Welcome back to another Sunday week in review installment here at the Teams365 blog post. Today’s post gets you to stop and take a look back at this week’s blog posts which have included:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt exploring the prompt of “I appreciate”.
• Friday’s Flashback Friday post on Teamwork Skills in Complexity - Experimentation
• Thursday’s Team Building Tip question on “What’s Going to Expand your Range?”
• Wednesday’s post on Building A Vibrant Remote Team Culture
• Tuesday’s post on Back to the Basics – Teamwork: Roles
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations post #151 – Team Feedback. How often are you providing feedback to others?

Best,
​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

Check out our Digital Resources to support you in your work and conversations ​

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 | 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

Check out our Digital Resources to support you in your work and conversations 
​

For the first decade and a bit of my career, I led teams that were primarily matrix teams. My staff were supported by both myself, and a local level supervisor.

Matrix relationships have become increasingly familiar in many businesses and locations. Making matrix relationships work requires that we focus on clarifying relationships and roles, we are super clear about reporting, and we also take time to specify who is taking the lead on what, and what needs to be communicated to each partner, when.

Another part of having great matrix relationships is making sure that we have strong team culture. As I’ve defined in past posts, team culture is HOW WE do things. It’s our response rates, how and when we pick up the phone, how we have each others’ backs and how we make sure we are helping each other.

Another critical part of matrix success is holding regular review meetings (virtual or other) to check in around how things are going. These meetings may be quarterly (which I usually recommend) or even more or less frequently.

During these three-way meetings you might check in around questions such as:

1. What’s been working well? What achievements have there been? What goals are being completed?
2. What priorities are upcoming or the next quarter (or other)?
3. What roles, or processes, need to be clarified?
4. What changes do we need to make in order to be more effective?
5. What else is important to explore?

These meetings don’t need to take a lot of time and can be done virtually as well. Thirty to forty-five minutes may be all that is needed.

What do you want to include in your upcoming meeting?

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
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

While some people are starting to go back to work face to face, many of us are still working in the remote space for a while longer. Today’s post shares with you one quick remote team builder. We know that teams excel when they have a clear focus on what results are needed, as well as who they are (their relationships).

One of the elements which is critical for success is that of having a clear vision that everyone can connect to, and keep in mind.  Your vision as a team may be like a horizon – pulling you forward and getting more in focus the closer you get to it. For some teams it may be important to focus on creating a vision to the end of the year, for others, to the end of 2021.

So, what can we do to create this?

At your next team meeting, dedicate 15-20 minutes to working around vision. This may be the start of a multi-session conversation.

Make a whiteboard available and be sure to set annotation as “on” with your platform.

You might start by asking people to consider the current corporate goals and direction to do a series of sharing and writing around different questions such as:

• Looking ahead to end of 2020 (or 2021), what are we known for? (think accomplishments)
• Who have we served?
• What have been our greatest accomplishments?
• What’s important to us?
• What are the things we do not waver on?
• What do we go to bat for? (i.e. address until it’s right)
• What else makes us unique?

 
To spark some ideas, you might even show some photographs and get people to choose from them. Today’s graphic incorporates an activity I recently shared at one of our Remote Pathways calls.

Doing an activity like this will also clarify your culture as a team. I like to define culture as WHO WE ARE and HOW WE DO THINGS.

Save screenshots of the different questions as you go so you have something to refer back to and bring forward to your next conversation.
​
Enjoy the conversations!
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. ​

​One of the skills which is important to develop in the virtual world today is empathy. One of the challenges is that we don't get to see beyond the screen.  What are some ways we can be building more empathy and understanding with other virtual team members?

​What comes to mind in terms of ways you can boost more connection and understanding amongst team members?

​Empathy is a skill set critical for teamwork and leadership. In fact, I probably could do a series of posts on this topic.  In today's post, I want to zoom into the question of "what are some practical ways to build more empathy across virtual teams, while also boosting connection?". 

​There have been some great writings by others on the topic of empathy. Consider these articles - Empathy in Leadership - 10 Reasons Why It Matters by Tanveer Naseer. Read it here.
​Matthew Taylor's Empathy in Leadership: Coaching Leaders to Manage Their Stories. Read it here.
Center for Creative Leadership: Empathy in the Workplace. Find this here.

​As virtual teams, what are some ways we can build our skills in empathy while building connection?

​1. Provide opportunities for team members to get to know each other - online and offline. While some virtual teams will never meet, building in time for "getting to know" each other is critical. This could entail dedicating some time to sharing "What's outside your window?" or" on your desk?" as I describe in Chapter 7 of my new book Effective Virtual Conversations.

​2. Create formal learning partnerships with others on the team. Many virtual teams benefit from having peer partners to meet with on a regular basis. This helps us to learn more about each other, what projects we are working on. As we listen and learn more trust, connection and understanding are created.

​3. Be present and listen. We continue to see how important the ability to focus on virtual conversations is. Nothing will destroy trust and connection faster than hearing the other person on the end of the phone or streaming typing away -doing an email while you are speaking together. What will it take to be present, focus, and deeply listen in your virtual conversations?

​4. Listen for the deeper layers. Typically, in listening we may be staying at the surface. Hearing with one ear and thinking about what we are going to say back to the other person. In the deeper listening needed by virtual teams today, listen to what the person is saying. Notice the pace, pitch of the conversation. Notice what is the emotion behind the words? What is being said? 
​
​5. Take time to share more about your world, your work, your priorities. An important part of empathy is understanding. It's a two-way street - being open to share and being receptive to listening. how much are you sharing about your world, your work and your priorities?

​There are multiple ways we can be focusing on the skills of empathy as we build connection on teams. What are some approaches you as a team want to focus on?
​
Have a great weekend,
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. 
​

It’s mid-month and a great time to do a check point for your team. Many teams may now have been working from home or remotely for at least a month. It’s also mid-month which is always a good time to stop and pause and consider how things are going.

Take a few minutes to reflect on these questions:

1. What’s working for us as a team right now?
2. What ways have we been able to pivot successfully to meet our business needs? Our team’s needs?
3. How are we doing in terms of our results for the quarter?
4. What routines are working well for us?
5. How are we doing on the foundations of team effectiveness? Rate on scale of 1-10 and have discussion on what shifts might be needed:
   • Clear vision, shared by all
   • Clear goals and understanding of what success looks like and how goals are measured
   • Clear roles – Who does what?
   • Shared team practices – regular meetings, and other touchpoints

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
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

For today’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #140, I wanted to dip into the 40 Ways to Work with Virtual Cards Ebook I published several years ago, which covers (as the title says) 40 different ways to incorporate visual cards into your training, meetings and team development sessions. I wrote the guide with Virtual Training tips as well, so if you have access to a digital deck, you will want to considering using them (as long as you have copyright access!).
 
Here’s what I shared in the 40 Ways Guide around Team Acknowledgements – exercise 20 of 40.
​
In today’s busy world we don’t always create the space to acknowledge the strengths and efforts of each other, especially when we are working within a group or a team. Acknowledgment of individuals is also like a glue for a team. It can bring a group or team together very quickly.

​Time: 5-15 minutes
Who For: Individuals, group members or teams
 
Instructions: This is an excellent bonding, or closure activity, and depending on your group numbers, each person can select one or more person they want to acknowledge. You may set this up by having people select a name out of a hat, for the person will acknowledge, or in a team acknowledge someone else. Ideally everyone will have the chance to be acknowledged by someone else in the group.

Ask participants to select a card which represents the essence of what the person adds to the team/group, or a photo which represents what they want to acknowledge the other person for.

Perhaps you pick a ladder for a team leader who is always encouraging people to rise up, or a set of colored balloons for someone who is always making the time to celebrate others. This is an excellent team development activity for intact, project and even virtual teams. Acknowledgement involves recognizing another.

As Pam Solsberg Tapper writes, “it points to the inner thought or characteristics that the client demonstrated in order to accomplish an action.”
​
Share your ideas with others www.conversationsparker.com
|  EffectiveGroupCoaching |
(416) 996-TEAM (8326)

SPARKER QUESTIONS

• What is the characteristic you want to acknowledge the person for?
• When you think of your person, where or when do you see them excel?
• What is the photo you want to use to acknowledge someone else in the group or team?
• What’s the core message of that photo?
• Who does it represent?
• What’s the connection you have with that person?
• How does this person embody the core of the photo?

VIRTUAL TIPS
This can be done with or without the cards. You can run the exercise using words, or hand drawn images as instructed.

Enjoy the conversation! 
Jennifer

If you liked this, pick up a copy of the 40 Ways Guide here (Cost $40 US – immediate download)

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. ​

As many teams around the world wrap up a third week of remote work, I thought it would be useful to go back to past 2019 blog post I had done on Keeping Your Remote Team All on The Same Page – 3 Things to Consider Teams365 #2136 

One of the greatest challenges in team work today is leading a remote or virtual team. Helping people feel connected when they may be working at opposite times of the day, and parts of the world, for the same project can seem daunting.

In my work as a team coach, consultant, and author, I love the work that I get to do with remote teams. It may be because I led remote teams most of my thirty-year career, or it may be that the notion of diversity energizes me. If you have met me more than fifteen years ago, you would have found me connecting with my team which was spread across ten countries, with more than fifteen nationalities represented.

What can we do to help our remote teams stay on the same page? Here are three things to think about:
​
#1 – Strengthen your team identity and culture. Our team identity and culture clarify WHO we are, and HOW we do things. The stronger our team culture is, the clearer we are about what is unique to us as a team, as well as what is acceptable and unacceptable. In a remote team, or virtual team, being focused on these areas can be important. They create clarity. They help us know what’s expected when we are part of one team. When you are part of a matrix structure (very common in the remote space) it’s critical that we are clear on how doing things on one project may vary from doing things on another project with another team.

Having a strong team culture can also repel or attract. It can help people feel “bigger than themselves” and feel a sense of connection or belonging. At the same time, it may signal to non-team members that this team is different.
What is your team identity?

#2 – Consistency. Consistency is important in today’s VUCA world. As I am going to share in a post tomorrow around VUCA and teams, being consistent with process and practices can also create stability in what can often be perceived as a turbulent business context.

If you have said that you are going to meet bi-weekly, make sure meetings happen. If you are expecting reports weekly, be sure to follow up.

What does consistency mean for your team? What can it look like?

#3 – Create regular connection points. What are the touch points team members have, both formally (through team meetings) and informally (through mentoring, peer partners and other ideas)? Consider as a team what “regular” means, and what the right frequency is. Again, connection points create a sense of belonging and team. If we say we are a team, but don’t ever connect, how do we know what people are doing?

Connection points can be digital (like Slack), virtual (like Zoom team meetings) and in-person (quarterly or annual get togethers for the team).

​What is the best frequency for your team?

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
​

As we wind up with our last team essential of the month, I wanted to take us into an area which is critical for team success – the ability to speak up.

When a team feels connected and safe, they are more likely to speak up. The foundation of teamwork is that the fusion of many perspectives, insights and talents is better than one person thinking alone. With this philosophy in mind, it’s very likely that there will be divergent perspectives and insights that emerge from across the team. How do you create a context in which people feel that they can share what might be perceived as oppositional insights, without being shut down?

The ability to speak up was identified as a core component for helping teams excel by Amy Edmonson from Harvard. I regularly recommend her 2011 book on Teaming to Organizations, and she has recently followed up with a new book called The Fearless Organization. Take a look at this article.

From large to small invitations there can be many different ways we foster conversation across a team. This might include:

• Dedicating time to brainstorming solutions/perspectives and alternatives to your most pressing opportunities and /or challenges. In the truest sense of brainstorming, we are welcoming ALL different ideas without shutting them down.
• Ensuring that all voices are being heard. This can be done through participatory facilitation techniques. Rather than just going around a table to verbally share ideas, consider giving everyone a set of index cards or post it notes to share their top ideas. Gather these and post them or go through them one at a time.
• Talk about why it’s important to bring alternative perspectives to the table.
• Watch your language – how is language shaping an “invitation” to connect and collaborate. Is more ME/YOU language being used or WE?

What other barriers are being created around inviting everyone’s voice to the table?

For more on this topic check out Glenn Llopis’ article from Forbes.

You might also be interested in these articles as well:

• John Rampton’s article on 12 Ways to Encourage Your Team to Speak Up 
• From Teams of Distinction

All the best,
​Jennifer

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip takes us into the domain of the matrix team. If you are working remote, it’s probable that you are part of a matrix team. In the matrix work environment where we may have two more or more leaders and sets of teams we are working with, it’s really important that we create strong team culture.

Our team culture (as I have written in other Teams365 posts), is WHO we are and HOW we do things. It consists of our norms (our Team Charter or agreements on how we do things. What’s acceptable and what’s not).

Our team culture is also shaped by our values. If we value quality, we will always make a point to review key pieces of communication before they go out the door. If we value experimentation, we may be very open as a team to things that don’t work as planned (note that I’m not even using the term failure).

Team culture also includes the visual and other elements which make us, us. This might be HOW we hold meetings, or the fact that we provide both positive and constructive feedback around new projects and initiatives. Visual elements might include a mascot or metaphors which help them team identify themselves. For example, a team may associate itself with a firecracker (being bold and making an impact) or a fire pit (bringing people together for collaboration and problem solving). What are the elements of your team culture which you want to make more pronounced or visible?

In a virtual or remote team, it can be key to focus in on being more explicit in taking time to articulate and share our team culture given that we may not be able to see it every day. It may be captured in our slides or stickers that are put on computers or notebooks. What structures do you want to use to make it visible?

For more on the topic of team culture check out these Teams365 blog posts.

Best, 
Jennifer