​One of the most important things in a team context, particularly a virtual team context, is how our values translate into action. When we work face to face, our values are translated through behaviors we can see and notice every day. So, a value of customer service will translate into prioritizing a quick follow through with a customer, while a value of speed may translate to a series of behaviors which resemble more of a checklist approach to work, with the "first past the post" the winner, regardless of quality.

Our values shape the behaviors our team undertakes, regardless of whether we are in person or virtual. A reminder of our behaviors can take many forms - from discussing them, to having them as a screensaver or a poster on the wall.

What is important for you to note as a team right now about your values? Where are they aligned? Where are they not? What's important to further clarify? Define behaviorally?

Values (What we value) and Behaviors (What we Do) play a key role in shaping our team and organizational culture. What is important to explore as you consider these elements this week?

With 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
​

This week’s team building tip gets you to have a discussion (virtually) about what does each team member need. This is even more important at this time when teams are likely not seeing each other. Our personalities and our styles are likely to get magnified in the remote space, making it even more important to focus in on some discussion around what each team member needs.

Have discussion today around:

• What does each team member need? Consider – focus, motivation, feedback, communication
• What can others expect from each team member?
• What are teams able to do in terms of focus?

Given that you are likely to be meeting virtually, spend time going around and hearing from each person about what they can focus on, and then what they can provide to others.

Teams are as strong as their connection. What’s important for to you strengthen?

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 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!

Focus and attention are key parts of business success today. It can be very easy to get off track, or down the rabbit hole of distractions. Focus has become an area that is getting explored in greater depth these days.

It’s not always just about whether you are focusing or not, but it is also the question of “What are you focusing on?”. Are you focusing on the things that are immediate and urgent, or are you working on those issues which may be what Chip Heath calls “upstream”? The more proactive, systemic issues, which I would call proactive or strategic. In another week I’ll be leading some strategic thinking training and what we know about strategic thinking is that it’s part creative, and a large part proactive. It can incorporate, WHAT IF, as well as WHAT THEN.

Professionally, I entered the workforce in the early 1990s and was privileged in my work in the non-profit world to be exposed to a lot of strategic thinkers and planners.  This shaped a large part of my work as a leader and facilitator in the global sphere during the 90s and early 2000s. Some of my frontline work was in economies moving through significant transition and change. I had not realized until recently that some of these older stalwarts of strategic thinking had transitioned out of the workspace (which makes sense as I think of age).

We know that in disruption it’s as important to be agile as it is to have an anchoring vision and strategy. What are you aiming towards? How are you holding the tension of strategic thinking along with agile approaches? I do believe there can be an AND. What about you?

Enjoy your focus this week on the main question of “What will help with focus?” as well as “And what do you want to focus on?” or “What’s important to focus on?”.

All 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 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!
​

​Given my work in the virtual learning space, and with remote work in general, a term that I’ve been using for years is the notion of the digital detox. While many LOVE being online 24/7 for personal reasons, being on round the clock for work reasons may be another opportunity.
​
In recent years the notion of undertaking a digital detox has become popular. This may involve limiting time online to certain hours of the day, going offline for chunks of time, or totally going offgrid.

A great book on this topic is Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.

Personally, I have two months of the year - usually July and August (plus select weekends between April and SeptmebeR) when I have windows of digital detox (small windows at that). When I work from up north at my cottage I make intentional scheduling choices to block most of my web based work two or three days of the week, leaving several days with the option of being on. Given cell service (thank you Canadian Shield) I usually can't be reached by cell and most people don't have the cottage number.

From a business perspective, I need to put a number of things in place to allow the business to keep humming, but I have to say I look forward to the creative spurts that usually happen throughout these summer months. I'll be stepping into year 16 of my summer routine in a few months and am looking forward to tackling many of my 20 for 20 list, and just "being" for a few days at a time.

This likely doesn't sound as extravagant as longer periods of time, and as I always say in my work, it's not the quantity, it's the quality.

What could digital detox look like for you?

Enjoy your Thursday,
Jennifer

This week’s Team Building Question gets you thinking about the question – “Where would we benefit from a micro-pause?”. Teams are often running so fast that they are not taking time to stop and reflect. Micro-pauses are short, focused and brief. It may mean meeting together for only 15-20 minutes. These done regularly may even be more effective than other more long-winded meetings. In fact, they might shorten those longer meetings.

Micro-pauses can take a number of forms:

• From quick 5-10-minute individual reflections
• 15-minute team huddles (in person or virtually)
• 20-minute reflective pauses on a series of questions
• A 10-minute break or movement period you take during the hour when your FitBit indicates that you have not yet walked your 250 steps

What could a micro-pause look like for you?

Questions you might consider asking at a micro-pause are:

• What are the priorities we are working on today (notice alignment, clarity and resourcing around each one)?
• What is helping you get our results today?
• What’s getting in the way of focus?
• What else is important to note about our work?
• What are the questions you have about other’s work and ours?

Let us know what you are doing to create more of a pause in your work…and what you find by building in these micro-pauses!

Enjoy!
​Jennifer

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you thinking about our second remote work enabler. You can find the first remote work enabler here. 

The second remote work enabler is to create boundaries. Boundaries are key in the remote space in order to focus.

What is key is being efficient in managing boundaries, especially if you are part of a matrix team and/or working across many sites. There can also be a challenge of ensuring that there is a good balance or integration of your work and life, especially when you collaborate and work with others in different time zones. This balance may look different that what a 9-5 job could look like, perhaps having you start work at 5 and run to 3 with breaks in between to get to the gym, or for a swim (as I do!).

What are the things that help you focus in your work as a remote worker? What boundaries might you need to integrate into your work?

Best,
​Jennifer

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you thinking about the notion of CALIBRATE.

The Oxford Dictionary defines calibrate as “adjust (experimental results) to take external factors into account or to allow comparison with other data.”

As you look across your team, work or processes right now, what are the things that might need to be calibrated or adjusted, given changes in the context?

What are the things you need to dial up and dial down?

Doing a regular scan of the context in which you operate is a key skill set. This is all part of strategic thinking, which is an important skill set for leaders today. As the University of Florida’s Training writes, “To think strategically means to see and understand the bigger picture of what the organization is, where it needs to go, and how it will get there. It means anticipating opportunities and challenges and utilizing that knowledge to guide the organization.” (http://training.hr.ufl.edu/resources/LeadershipToolkit/job_aids/strategic_thinking.pdf)

What is important about developing strategic thinking skills as a team?

What are the things you want to pay attention to as a team?

For more on the topic of strategic thinking, please check out these posts:

• 4 Ways to Improve Your Strategic Thinking Skills
• 5 Areas CMOE Suggests You Focus On To Improve Your Strategic Thinking Skills 
• Check out the questions you might use as part of the reflective cycle of strategic thinking in this article from Terina Allen here.

As you think strategically, you may start to notice those items you need to CALIBRATE. What needs an adjustment?

Have a great day!
​Jennifer

As a speaker I am often asked to speak about remote work. In my presentations I like to share a little more about the pitfalls and opportunities around remote work. I also like to explore some of the myths which exist around remote work. One of the favorite ones I like to talk about is the myth that remote does not equal disconnected.

We might fall into the trap of thinking that those that work remote are more distant and even disconnected. In fact, remote working success requires that we are tied onto others and working in tandem.

Three skill sets are required for remote working success today – curiosity, connection and looking beyond the screen. Let’s look at each in turn:

Curiosity
Being curious and open to learning is a key part of remote working success. Part of adopting curiosity as a mindset is remaining open to not knowing the complete picture. When we “think we know” what the context and world of our remote working colleagues is, we may start making assumptions that are unfounded.

Part of developing more curiosity in our remote work involves LISTENING more, asking more questions and being open to learn. It also involves being open to being challenged on your own biases.

• What are the things you want to learn more about?
• What are the things you want to ask more questions about?
• What don’t you know?

Connection
Connection is part of the 5 Cs I often talk about in my presentations. Connection with those you work with takes place on multiple levels -

#1 - Making a strong connection with the people you work with. We know that relationships can play as important a role as driving for results. What are you doing to get to know the people you work with? Their preferences around work, communication, decision making etc.?

#2 - Connecting your work with others on the remote team. How does everyone’s work fit together? What elements impact and connect in with each other? There is a fallacy that we work isolation, when in fact for many remote projects the pieces do fit together. Spend some time mapping out the way your work connects.

#3 - What is the connection between your values and behaviors? Our behaviors are magnified in the remote space. What do people see when they are with you? Are your values being clearly communicated? What needs an adjustment?

Looking Beyond The Screen
In order to create remote working success and relationships, it’s important that we look beyond the screen. Our window to remote work is often the frame of the screen we see. What is outside of the screen? What’s important to note about the context in which people are operating? While it may seem disconnected from your work, in fact, it’s often an integral part.
In order to look beyond the screen, consider:

• Having a dialogue (two-way conversation) about how you see your work fitting together and synergizing
• How your work does, or does not align
• What your priorities are
• What are the events that are happening outside your window that are having an impact immediately and strategically?

 
Remote does not mean disconnected. What is the reframe you want to undertake?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Welcome back to our weekly Team Building Tip. These are geared to provide you with a conversation sparker or an area to surface dialogue around.
This week’s tip gets you to think about HABITS.

As I wrote in last month’s post, habits are things we do automatically. They often become subconscious, so we are not aware that we are doing it. Habits can both help and hinder our work.

As a team, what are the habits you are creating? Think about your habits around communication. Meetings? Outreach? Teamwork?

What habits are helping you? Which ones aren’t?

What habits do you want to change? What can you become more intentional around?

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 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.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

This week’s Team Building Tip reminds you that small changes add up. It’s often the incremental changes which are cumulative over time. What are the changes you have been making as a team over this last six months? Year? How are they adding up?

One of the things that happens with incremental change is that we don’t see it when the shifts are small. This is where taking time to pause so you can note the changes becomes important.

When our teams are small, or when we are a solopreneur, or working remote, it can be very important to explore how these small changes add up. Unlike instances where we may have a huge amount of resources, being able to see the impact of the small shifts we are able to make is key to motivation.

What type of change is important for you right now? Here’s an interesting blog post from the Green Book Blog to explore the distinctions between incremental change and disruptive change. 

What’s important for you as a team to explore?

A reminder that I will be hosting the month end review session for January tomorrow, Friday January 31st, from 3- 4 pm ET. During this time, you’ll have the opportunity to pause and take stock of your January accomplishments, while doing some planning for the month of February. You can learn more about this program and register here. Cost $49 US.

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer