This month as we've been looking at tools and different things you can do with teams (empathy, roles, visuals) we are connecting in with the topic of team culture. As I wrote earlier this month, in Teams365 #1526, Team Culture is "How we do things". 

​It includes components such as our:
Identify
​Beliefs
Values
Assumptions
Practices

​Our team culture can shift over time and is heavily influenced by leaders and team members.

​As you have been considering some of the activities and conversations posed this month here at the blog, how do they connect with your culture. How aligned are they?

​Consider where you as a team want to go, and what will help you get there.

​If you have not taken a look at some of the areas you want to build capacity within your team around, be sure to check out #Teams365 $1540 - Tools for Leaders and Business Owners. In this post I highlight eight different areas skills are needed in.

Best
​Jennifer

Today's teamwork quote comes from Ted Sundquist who wrote "Good teams incorporate teamwork into their culture, creating the building blogs for success".

​Teamwork skills are often overlooked. They encompass skills like conflict resolution, communication, influence, relationship building, emotional intelligence.

​Take a look around at many of the past posts, and series, I have done on teamwork skills.

​What do you see as the strongest teamwork skills for your team right now? Which ones need further attention or development?
​If you do not put attention on these areas, which might happen?

Enjoy your weekend,
​Jennifer

This week's Teams365 Video explores the Forming Stage of any team and group development process. Whether I am working with groups or teams virtually or in person, I continue to see how Bruce Tuckman's model of Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning plays out in teams which exist for special projects or groups that are together for extended periods.

​In today's Teams365 Sunday video we explore the first stage of Tuckman's model - the FORMING Stage. In this first stage of group or team development, members are looking to connect with others, learn more about what lies ahead, and are eager to start developing trust. Without trust and connection, it's unlikely that a group or team will move beyond the next stage of group development which is commonly referred to as the storming stage.

​Throughout this month here at the Teams365 blog, we are exploring different ways that teams and leaders can expand their connection.  Do take a look at the different posts I have shared, and stay tuned for more in the last half of this  month.

​Leave a comment. What are you doing to build trust and connection, or support your team/group through the forming stage.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

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 coud do a series of post 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 is 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 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 be 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?

​With best wishes,
Jennifer

​

Each Sunday I share with you a quick 1-2 minute video bringing to life past blog posts. In the spirit of our March focus on team development here at the blog I've gone back to Teams365 blog post #1111, sharing with you some of the areas, and questions, your team might want to have discussion and focus on at your upcoming team meetings. Team development doesn't just have to wait for the offsite.

​Enjoy!

​Jennifer

As we step into the month of March 2018 here at the Teams365 blog, our focus is returning back to team development. Whether it's due to a change in season or it's time for a tune-up, the shift in seasons which is happening this month often precipitates a focus on team development.

​Today, I wanted to take us back to an older post from the blog from early 2016 on Motivation and Your Teams -  3 Questions to ask. Here's what I wrote in Team365 #736:
"Motivation is a critical topic for team leaders to consider on multiple levels. Against the backdrop of many organizations struggling with "employee engagement issues" motivation can be a core topic.

There are a number of levels at which we can consider the topic of motivation as team leaders including these three questions:
What  motivates each individual team member? Team members can be motivated by both internal and external factors. For some team members it may be pay that really gets them going, while others may be motivated by doing a good job. Spending time getting to know your team and what makes them perform at their best is a key part of stellar team leadership.

What does each team member find important? Our values shape what we deem as important. Whether our values are security, or adventure, these are the things that become our drivers and what we often seek out. Each team will also have its own set of values. As team leaders it can be important to have dialogue around values at two levels - the individual levels and the team level. See how value alignment works with motivation for each team member.

What are levels of trust and connection like on the team? Team motivation is often tied at a much deeper level to the amount of trust in a team and how connected people feel. We often look to the surface level of question what - What motivates each team member - without asking ourselves about the status of trust on the team. If trust levels are low, or if toxic behaviors are present, it's unlikely that team members are going to be motivated to bring their best to work each and every day.

AS you consider the topic of motivation on your team right now, what's important for you to consider? What issues need to be top of mind?"

​As you consider your team this March, what do you notice about how motivated people are? What's the culture of the team?

​Looking forward to delving into many topics related to teams and culture this month.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

This week's Teams365 Video brings to life a Pulse post I wrote last year over at Linked IN, entitled "Building Relationships in Your Virtual Team". I spend a lot of my time as a coach and trainer working with virtual teams, helping them get clearer on their goals as well as boosting the connection amongst them which is essential for deeper levels of trust and support.

​Take a look at this Linked In post through the eyes of video. What are some things you can do to boost your relationships? Stay tuned here at the Teams365 blog as this coming month's focus (March 2018) is all about team development - for both virtual and intact teams. Enjoy!

Best wishes,
​Jennifer
Jennifer

In our FlashbackFriday this week I am taking us back to the 20 Activities for your Virtual and Remote Team. Next month, in March, we’ll be focusing on team development activities throughout the month. You can never have too many.
If you didn’t catch the 20 Activities for Your Virtual and Remote Teams series late last year, I covered 20 different activities – from:
·         Time Management and Prioritizing
·         Matrix Management. Check out Teams365 #1421 around Matrix Management.
·         Work-life
·         Intercultural skills and knowledge
·         Project Management
·         Emotional Intelligence
 
Given that this past month at the Teams365 blog and in the Teams365 Leadership Lab we have been looking at Emotional Intelligence I thought it would be appropriate to zero into the Emotional Intelligence as core skill:

Here's what I wrote in Teams365 #1435:
In the virtual space, helping team members become more proficient at Emotional Intelligence (EI) skills, which not only help with getting things done, but it helps people in self-management (managing triggers, and enablers), and in building effective working relationships.

Under the umbrella of EI we can have more than a dozen skill sets – from optimism, to conflict management, to developing others. It can be useful to have the team take stock of where they are at in each of the four domains of Emotional Intelligence. You may want to dedicate time throughout the year to this topic – perhaps addressing each one of the four areas every quarter.

 “The research shows that for jobs of all kinds, emotional intelligence is twice as important an ingredient of outstanding performance as ability and technical skill combined. The higher you go in the organization, the more important these qualities are for success. When it comes to leadership, they are almost everything.”
 - Daniel Goleman


The four components of Emotional Intelligence are critical for virtual teams. Today we are going to explore the first two – Self Awareness and Social Awareness:

Self-awareness: Knowing ourselves:
Under self-awareness, skills such as self-confidence, and accurate self-awareness exist. You may want to read Primal Leadership by Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee for more on this.
How do we develop these skills in our teams, and ourselves as leaders? As a quarterly activity you may want to undertake an assessment so that the team learns more about themselves and their natural style. Some of us are big picture thinkers while others small picture thinkers. In learning more about ourselves we can understand:
Our enablers – what helps us do our work
Our derailers – things that may get in the way of our work
Our triggers – things that may hit our buttons to either super-charge us to set us back
Our natural styles – where we go to in times of stress or pressure.
 
Social Awareness
The second I wanted to touch on in this posts is that of social awareness. It’s about being aware of, and knowing the emotions of those around you. Three skills exist in this area and as outlined in Primal Leadership are:

• Empathy: understanding the other person’s emotions, needs and concerns.
• Organizational Awareness: the ability to understand the politics within an organization and how these affect the people working in them.
• Service: the ability to understand and meet the needs of clients and customers.  (page225, Primal Leadership)

There are many places we can explore here. Facilitating discussion around understanding our impact on others, or what your team member,  clients and customers need is one way to help team members to build more capacity in this area.

Questions to consider:
What's important about Emotional Intelligence for you and your team?
What learning would you like to do in this area?
What opportunities do you  have to build more capacity in your team in these areas?

​Which I followed up with Teams365 #1436:
Area 3 is about Self-Management.
Our ability to manage our emotions and motivate ourselves is critical for virtual teams. Helping team members understand why we get triggered or other is important
Self-management is about building onto what we know about ourselves and being able to manage accordingly based on our awareness.

Our ability to follow through, motivate ourselves and adapt to change is part of this skill set.

Skills which reside in this area, according to Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, are :
Self-control
Transparency
Adaptability
Achievement
Initiative
and Optimism

Activities to help teams with self-management usually involve helping team members identify what are their triggers, and what are their habits. It usually involves enhancing their self-awareness as well.

Here's a quick activity to build self-management:
Get team members to reflect on the following questions, and potentially write them down:
1. What are the top 3 activities that provide you with the opportunity to achieve? What are the habits (or things you do consistently) that help you be successful in this area?
2. Think of a time recently when you had to adapt tin order to be successful? What was the situation? What did you do to adapt? What did you learn from this experience?
3. Think of a time recently when you had to self-manage? What triggered you? What did you do to react? how did this reaction influence the situation? What can you do in the future to aim for a successful outcome next time you are triggered?
4. What are two or three areas you can demonstrate more initiative in, in the new year? What would it look like? What impact would that have?

The arena of optimism is another area you might want to explore with team members. There is a continuously growing body of knowledge and practice around optimism.  To explore these question you may want to look at:
What is your mindset around optimism? Are you a glass half full, or half empty individual?
What impact does your mindset have on results?

The fourth area of Emotional Intelligence is that of Relationship Management – Being able to navigate relationships and work effectively with others.
Building relationships virtually is a key priority for virtual team members, perhaps to an even greater extent. In the in person realm, people are very close in proximity and spending time with peers and other co-workers is an every day occurrence. In the virtual space we need to be more intentional in building relationships. Business still occurs through relationships, whether you are virtual, work remote or work beside someone else.

 
You can check out the post which highlights all 20 of them here at Teams365 # 1443.

​This month we've been exploring Emotional Intelligence for Leaders at the Teams365 Leadership Lab. Later this week my second call of the month will focus on building Emotional Intelligence in your Teams. If you are a team leader, or aspiring team leader, I hope you will consider joining us for this annual learning and coaching group which meets twice a month throughout the year. Each month has a different focus.

With best wishes,
​Jennifer