This week we’re taking a look back to one of the February 2015 posts on 4 Activities to share with your team. If you are looking for a quick icebreaker, consider how these could support you:

Helping your team get to know one another, strengths and preferences is an important part of team development. As a team leader yourself, it is important to have a number of tools at your disposal. I'll cover more than two dozen facilitation tools which can be used for planning, team development, problem solving and consensus building during the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program.

For this post, I wanted to share four quick ones you can include in your weekly meetings. These are all short activities which may take 10 minutes or less, and can be useful in strengthening team relationships.

Activity #1: The Coin Share. This one comes from a colleague of mine Jason, an alumni of past facilitation skills training . Using loose change in your pocket, give each participant one piece. Ask them to share one key story about the year that the coin is from. It's a pretty interesting activity helping each of us learn a little more about each other, but also encouraging us to think about what happened to us that day.

Activity #2 - Question of the week. We are now well into Week 20 of our Weekly Team Building Questions. Print them off and use them as a conversation starter. I've also created some BETA card decks with the questions for those that might be interested in having a hard copy yourself. If you are interested in trying out one of the five sets of fifty cards with your team, and would be willing to share your story and photos about their use, please email me. No cost to you other than your feedback!

Activity #3 - Photo Cards - Pictures can create a new doorway into meaning. For this activity you will want to have a series of photos of your own  or you may want to look into purchasing a photo deck of your own like our Conversation Sparker Card deck. A colleague did this recently using some calendars from a dollar store and they worked quite well. Have about 2 cards for each team member, so if you have 7 members have approximately 15 cards. Lay them out, and have team members select the card which responds to your questions. You might ask them to select the photo which represents:

1. What they bring to the team
2. Their vision of where they see the team going
3. The values the team stands for
4. The strengths (or challenges) the team is facing
5. What the priority should be

Cards a  great way to connect with more complicated issues, giving a "picture" to the situation. It can also be less threatening for people to raise issues around. I go into more than six ways to use photo cards over at my site - ConversationSparker.com.

Activity #4: What's important to us - A - Z
As a quick activity the A-Z of what's important to us gets the team to quickly collect items/ or name items from a-z which are important to you. for example, a team might indicate that action, bountiful, cheerfulness, diversity and effort are key to them. They can draw these out, or collect items which represent these.  After doing the activity, post them or take a photo of the item to remind you of the adjectives which are important.

What other team activities do you think you could incorporate into your meetings?

​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

Over the last few weeks, I have been undertaking a lot of speaking around virtual facilitation, as well as hosting a number of virtual groups, and virtual train-the-trainers. I’ve also been part of several online conferences, either as a participant, or as in the case of Running Remote, a community sponsor.

One of the key themes which has emerged is HOW do we BUILD connection across the virtual space?

When things are complex, it’s even more important to intentionally be building connections across a group.

Here are two ideas:

1. Have people introduce themselves by asking them to share something that they bring that’s unique to the group. After everyone has welcomed themselves, be sure to ask the group to consider the key themes which have emerged across the group.
2. Add a layer of BINGO to your next meeting – you can see it at play in our Remote Pathways Podcast call around Trust and Connection from May 2020. Check it out here.

​Check out the November 17th blog post which includes links to the topic of trust and connection as well. You can read the November blog post here - TEAMS365 #2514 – Building Connection in Your Remote Team #remoteteams - POTENTIALS REALIZED

This is in addition to a couple of other ideas including:

• Create a virtual co-working group of people inside, or outside of your organization, stating time to meet online.
• Joining communities of like-minded people who are also exploring topic areas of similar interest.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

It’s hard to believe (sometimes…) that we’re nearing the end of the year.
Today's post gets you to think further about year end activities and possible retreat ideas for your team. While not everyone will be able to take a day away from the office, even spreading some of these activities over a couple of weeks, or the next month or two, gets you thinking about, and in dialogue, about important issues.

Here are ten things to be sparking focus and conversation around with your team:

1. Creating a Year in Summary - Using photos or words, how would you describe the highlights of the last year?
2. Strengths based work using either StrengthsFinder or VIA Strengths
3. Goal setting for the new year - overall goals, quarterly goals, monthly goals. Looking at how individual, team and organizational goals overlap
4. Creating an action plan for the new year
5. Creating a Vision for the new year
6. Vision Modelling - using materials at hand coming up with a model for your vision that you as a team can look at regularly
7. Coming up with a theme for the new year
8. Taking time to acknowledge each other
9. Celebrating your successes from the year - a virtual team building event – escape room or BINGO Round
10. Setting an Intention for the year

What other activities might you undertake to wrap up the year together?

Have a great weekend,
Jennifer

This week’s Team Building Tip gets you to think about “What’s an energy booster?” From zoom fatigue to decision fatigue, 2020 is unlikely to go down as a year of too much energy.
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This week have some discussion as to what can be an energy booster for you as a team. Consider the following:

• Incorporate a mindfulness technique – breathwork, yoga or even a simple stretch!
• Bring in a guest speaker
• Co-work together – i.e. earmark a 2 hour block where you work live and real-time with others while working on different tasks. You might check in at the top of each hour.
• Do a fun task together – ie Do a Cook Off and cook a meal together
• Play a round of bingo
• Attend an escape room virtually

 
What else could boost your energy quickly as a team?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

There are many different types of calls we have during the week, with most not having as much connection and dialogue as they could. The beauty of the virtual space is that conversations and connection can take place in a number of ways. 

As I shared this summer in the Stand Out Virtually Challenge, we want to connect people on five levels:

• To you, the host
• To each other
• To the content you are offering
• To the context in which you are having the conversation
• To the technology

 
Consider these 12 different possibilities for creating more connection:

1. Doing a pre-call with each participant to learn ore about them
2. Sharing a welcome video message instead of/or in tandem with a welcome email
3. Having group members share a welcome video introduction
4. Using Breakouts to connect people
5. Assigning an accountability partner or buddy during the process
6. Taking a poll to see where everyone is thinking around a topic
7. Using annotate to have people stamp where they are in agreement around a question or topic
8. Doing a scavenger hunt during the call
9. Using an icebreaker like BINGO during the call to find things in common
10. Using Kahoot to connect people into the content you covered
11. Using MentiMeter to take a poll
12. Using mural to help people connect and share ideas

What else can you do to incorporate more connection on the five levels?

Enjoy the conversation!
​Jennifer

One of my favorite activities at the end of a meeting or training session is the Gallery Walk. In in-person realms, we can look around the room at what has been created, on flipcharts or a whiteboard.

What can we do to translate this to the virtual environment?

We can do a Virtual Gallery Walk!

As you go through your meeting or training virtually, consider what are the elements you want to highlight and showcase at the end.

You might take screenshots as you go through a meeting OR you might bring forward whiteboards again.

Think about what moments will highlight the different moments in time.
​
Enjoy the “walk down memory lane”!
Jennifer

2020 – the year of the bubble. Physical isolation has led to many to feeling more isolated than ever. Just last week we released episode 21 of the Remote Pathways podcast, where we touch on the topic of Virtual Co-Working. You can check it out on your favorite podcast player OR here.

One thing I really love as a podcaster is hosting our twice a month breakfast calls. It’s open to all and I hope you will drop in for one before the end of the year!

In the most recent Remote Pathways community call on September 17th, Michelle and I talked about the many different forms virtual co-working can take.

Here’s a quick overview of the different types we talked about. What’s interesting is that between us both of us support programming virtually all these different types of co-working. Which ones might work best for you?

• Zoom Call - Working real time for short blocks of time on Zoom
• Virtual Retreat - While Michelle focuses on virtual retreats for personal development in her Anchor Your Heart Retreats, I focus more on virtual business planning sessions.
• Lunch and Learn - Professional development opportunities abound for many professionals and breakfasts, lunches and dinners are very common. As I share in the call, it’s not uncommon for me to speak to a group of 20 or even 200 virtually over lunch. Contact me if you are looking for a speaker for your lunch and learn.
• Social Time - Quarantinis became a popular 5 pm activity in the early days of the pandemic. Today that’s morphed into many different formats. What are you doing to create more social time with colleagues and friends and family, virtually?
• Design (Studio Time) - For many of the clients I work with, design or studio time is important. Getting together with others can create more focused work and impact. What are you wanting to design and how might some virtual studio time support you? Again, contact me for upcoming virtual studio days AND sprints.
• Conversations - What are the conversations you want to have this month? Who have you not reached out to recently?
• Get it Done! - Getting things done are critical for success. One of the favorite activities with the annual lab programs I run is the Get It Done Days. What could 4 hours of focused work get off your list?
• Games/challenges - Challenges are one of my new favorite activities. I kicked off the Stand Out Virtually Challenge in August and more than a hundred joined me. I’ll be hosting my next challenge in October so stay tuned and join us at the Virtual and Remote Visionaries Hub to keep posted.
• Team Time – Finally, what is the time you have earmarked for your team for team development?

What are the types of co-working experiences you want to engage with?
 
Be sure to check out the September 17th Breakfast Community Call for more on Virtual Co-Working – You can view the 30 minute call here.

Best,
​Jennifer

With the shift to virtual, it can be very easy to shift into all results and business focus. At the same time, it is important to spend time focusing on the relationship element of groups and teams. This week’s post gets you to think about “appreciations” in your team. This is an activity I do regularly in team development programs I facilitate for remote teams.

Length: 5- 20 minutes

Number: 3 to 20 or more

What you need – Breakout rooms

Instructions: Put group or team members into rooms of 2-3 people. Have them share with the other person the following:

1. I see one of your strengths as….
2. I appreciate when you…
3. I’d love to see more….

This activity can be a great opportunity to witness what people bring to their work, acknowledging people for their strengths. At the same time, it can be an opportunity to provide nudge in terms of areas to magnify or even minimize.
After doing the breakout rounds it can be useful to have people return to the main room and share the one thing that they are going to focus on.

When do you have an opportunity to focus on acknowledgements?
​
Best wishes,
Jennifer

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. ​

​An increasing number of teams have been moving their work to the remote space in recent weeks. Focus and relationships are core to success. I thought it would be useful to reach back to a post from October on different ways you can connect your remote team. Take a look:
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This week we turn our attention to a post from last October around your Remote Team Toolkit:

TEAMS365 #2130 Remote Team Toolbox: Helping teams connect, get to know each other and focus

In yesterday’s post I covered a range of different team development tools which professionals in the remote space may want to build or further develop. This could include tools in the areas of supporting the team to connect with each other, get to know each other and focus in on the work and results you want.

Area A: Activities/Resources to help the team to get to know each other
What’s outside your window? – As I wrote in Effective Virtual Conversations, we often only see people in their screen but aren’t able to see what’s beyond the screen. Have people share what’s outside their window or call in from a different location so you can learn more about their context.

Earmark 3-5 minutes to a fun opener/icebreaker in your next team meeting so people can get to know each other better.

Area B: Tools to help with focus
Minimizing the impact of digital distraction is a key issue for teams today. See what I had to say about reducing digital distractions a short while ago here at the Teams365 blog. 

Several different tools which help team members focus in the virtual space include the:

• Urgent/Important Matrix
• Strategic Issues Mapping (link to past Teams365 posts)
• SWOT: The trusty strategic planning tool (link to past Teams365 post)

Area C: Helping teams connect
Helping teams connect with who is who and who is working on what is of critical importance to a remote team. It’s an area we often don’t think about on the surface, sometimes given the diversity of roles and locations. It can be very useful in the medium- and long-term to facilitate regular conversations with the team around who is doing what, and to also earmark time for the team to regularly connect and get to know each other. Discussion in this area might include:

• Undertaking inventory of projects people are working on so that lessons learned can be shared.
• Identifying key strengths and experience bases which exist in the team – there may even be a “go to” team resource person around different areas – i.e. technology questions, resource around different themes/focus areas you work on etc.
• Short team openers and closers such as BINGO. (where team members asked to find someone who – insert different categories like: “has visited 3 different continents, speaks multiple languages, is a twin” etc.)

For more on this topic check out the 20 Focus Areas for Virtual and Remote Team Development ebook which is available at the Potentials Realized site and provides you with facilitated instructions of 20 different activities you can facilitate with your team. Pick up a copy here.

If you have a copy of the Effective Virtual Conversations book, check out chapter 7 on Tools and Resources.

Wishing you all the best,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

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.
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!
​