Each week I’m going to be sharing a new remote team basics post. Given that at a lot of teams will not be returning to a full in-person team experience, it can be important to return to the basics of remote teamwork. Today we explore teamwork skills.

In the paradigm shift of remote leadership, all team leaders need to develop capacity with leadership skills such as relationship building, communication, influence, decision making and prioritization. When our work needs to be managed by ourselves and we can’t physically get together, these core skills are really important.

As I wrote back in February in the Remote Working Whitepaper, in addition to these teamwork skills, we also want to make sure we foster the 7 Remote Enablers™, what I also term the 7 Cs to Remote Work™ - Communication, Clarity, Connection, Culture, Consistency, Community and Collaboration.

What are you doing to build these and foster these throughout your teamwork, processes and practices?

Today let’s explore one of the foundational teamwork skills: COMMUNICATION.
Communication in the remote space does illustrate two fundamental principles in remote work those being “things get magnified in the remote space” and “things can be more complex”.

In terms of things being more complex, communication in the remote space happens along many different channels – slack, IM, text, phone, Voxxer, dashboards, email, social channels. It can be dizzying, and exhausting, if boundaries aren’t incorporated. What are the expectations regarding how many channels communication can occur on? How quickly do you need to respond? When are you “on” and when are you off?

Each of us is also likely to have a preference in terms of what we like as our primary and secondary channels, also creating more complexity.

To what level of detail do people on the team require information? High Level? Granular? Big picture? Regardless of level, be sure to connect people into the WHY and what’s important.

To the point of things getting magnified, what do you notice about what does get communicated? What does not? And what becomes noise, when it’s being overly communicated?

Consistency is key around communication, so consider how you are being consistent with core messaging?

As you consider communication this week, what’s important to notice?
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Enjoy the conversation,
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
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PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

As most teams move into an extended working relationship virtually, making sure that you are regularly focusing on trust and connection in the team is paramount. Without it, it’s likely that teams will not be able to get the traction that they really need.

The topic of building trust and connection in the virtual space is a focus of chapter 2 in my 2017 book Effective Virtual Conversations. In it I discuss the varied ways to build trust and connection virtually. Whether it’s being CONSISTENT, or communicating regularly with consistent messaging, trust and connection is key.

This was also the focus of the mid-May Community Call I co-host with my podcast partner in crime Michelle Mullins.

I’d invite you to check out the call – 30 minutes (and mark down Thursday June 4th at 7 am ET as our next call – held in zoom room 270-302-0415. Scroll ahead to about minute 15 as we talk about the duality of trust which I first shared here at the Teams365 blog in Teams365 #413 – view it here.)
 
What are the actions you want to undertake consistently to build trust and connection?
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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. ​

Performance conversations are challenging for many at the best of times. What about now that you are likely having to have these conversations virtually? What are the things you want to do to keep the performance conversations going virtually?

Performance issues become even more complex when you are not able to see people in their own element. In fact, our feedback is likely to be framed by what we can see on the screen (which might be one-tenth or one-hundredth of the time in a week) as well as what we see with output.

With that in mind, here are several things to keep in mind around performance support and feedback in the remote space:

• Watch assumptions – be super explicit around what you mean with this.
• Clarify what the end results need to look like.
• Have more frequent check-ins or walk-throughs. It’s important that is not seen as hovering, but it creating a more frequent monitoring process.
• Be sure to return back to measures of success, and things like the IS/IS NOT framework.

As it relates to feedback:

• Make sure that feedback is specific, and demonstrable – again, check assumptions.
• You may want to lead with “Walk me through “ to identify where processes or practices get derailed.
• Be open to feedback in new ways.
• Remember that feedback is a two-way street. It’s often best to get it to give it. Feedback is reciprocal.
• Be sure that you are also having people share what areas they are going to value feedback in first.

What else is important to note about feedback and performance conversations for your team right now?

Enjoy your virtual 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. ​

As a former remote team leader of a very diverse team spread across almost 10 countries, I spent a lot of time for many years in one-on-one conversation with my team members. I still get a lot of requests from both new and seasoned team leaders about how they can amplify their one-on-one time with remote team members.

Our role as leaders in the remote space shifts significantly to one of an ENABLER, COACH and LIAISON. With our team spread out across areas we cannot see, empowerment is key. Time spent on a regular basis with the team collectively, as a well as individually is paramount. When operating in the remote space it’s not so much about taking the time to catch up on work, but rather to be proactive in keeping the conversation going and building capacity of the team to do their best work.

With one-on-ones (simply an individual conversation) with each team member in the virtual space, you may want to get into the practice of scheduling these, in addition to regular team meetings and possibly peer meetings, on a regular basis. That might mean weekly or even bi-weekly.  The more frequently you do them, the shorter they may be, and they may shift from an updating meeting to a strategizing meeting.

As I wrote back in 2017 in another Teams365 post:
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Incorporating some of the questions I share in that post, here’s a list that you might consider exploring together:

1. Tell me a little about how it’s going and what you are focusing on right now?
2. How are things going with your work and tech set up?What are your key priorities right now?
3. What support could you benefit from? From me? From Others?
4. Are there any resources (people, information, budget) you need in order to do your best work?
5. What’s motivating you right now?
6. What strengths are you leaning into?
7. What feedback are you getting/do you need?
8. As you reflect on your own performance, how are things going?
9. What's going to help you get the results you need/ we want? OR What’s helping you excel?
10. What is the one change which will help you with this task?
11. What feedback loop can we put into place to support all of our work?
12. Any feedback for me?

Set up a time to meet for your next meeting and make sure it doesn’t suffer from meeting creep!

One-on-ones should also be considered in tandem with other supports such as overall team development and connection events. Are you getting together (virtually) for some informal social time? Perhaps you do a virtual potluck. Are you getting together virtually to learn something or discuss a new skill area? Everyone in the remote space can benefit from leadership and other skills such as listening, decision making, prioritizing, not only the team leader.

Enjoy the conversation!
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. ​

Just like in the in-person realm, meetings can quickly become a huge time element. Just like most things in the virtual space – communication, teamwork – both the good and the bad get augmented.

In hosting virtual meetings, keeping them on track is critical for success. In order to do this, consider going back to the basics:

1. What’s the purpose of the meeting? Is it to inform? Create something together? Check in and share information? Be clear on what the purpose is. Use this to create an agenda.
2. What preparation is needed? Be explicit about what people need to do BEFORE the call. Is there something they need to read? Review? Prepare and send?
3. How long is the meeting for? Start and end on time. Thinking that everyone needs to be there before you start is likely a waste of precious time.
4. What’s on the agenda? See #1 – Be sure to stick with the agenda and learn from past experience in terms of how much time is needed.
5. What are next steps? Be explicit about what’s been agreed to and who is responsible. You may have one person tasked with noting these next steps as you go so they can summarize at the end of the meeting. Provide people 30-60 seconds (or more) during the call to write it down and schedule it in.
6. What follow up is required? Once again, be clear about next step – WHO, WHEN, HOW….
7. What learning can you apply to your next meeting? With business pressures today, no one has time for ineffective meetings. Note things that are working, note things that aren’t and stop doing them! As more people become familiar and confident with these tech tools, it will be easier to iterate and share best practices.

I explore more meeting tips in Chapter 9 of Effective Virtual Conversations. What are your next steps around meetings this week?

Be sure to download a bookmark for you and your team to share from Effective Virtual Conversations.com. 

Enjoy your 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
​

As a virtual business providing coaching and learning services to teams, organizations and individuals around the world, I’ve was an early adopter of Zoom almost five years ago. What I’ve learned from leading tens of thousands of hours of conversations on Zoom is that people want to have a conversation, not be talked at. This means that we need to learn how to use our virtual platforms more interactively.

Having worked in learning and leadership for many decades now, and having led teams globally, being ahead of the curve to figure out innovative ways we could “keep the conversation” rolling across teams, programs and countries has always had a very business focused end for me.

Today’s blog post goes behind the curtain to share three ways you might consider leveraging Zoom (or any other platforms you are using) to keep the conversation going. I write more about these in chapters 1, 2, 6 and 7 of Effective Virtual Conversations.

1. Consider using annotation. In annotation, there is a whole suite of tools for people to “pick up and use” – to mark on the screen, to share their insights via text, drawing and stamping. For larger groups this can be an important way to get the conversations flowing.

What might you do to leverage annotation?

2. Use breakouts. Just as the name suggestions – breakouts help us move from a larger group to sets of smaller groups. Anecdotally, the larger a group becomes the more apt people are to become a “social loafer” and let others do the work. As group size grows, it’s also more likely that people will feel less comfortable with connecting and sharing their insights. Just as you might ask people to turn to their neighbor and have a conversation, virtual breakouts allow you to do this as well.

Breakouts are powerful at any time, particularly when group members want to know more about each other.

What might you do to leverage the power of breakouts?

3. Incorporate polls. Polls are built into most virtual platforms or you can leverage lots of other polling software like Mentimeter or Kahoot. Also great for larger groups, polls help you take a temperature of the room, seeing what is important for the group that you are working with. Polls are much easier to track on a meta-level for super-large groups. You’ll find that in larger groups chat flows too fast to really follow at a granular detail.

Polls often, but not always, need to be created prior to the event although some will let you create in the moment. This is also where a producer or co-facilitator can be useful to have on board and work with.

What might you do to incorporate a poll into your upcoming session?

Curious about what these interactive tools look like in action? Check out the Virtual Lunch and Learn Calls I hosted in March to provide some immediate complimentary support to the wider community.

Curious about how to do this? Join me for an upcoming one-day Virtual Facilitation Essentials program. It’s a primer in the skills required to lead exceptional virtual calls. Learn more about this program and find out when our next program is here. 

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 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
​

This week we covered a variety of posts related to working remote. If you missed, them, be sure to check out:

• Yesterday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt around Support
• Friday’s Five Ingredients for Successful Collaboration
• Thursday’s Remote Work Enabler around Boundaries
• Wednesday’s post around What’s different with work in the remote space? – Part 2
• Tuesday’s post around What’s different with work in the remote space? – Part 1
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip around Prioritizing in the Matrix Environment (when you are part of a couple of teams)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
​Jennifer

​For the last few months, I’ve been enjoying the creative process of bringing my focus on remote work out into the wider world via the Remote Pathways Podcast. If you haven’t stopped by for a listen, please do! You can listen in here.

​In the Remote Pathways Podcast we explore the people, places and practices of remote work today. The podcast spans the ecosystem of remote work, which I bring to life via the Digital Dozen™, twelve different types of remote workers. From those who are attached to, and lead, larger corporate teams in the business sector, to solopreneurs, those who Work From Anywhere, mobile Sales Professionals, as well as project managers who lead global teams. Remote work has never been so diverse.

Regardless of the differences to the type of work we do, most of us experience similar challenges. I say this with confidence, as over the last three decades I have worn many of the different hats in inhabiting a variety of roles in working the remote, mobile and virtual space.

Today’s blog post explores eight differences when working in the remote space. Consider how these impact you:

Autonomy - The paradigm of leadership when managing a remote team needs to change from an older model of control and micro-management, to one which empowers and coaches. With team members potentially multiple time zones away, and sometimes a lengthy plane ride, as leaders we need to shift our role to one of liaison, trouble-shooter and empowerer. Our team members are the ones “on the ground” with the expertise we will never have in our parachute meetings with them. What are you doing to shift the way you lead and empower your team?

Skills - Related to the shift in formal leadership, remote teams benefit when an emphasis is placed on building and equipping all team members with skills in leadership, teamwork etc. everyone on a remote team will benefit from skills in communication, decision making,  prioritization, not just the formal leader. What are you doing to equip all your team members with skills?

Connections with others - I recently hosted a community call I entitled “No person is an island”. In Effective Virtual Conversations, I started writing about the importance of remote workers being intentional in exploring what their connections are with others. In a team-based context, the work I am doing, or not, may have a significant impact on a team member half a world away.
With this in mind, it’s important that team members do get a regular opportunity to spend time with each other – formally in meetings and possibly informally in virtual co-working sessions. Building in processes in meetings and systems to help team members see the connection between their work, boosts productivity and engagement.

What are you doing to create formal and informal virtual work events to connect and collaborate?

The Matrix -  In a remote work situation it’s likely that team members may be part of multiple teams. This has implications around being very clear around roles, goals and priorities, as well as making sure that team culture is strong. If I am a member of the Toronto team, and also a special projects team, am I clear about the differences in team culture, and priorities? Spending time as a remote team clarifying how you want to work together is an essential part of high performance. I share more about this in part 3 of Effective Virtual Conversations.

There are many other differences which exist from motivation, and inner drive, to relationship building and visibility. I’ll be sure to address some of these other important distinctions in tomorrow’s post.

Looking for support to shift you in working remote? Let's set up a time to connect and discuss  your coaching, or team development needs around remote working.  Email or phone.

Best,
​Jennifer

Our focus this month here at the Teams365 blog is all about relationships. Whether you work in an office or work full time from home, my guess is that somehow you have a touchpoint with one or more team members, or customers, who are remote. One recent study around job postings found that the growth since 2018 had been 151%.
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This means that we all can benefit from learning how to make remote relationships work better. Many things are magnified in the remote space – distance, lack of clarity, focus.

Today’s post explores several areas which can be excellent areas of focus for professionals today. Let’s look at them in turn.

Proactivity – Just like today’s post graphic shows “Remote does not mean disconnected”.  We want to avoid the “out of sight equals out of mind” mindset. Being proactive when working remote or working with those who work remote is key. This means being proactive with communication, meetings, feedback, outreach, and relationship building.

What are the conversations you want to have this week?

Asking Questions – Assumptions can abound in the remote space. If we don’t see, or know other people’s context, we can fall into the trap of thinking we know or understand their world. Asking questions becomes a critical skill as we shift to building relationships in the remote space. We’ll be exploring this topic more tomorrow.

Be Present – When you are in conversation, are you present? Are you multi-tasking? Research shows we can’t do to heavily cognitive tasks at once, so if you are on a conference call, or having a conversation, just do one thing.

Listening – Listening skills are critical. In the remote space when we can’t see each other. We lose the visual cues in many remote conversations, especially if we are not streaming. With this in mind, the tone and choice of words take on even greater significance. What are you listening for? What’s not being said? Even if we can see each other, what is happening outside of people’s screen?

Be Curious – Ongoing learning is part of the reality of remote workspaces. Not knowing everything (or even 10% sometimes) is also part of the reality of remote work. What are you curious about? What do you want to know more about? What do you still have to learn? Adopting a learner’s mindset or shifting into a growth mindset is key.

Be Intentional – Intentionality is also key. Part of designing good conversations may be to hold an intention or create a shared intention together.  Here’s a great article by Marla Tabaka on making the practice of setting intentions, as well as goals and vision.

Work Together – What are your intersection points the two of you have together? Opportunities for collaboration? Spend some time getting to know each other (more on this topic next week), as well as spend some time designing your conversational touchpoints.

A reminder that if you work remote, join us at the Remote Pathways podcast. Co-host Michelle Mullins and I explore the various pathways of the remote space in bi-weekly episodes. Be sure to also check out the 52 weeks blog series I’m hosting this year at Remote Pathways.
 
Enjoy your Tuesday,
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.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

The remote workspace is growing significantly. One recent article indicated that the number of job postings alone indicating remote work has grown 151% since 2018. With this in mind, the ability to work effectively in the remote space is essential.

Part of the shift to effective virtual or remote leadership involves today’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip of SHARE THE REINS.

In the remote space, engagement is key. If people don’t feel connected, they are unlikely to bring their best self to work.

Why It’s Important
Back to where we started with this blog post – sharing the reins is critical for remote work success. We need to involve everyone in the conversation. It’s not just a leader’s perspective on a remote team that is essential. Everyone has a piece of the puzzle! The insights I can bring from being “on the ground” in Toronto may be just as important, or more important than what my leader can see. As we’ve explored in other posts, the ability for a leader to step back and coach becomes a critical skill for remote leaders today.

What sharing the reins looks like:

• Having team members rotate roles including leading meetings.
• It may also involve fostering a peer focused culture where the role of the leader primarily focuses on liaison and trouble shooting.

What changes can you make in this area to support your team?

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.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!