Creating connection across the team quickly is an important part of building the capacity of a remote team, especially when they only get to see each other infrequently.

Today’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip invites you to consider using the question “What’s on your desk?”, to provide a wider perspective for the team to explore what is important and a priority for each team member. In the remote space, we may only see the backdrop to people’s workspace. What would it be like to have people pan real time their workspace, or share a photo of what’s physically on their desk? It might also be interesting to have people share the top 3 priorities for their week. This can help the team gain a new, and wider, appreciation of what’s important and happening in each person’s world. It can also help the team to make connections between their work and others that they may not have “SEEN” (no pun intended!) before.

What’s on your desk?
​
What would a picture of your desk convey to others? ….here’s a shot of mine right now…

All the best, 
​Jennifer

​In my former world of work as a remote leader with teams across ten countries, and in the last fifteen years of working remote a majority of the time, remote work is second nature, and is the primary focus of our support. As more organizations are gravitating to a remote work approach, it can be important to become more explicit with some of the nuanced differences in leadership and teamwork between in-person work and remote work. Today’s post explores four areas to pay attention to as a remote team:

1. Building everyone’s skill set and leadership capacity – In a remote team, it can be critical to equip all team members with skills and leadership capabilities even if they do not hold the title of leader. Given that remote team members may be the “face of the team or organization” or represent the organization to those locally, ensuring our team members are equipped with the right skills can make or a break an organization that is remote, or is moving remote. What are you doing to invest in team member’s development on an individual level?
​
2. Spending time on team development – 2016 research done by Culture Wizard found that only about 1 in 4 remote teams benefited from any team development. This is an area that is often overlooked in terms of what might be possible. At Potentials Realized, we specialize in remote team support and bring years of experience in supporting remote leadership development, virtual skill development and remote team support. Reach out to learn more about the Remote TEAM DAYS we facilitate. From half day to full day virtual sessions, to strategic planning conversations, team development in the remote space is just as important, or even more important than that in the in-person space. Team development is a blend of both focusing on results as well as building relationships.

At Potentials Realized, we offer a suite of support services specialized for remote teams – from strategic planning, to team development, to virtual training in key leadership topics (link to map of remote team topics) or our Teams365 modules. From one-hour lunch and learns to multi-day sessions we’ll meet up with you in the remote space, designing and facilitating your event, without your team having to travel (unless they want to!). Set up a call to discuss.

Questions to consider:

• What opportunities do we have this year to bring the team together (virtually or in person)?
• What opportunities could be benefit from?
• What needs attention – building our relationships, clarifying our results, or both?
• Making things explicit – All teams may falter if things are not made explicit. When assumptions go unchecked. This is particularly true in the remote space when all of us may have “different pieces of the puzzle – i.e. different contexts we operate within, different skill sets, and different vantage points on the work we are undertaking. Being proactive in sharing our context, priorities and preferences builds trust and connection, and also supports a wider understanding of priorities, practices and approaches.

More questions to consider:

• What are the things that need to be clarified?
• What needs to be shared more?
• What are the assumptions which are not being named or checked?
• What else is not being seen?

3. Proactively taking time to build relationships – In the remote space it’s hard to meet colleagues as you head into the lunchroom or head to the water cooler. We usually only come together for formal events. Given that socializing time looks different in the remote space it can be important to be more proactive in building relationships. As an organization or team, you may want to take some time to create more informal connection points. Whether this is a virtual co-working space which opens up for short windows each week, or whether it’s an informal but facilitated series of conversations at lunchtime by a colleague (think virtual lunch and learns or book club calls). Remote workers need a sense of connection and identity (stay tuned for more on this topic tomorrow).

4. Be aware of what’s below the “waterline” – In my 2019 workbook/planner PlanDoTrack, I provide the metaphor of an iceberg as a valuable tool for self-development and team development. Where teams of all kinds can benefit it by exploring what’s below the waterline of their work.

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 start 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.

Winter 2019 programs start this week including the Coaching Biz Growth Lab (an annual focus on coaching business development), GroupCoachingEssentials (8.75 CCEs), the Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs) and the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program (8.5 CCEs) - geared to support you in creating more exceptional virtual conversations. Finally the Mentor Coaching Group for Winter 2020 will begin - aimed at coaches who are working towards their ACC, PCC or renewing.

​This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip explores the topic of building team culture. Creating a strong team culture as a remote team is of benefit in many ways. First, it helps boost a sense of identify and belonging. Many remote workers today feel isolated or disconnected. A strong team culture can be one element in helping people feel connected to others and to a bigger purpose.
Team culture consists of several elements including HOW we do things. Our team culture includes our agreements, our norms – what’s acceptable and what’s not, our values (which help with decision making, prioritizing, as well as the more visible elements of culture – the way we sign our emails, how we hold meetings, plus any other team differentiators.

In addition to boosting a sense of belonging, team culture is critical when remote team members may be part of multiple teams. For example, if I am part of a Central North America Team, as well as being part of the learning team. The learning team may have values around communication, expedience, learning and experimentation. This may translate to agreements around how fast we communicate, how we share alternative points of view, and how much autonomy we have in getting things done. A strong team culture will help us understand these elements as well.

Given that my learning team culture is distinct from the North American team culture, I can differentiate in the different relationships, meetings and tasks what’s important. In contrast, the NA team may value metrics, efficiency (different than expedience), business cases, and brevity. What is prioritized and what is expected will be different.

Culture in a remote space can be invisible unless we make a point of making it visible and tangible. It can be seen in our processes, our communication, our language and even branding. Making it as explicit as possible, and naming it is also an important part of remote team success.

What can you be doing to make your remote team or organizational culture more visible and intentional?
​
For more on culture, check out the past posts I have written on Team Culture.

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 start 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.

Winter 2019 programs start this week including the Coaching Biz Growth Lab (an annual focus on coaching business development), GroupCoachingEssentials (8.75 CCEs), the Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs) and the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program (8.5 CCEs) - geared to support you in creating more exceptional virtual conversations. Finally the Mentor Coaching Group for Winter 2020 will begin - aimed at coaches who are working towards their ACC, PCC or renewing.

As we move into 2020, it’s easy to get swept up into the “doing” of work right away. Before the year gets further ahead, take a few minutes to be sure that you get these items scheduled in…

#1 – Team Meetings – Make them consistent and regular. It’s likely that you won’t be able to have everyone at the table (or the screen). Make sure that you create shared team agreements of what team members need to do if they are not present for meetings.

#2 – Meetings with Your Boss – Have you scheduled in time with your direct line manager? Keeping visible and being in regular communication is essential in today’s workplace. Corporate priorities can change quickly as can your boss’ priorities. How often are the two of you meeting? What format are you using? What’s important for them to know?

#3 – One-on-ones with The Team – While group and team meetings are great, team members still need some 1-1 time. Be sure to schedule in some time with your team on a regular basis. Are you aiming for monthly 1-1 conversations? Quarterly deeper dives? Daily touchpoints? As a team talk about expectations and make agreements about who is responsible for scheduling and follow up.

#4 – Team Development Time – As I shared in yesterday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip, team development time is critical and is often overlooked for virtual teams. Teams don’t just excel by osmosis! They need time to get to know each other, clarify how they are operating and focus in on what’s important.

#5 – Strategic Thinking Time — Are you leaving yourself enough time for reflection and thinking? Be sure to leave in enough time for strategic thinking. This can include creating, or revisiting your VISION, MISSION and MANDATE. Taking time to think strategically is important so that you have a clear big picture with a longer-term horizon. With things changing rapidly, the strategic horizon of 1, 3 or 5 years down the road can be invaluable in helping us keep moving, and not getting too set back by the small changes which can feel frenetic.

#6 — Time to Get Things Done — With meetings, communication and email taking a lot of time, what time are you leaving for yourself to get things done? For some professionals, it means coming into the office early to tackle key tasks for 30-60 minutes before others arrive. For others, it means booking a conference room and closing the door. Notice when you are most productive and when it’s important to get things done.

# 7 – Learning Time – What are your learning and development goals this year? Embracing ongoing learning has never been more important. What are the skills, processes and approaches which are going to help you do your best work? Note that learning can take many forms: including in-person programming, virtual learning as well as on-demand learning. Finally, peer learning (see #9) is another set of approaches.

#8 – Feedback Time – What feedback touchpoints are you building in throughout the year? Feedback in many organizations has moved to an ongoing cycle, and it can be important to make sure that it is happening regularly. Block off time in your schedule to get it done.

#9 – Peer Learning Time/Mentoring Time — What is the peer learning you want to undertake this year? Is it possible to do some job shadowing or pair with a peer partner throughout the year to compare notes, share resources and learn from each other?

In addition to peer learning, what about identifying a mentor in your organization or industry who can share their experience in order to help you understand “what’s below the waterline”?

#10 – Time Within Your Industry or Outside Your Regular Scope of Work — Finally, industry connections are key. Keeping current in your area of work may be as important, or more important, in the medium- and longer-term. What connection into professional associations are going to support you this year?

As you think about this year, what is going to support you best?

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

​It’s Monday which means that we are back to the Effective Virtual Conversations tip day. It’s 126 in the series, and today’s tip is “Learn about each other”.
​
Successful teams aren’t simply CLEAR about the results they need, they are also knowledgeable about, and connected with, each other. This week’s Remote Team Tip is all about taking some time in your upcoming meetings to learn about each other.

While some teams will choose to make a strategic investment in structured team development activities throughout the year, many teams may choose to incorporate something into their weekly meetings. Either approach can work well, if it’s done consistently.

As someone who is often brought in to facilitate Team Days, I know how valued the connection piece is by other team members. Feelings of isolation and working alone are prevalent in the remote working space, and helping team members learn about WHO is WHO, and what people do, is an essential component to team development.

In the 20 Activities for Remote Teams, there are a number of structured activities you can facilitate with your team.

Some other ideas include:

• Dedicating time each team meeting to having one person’s role “in the spotlight”. They may have the floor for 5-15 minutes during a meeting to share what they do, their priorities and possibly a little bit about what’s unique about their context.
• Having team members work together in smaller pairs around team building activities or real-time team problem solving.
• Having people share what’s outside their screen or window – see chapter 7 of Effective Virtual Conversations around this.

Also check out Teams365 2097 – Remote Team Activities – for more info.

Want to learn more about how a team day could support your team’s results and relationships? Let’s talk. Email me to set up a conversation to learn more about the Team Days I facilitate (virtually of course!).

All the best, 
​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 start 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.

Winter 2019 programs start this week including the Coaching Biz Growth Lab (an annual focus on coaching business development), GroupCoachingEssentials (8.75 CCEs), the Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs) and the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program (8.5 CCEs) - geared to support you in creating more exceptional virtual conversations. Finally the Mentor Coaching Group for Winter 2020 will begin - aimed at coaches who are working towards their ACC, PCC or renewing.

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you to think about different pitfalls which might exist in your work. Proactivity and thinking through what you might do to prevent them, or recover, if you don’t prevent them, can save a lot of time and energy.

Here’s a list of some of the common pitfalls I saw this year in the work that I did with leaders and teams:

• Team Pitfalls - Disengagement, people disconnecting because they always feel that they are the ones who have to flex (i.e. being the only team member who has to call in early or late all the time), not sharing information, not collaborating because people don’t know who is who.
• Communication Pitfalls - Messages not being understood as intended, overuse of different technologies, assuming everyone had read the email.
• Leadership Pitfalls - Not being clear in terms of process, message, outcome, not co-creating expectations with the team, not investing in one-on-one time, not being consistent with messages and meetings, not providing direction/information on the big picture and strategic direction, not being clear on how people connect and not providing time for the team to meet.
• Technology Pitfalls - Not keeping things simple in the virtual space, getting thrown off by tech challenges, not running through the technology before the conversation, not taking time to prepare, trying to fit too much in and not keeping it simple.
• Meeting Pitfalls – Not having an agenda, not getting input around the agenda, not rotating facilitation of it, not following up on accountabilities, not being consistent with meeting, not being clear on purpose of meetings.

What other pitfalls have you experienced this year?

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.

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.

Some teams will start winding down in the next while. Before it gets to be the last minute, it can be useful to schedule some time to do a formal team wrap-up. Here are several questions you may want to ask/discuss. They were originally shared in my earlier Teams365 blog post.

Here are six questions to be asking yourself and your team to finish off on a "high note":

1. What projects need to be completed prior to the end of the year? What will it take to wrap these up?
2. What, if anything, needs to wound down before the end of the year - processes, accounts, reports?
3. If we need more people power on a project before the end of the year, what do we let go of?
4. Before we disband for the holidays, what lessons learned and recommendations for next time do we need to capture?
5. What new habits do we need to develop as we get back to work in January?
6. What do we want to celebrate?

What else do you want to make sure you have dialogue about before the team starts to disband for the year?
​
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.

Working with strengths is another powerful antidote for teams operating in today’s VUCA context. Helping people bring their strengths to work everyday boosts engagement and can be a powerful motivational factor which we know is a key component for virtual teams today.

In this week’s Flashback Friday I wanted to link back to Teams365 #1240. 

Here’s what I wrote about different ways to support a focus on strengths with your team:

Gallup has studied the realm of strengths for many years now and research shows that helping employees and team members leverage their strengths every day leads to significant gains. The Gallup Strengths Center mentions these as some of the benefits of strengths-based management practices in December 2016. 90% of organizations which incorporated strengths-based management practices found:

• 10% to 19% increase in sales
• 14% to 29% increase in profit
• 3% to 7% higher customer engagement
• 6% to 16% lower turnover (in low-turnover organizations)
• 26% to 72% lower turnover (in high-turnover organizations)
• 9% to 15% increase in engaged employees
• 22% to 59% fewer safety incidents

​Read Gallup's article here.

​So what are some practical and tactical ways team leaders can support their team members in bringing their strengths to work every day?

​#1 - Help you team understand what their strengths are - Knowing our strengths is not an intuitive process for many of us. Helping team members understand what their strengths are is an important part of the process. There are several ways to explore strengths including the VIA Character Strengths Survey, and StrengthsFinder. Helping team members consider the question "When are you at your best?" also helps team members become more aware of their strengths.

​#2 - Get team members sharing more about their strengths - What they are and how they use them every day at work. This can be a great team meeting conversation touch point. Whether you make it part of a regular team meeting, or a special event, conversations like these lay the foundation for effective team building.

​#3 - Pair people with different strengths - Teams which excel usually have complimentary strengths. Pair people on the team together who may have complimentary strengths.

​#4 - Pair people who have similar strengths - You may also want to pair people who have similar strengths so they can compare notes and get inspired from each other about how they leverage their strengths.

#5 - Find ways to utilize your strengths more regularly. When we are able to use our strengths more readily engagement goes up as does our satisfaction levels. If using your strengths is not part of your everyday work, have some dialogue with your boss about how you could take on special projects which would leverage your strengths, and/or explore other development opportunities. I can think back to how my participation in many special projects and committees allow myself to bring my best to work, while further building my own skill set and opening up new opportunities where over my career progression I could use my strengths more on a regular basis.

​What other ways do you see as possible for people on the team to leverage more of their strengths?
 
For those interested in learning more about this topic, do check out an excellent article by Courtney Ackerman. 

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. ​

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 
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. ​