Last time this year I shared the following post on skills needed for remote work. As you read through this given your experience in 2020, what are your thoughts and experiences:
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This month we’ve continued to focus on helping you build your remote team skills. Many professionals new to remote work are curious about what they want to add to their toolbox. This may include things such as:

#1 Systems to Keep You Focused – Systems may range from financial systems (budget, expenses), communication systems – voice, text, email, instant messaging, knowledgement management systems. (Where do you get information?, How do you share information?, How do you file and access information for others across the team?)

#2 Team Development Tools – Having a variety of team development tools to help the team connect, get to know each other and focus in on the work and results you want. More on this topic in tomorrow’s Teams365 blog post.

#3 Relationship Management Tools – What is going to help you build relationships with both internal and external stakeholders? If you are part of a remote team, it’s likely that you are also navigating matrix relationships, and are part of a team.

#4 Planning Tools – As a team, what are your key goals? What are you needing to focus on?

#5 Planning Tools as an Individual – As professionals, it’s likely that we will all have different preferences for planning. Some remote workers want to keep in all in the Cloud, others want an analog paper-based planning tool. In addition to the daily plans, are you taking time to focus on the quarterly and annual plans in your business? This is what I designed the PlanDoTrack Planner for. It’s an analog (i.e. paper-based) workbook and planner to help you (and other team members) get clear on what’s important to you along planning, personal productivity and skills levels.

#6 Getting Organized – Having a well set up office which functions is a big part of the equation. Check out this past post about what elements you will want to have in place.

#7 Performance Tools – Business is about getting results, and it’s important that the team is clear on what needs to get done and what success will look like. What is the current state of performance on a team and individual level? What conversations need to take place?

#8 Coaching Tools – Going hand in hand with performance tools are coaching tools to have great conversations. There are a range of different conversations which need to take place on the team level. From performance conversations (What’s working well and what’s not?)

#9 Project Management Tools – It’s likely that in your work as a remote professional you are regularly navigating projects. What is important to note about your project management skills and tools? Considering the projects you are navigating, how are they going along SCOPE, TIME and BUDGET? What needs attention? Who can help you with this?

#10 A Focus on Team Culture and Identity – While it might seem out of the norm to include this, team culture and identity is critical in today’s workspace. Our culture is WHO WE ARE, HOW WE DO THINGS and WHAT WE VALUE. When was the last time you spent time having a discussion around your team identity and how you do things? If you have team agreements around how you do things, when did you last explore these? If you don’t have them, is it time to create them?

Let us know where you have focused some of your effort this year.
 
Enjoy your mid-week!
Jennifer

Back in early March, before most countries went into lockdown, I released a Remote Working Whitepaper. It’s been downloaded hundreds of times. Make sure to download your copy.
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I thought it would be useful for today’s FlashbackFriday post to explore the different remote work enablers or what I call the 7Cs in my writing. Check out this past post here. 

In the Remote Working Whitepaper, I released earlier this year, I summarized seven of the areas I consistently see as things that help, or enable, exceptional performance in the remote space. As a former remote leader myself for many years, I knew that these things were always areas to check in around first, to see if perhaps, one or more needed attention, clarity or modification.

Whether your team is now working remote all the time, or for just this period of time, it can be useful to focus in on these 7 areas which I like to term Remote Enablers – The 7 Cs. Here’s an excerpt from the Whitepaper which you can pick up a copy HERE.
 
What’s different in the remote space?

Copyright 2020 – Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized. All Rights Reserved

Remote teams operate across distance, time and culture. This usually requires enhanced skills in communication, boundaries, clarifying assumptions and being able to navigate the diverse preferences, cultures and ways of working of a global team. What is not clear or visible can become a challenge or pitfall for a remote team.

What ingredients enable exceptional remote work? I like to call these the 7 Cs which anchor exceptional remote work – Communication, Clarity, Connection, Culture, Consistency, Community, and Collaboration.

Communication is likely to take place along different channels, and at different times of day. The communication realm of the remote space may include phone, text, instant messaging, email, video streaming calls, and messaging across multiple apps like Slack and Trello.

The challenge with communication is that is often has no context - we don’t see “what’s beyond the screen”. Many times, we don’t have the visual cues that tend to make up the majority of regular communication messages.

On top of this, communication can vary across both geographic culture (some cultures are more direct than others), and industry culture.

Finally, we have our own individual preferences to communication. As a Gen Xer, I may prefer to have communication bundled and emailed to me, rather than up in the Cloud. Taking time to understand each team member’s focus and preferences is critical to remote work. Conflict may emerge for a variety of factors including different styles, lack of clarity, misunderstanding or interpreting instructions differently.

Connection with others helps remote work and includes connection to others inside and outside the team and understanding their work. Remote team members are likely to be part of matrix relationships, where they report to, and are part of, multiple teams. Matrix relationships offer another layer of complexity and opportunity in this work. Connection also means understanding how our work fits into the bigger picture, as well as fits into the bigger context of others work. Given the isolated nature of remote work, proactively focusing on connection is important. Take a look at the Remote Working Myths for more on this.

What can you do to create more connection across the team? Beyond the team?
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Clarity is one of the most important enablers. This involves clarity of focus, clarity of priorities, clarity of expectations, clarity of roles and clarity of responsibilities. In the remote space, we need to make things EXPLICIT, and be regularly exploring our ASSUMPTIONS.

What clarity is needed for team members to do their best work?

Team culture becomes even more pronounced or diluted in the remote space, so a focus on this can be really important, especially when people are part of multiple teams. Culture is “how we do things here”.

Culture encompasses both visible (behaviors, language, artifact) and invisible manifestations (norms, values, basic assumptions or beliefs).” – Rosinski, 2003, p 20.

In shaping a culture there are the things we can see and help to define us (our taglines or the way we start meetings) and there are things that we don’t see. Team culture can remain very diffuse and not clear in the remote space. Taking efforts to clarify and intentionally shape what team culture is, and how we do things, becomes paramount for remote team performance.

Consistency is also key when we are dispersed or operating in different locations. It’s consistency of messaging, practices, and the way we do things. For example, every Monday we meet at 7:30 am ET, regardless of how many people can attend live.

Community – Remote Workers are hungry for connection and community. What are you doing to build a sense of connection and identity across your team or organization?  Community can range from boosting communication across internal social platforms to interactive virtual lunch and learns.

Collaboration – Collaboration is an essential skill set when we work remote. As you’ll see in the remote work myth of “no person is an island”, we still need to place an emphasis on relationships. Who do you need to collaborate with in order to get things done? What can you do to collaborate better? Where are those collaboration windows and requirements?

Connection – Beyond community, how are we connected? What are the process pieces which help us do our best work? What type of communication exists? What helps bring people together on a regular basis both formally, and informally? Across a team and between teams?

End of Excerpt – Remote Working Whitepaper: When You Need to Get Up to Remote Working Speed Quickly. Copyright 2020, Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized
 
Pick up a copy of the Remote Working Whitepaper for yourself here.

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

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? 
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​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.
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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
​