. Join Jenn for bi-weekly live group calls until July. $129 US. Learn more and enroll here.

#TEAMS365 #1928 – Team Building Tip 231

4/11/2019

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you to consider the question: “_____ is strengthening our relationships”.

Teams which excel are great at getting results AS WELL AS having strong relationships. On the relationship front we want to hone areas such as:

Knowing each other
Understanding each other’s strengths and styles
Being able to understand what supports vs. what triggers others
Providing feedback and communication
Being able to work across differences, and difficult issues
Team Spirit (having a sense of team identity – see yesterday’s post on this)

As a team this week consider the things you are doing to strengthen your relationships. This might include practices such as:

taking a coffee break together each week,
ensuring that team meetings happen on a regular basis for virtual teams,
spotlighting the work and background of one of the team members each month in an internal email and/or newsletter,
connecting peers in peer pairings to get to know each other, and their work.

What are the things you are doing as a team to strengthen relationships?

Hope that you are enjoying your mid-week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development).
Check out the new 19 Tips for Productivity On-Demand Course. If this is your year to get things moving, check it out now. Join Jenn for bi-weekly live group calls until July. $129 US. Learn more and enroll here.