Teams365 Blog - Potentials Realized

TEAMS365 #2167 – Flashback Friday: Expectations and CLarification

12/6/2019

This week I am reaching back to one of the original Teams365 blog posts.

Here’s what I wrote, which might be an interesting conversation starter as you go through your year-end discussions. Expectations are often at the heart of a high performing team.

Our final team building tip of the year gets you to think about the expectations which need to be clarified for the team. One of the biggest hindrances to exceptional team performance is lack of clarity around expectations.

Earmarking a focus around clarifying expectations in the new year can pay off in dividends.

Areas you may want to ensure you have clear, and shared, expectations around are:
- What does success look like? For us individually? Collectively as a team?
- What are our start and end times?
- What does quality mean?
- What does being an exceptional team mean?
- What are we committed to creating? What do we need to do in order to get there?
- What do you expect of me as leader this year? What do I expect from you this year?

What other expectations are important for your team to discuss as you get back to work in January?

Enjoy the conversation,
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 #2159 – Thursday November 29: Team Building Tip 263: Remote Work Enabler: Expectations

11/28/2019

It’s Thursday and while some are celebrating Thanksgiving, many of us have a regular day of work. This week’s Team Building Tip is a “Remote Work Enabler”. Throughout the upcoming weeks I’ll be including a number of special items to keep in mind to help your remote team THRIVE, not just SURVIVE!

The first remote work enabler I wanted to point to was that of expectation. In a remote team, we may be part of multiple matrix relationships, which makes it even more important for us to be clear on our expectations about HOW THINGS ARE DONE.

Teams can benefit from taking time to create a WAYS OF WORKING, or Team Agreements about how they will operate together.

What are the team expectations around?:

Showing up for meetings
Focus at meetings
Being prepared
Being punctual
Quality of work
Surfacing issues
Addressing difficult conversations
How you interact with each other
Share information
Connect with others outside of the organization
Participate in ongoing learning

Each one of these could spark a conversation around multiple factors.

When expectations are not clear we run the risk of doing things differently, having varied output, and most importantly, creating assumptions that might not be founded. These can have the most detrimental impact in the long run.
As a team, what do expectations do you want to make clear?

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 #2152 – Team Building Tip #262: What's Getting in the Way?

11/21/2019

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you to consider the question – “What’s getting in the way?” As a team, what are the things which have obstructed you from what’s really important?

It’s at this time of year that we may become really clear about the SHINY RED OBJECTS which have become an alluring focus but may not have translated to business results. OR WAIT? Have they?

It can be important to think about activities not only from an immediate impact, but also in terms of the longer-term activities and seed-planting work which needs to go into bigger projects. For those reading the Teams 365 blog who are solopreneurs you will probably know what I mean. Many times, we take on creative projects which may not be revenue generating but actually are key in moving the business forward. The challenge is to make sure that there is a good balance between those activities which need to happen NOW and generate revenue, as well as those activities which are key to business growth but may only pay off in the long run.

This week consider the question – What’s getting in the way? Is it a closed road, or an important detour?

What do you need to say YES to? NO to?

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 #2145 – Team Building Tip #262: RESULTS FOCUS

11/14/2019

This week’s Team Building Tip takes us into another check point -this week around your results focus. As indicated in the posts over the last couple of weeks as we step into the new year it can be valuable to consider where we want to focus and what we want to focus on.

Part of this decision gets us to think about what are the RESULTS we want to FOCUS on?

Consider the following in your next team meeting:

How are we doing with all of our annual/quarterly goals?
What needs attention?
What has given us the most impact this year?
What activities have detracted from our purpose/vision/goals?
What distractions have we faced?
What’s going to help us magnify and accelerate our results?
What is absolutely critical for us to complete before year end? What do we need to say NO to in order for this to happen?
What may we need to shift?

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success focusing on the Remote Space
Author of 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.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources.
Coming soon - the Remote Pathways™ Podcast

TEAMS365 #2138 – Team Building Tip #261

11/7/2019

This week’s Team Building Tip is a systems check. Systems are key in the remote and virtual workspace. They are the things that keep us doing things in a consistent manner, creating a seamless experience for our team members and customers. Consider a team that is spread across Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Paris and Shanghai. We want to ensure that a customer will have a similar experience across the different areas.

In my PlanDoTrack Workbook Planner and the Coaching Business Builder Workbook Planner, I explore five systems which can help remote workers and solopreneurs.

They are:

Financial systems - Invoicing, Accounts Payable, Cash Flow, Accounts Receivable etc
Client systems - Welcome Kits, other supports
Onboarding systems - Questionnaires, Agreements, Welcome Letters
Marketing - Websites, Social Media Feeds, Frequently Asked Questions
Content - Do you know what you have created? Do you have an accessible listing of what there is?
Sales - What do you notice about sales? What can generate more? What follow-up do you have with those you have sold to?

What is the current state of these five areas? What could use attention?
What systems do you as a team have in place? What needs focus?
What new systems could benefit the team?

All the best,
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.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources.

TEAMS365 #2131 Team Building Tip #260: What's the Cost of NOT???

10/31/2019

As we go to wrap up the month of October, we are that much closer to the end of the year. Today is an opportunity to focus in on the opportunity cost of things you are doing, and not doing. Today’s team prompt is the question: "What is the cost of not…"

You might consider things along the lines of:

What is the cost of not undertaking (insert task, activity or project)?
What is the cost of not delegating?
What is the cost of not prioritizing?
What is the cost of not minimizing digital distractions?
What is the cost of not focusing?
What is the cost of not celebrating? Acknowledging others’ efforts?

Take your pick!

Enjoy the conversation,
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.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources.

#TEAMS365 #2124 – Team Building Tip 259: Creating Safety

10/24/2019

Safety is an essential element for teams to thrive. Since the publication of her 2012 book, Teaming, I’ve been pointing people to the research of Amy Edmondson, as it relates to the trust, safety and connection teams require in order to operate. Her writing includes Teaming (2012), Extreme Teams and the Fearless Organization (2018).

You can view what she has to say on this topic in her TED talk on “How to Turn a Bunch of Strangers into a Team” here.

Having a discussion with the team about “What would create more safety?” for the team can be seen as a risky conversation by some. At the same time, it’s useful to surface questions like these in creating the open dialogue which is needed in high trust organizations. The feedback received, AND ideas created by the various members of the team, helps to create shared ownership for the team experience.

Enjoy your conversation this week, and if you are looking for more on the topic of building trust, connection and safety be sure to also check out the series of posts I’ve included here at the Teams365 blog post around TRUST.

Enjoy the conversation!
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.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources.

#TEAMS365 #2117 - Team Building Tip 258

10/17/2019

Each Thursday I provide a question for you as a team to explore and have a short conversation around. Typically, these are questions which may provoke new discussions you are not having or prompt a sharing of information that is not naturally available.

This week’s team building question might fall into the category of “provocative” for some teams.

The question is “What is not being spoken about?”.

We know from research that teams which excel are teams which are able to surface difficult issues for exploration, without fear of retribution. This is not easy and requires high levels of TRUST and connection with other group members.

When we don’t surface issues, or address issues which need to be raised, it’s likely that they will grow in magnitude and possibly FESTER, creating more toxicity for the team. Rather than being an issue which could be addressed quickly it may become an issue that gets charged with emotional and resentment.

When we are surrounded by an elephant in the room it can be refreshing to finally name it, even if we can’t address it right away.

As a team this week, how might it be useful to surface the issues which are not being spoken about? What do you want to do to capture these and address them in the medium- to long-term? When we open what might be perceived as a Pandora’s Box it can be useful to have shared clarity around what will happen with these issues. Are you looking to spark conversation and problem solving or provide a “release valve” on issues which need to be surfaced but may not change? Consider how you want to set this question up as a team.

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.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources.

#TEAMS365 #2110 – Team Building Tip 257: The Devil's Advocate

10/10/2019

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you to think about the question “What would the devil’s advocate say?”.

The Devil's Advocate view on a team may be in complete opposition to everyone else. It may also be the unpopular voice in the room.

At the same time, the devil’s advocate voice can point to an area which needs to be addressed or changed. This perspective can be very important when change is ongoing.

Rather than vilifying the voice of the devil’s advocate, it could be useful to invite their perspective around issues of importance. This may tease out alternative viewpoints, unforeseen risks, assumptions the team is making, or unpopular views.

How can the voice of the "Devil's Advocate" be useful to you as a team right now?

Many teams feel that they may remote the voice to the dissenter if he or she leaves the team, but note that it's likely that that voice will re-emerge if changes are not made at the deeper level of the team's system (it's culture, roles, how they do things, norms etc).

What is important to note on your team right now about key issues and the Devil’s Advocate view?

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.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources.