Teams365 Blog - POTENTIALS REALIZED

TEAMS365 #2275 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #137 – Communication

3/23/2020

Clear, and effective, communication is at the heart of any great virtual work. Whether we are communicating with our colleagues, our boss or stakeholders/customers, we want to be sure that we are clearly communicating what’s important.

In the remote and virtual space, communication takes many forms – from instant messages, to texts, to email. In these instances, we lose a lot of the tone that helps us pick up on cues about communication. Phone is also another important channel not to forget, as it does provide for the layer of TONE to be heard.

The best channel to incorporate for your work may be streaming – whether you come together on a Zoom call or a Skype call. This can provide the rich, visual cues that help us get a total picture of the person we are speaking with.

Effective virtual communication also involves another layer of effectiveness and that includes checking in that our message has been received as it was intended. What are you noticing about how your messages are being understood? Today’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip is about COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE to reflect that important messages will need to be reinforced in different ways. If there is something important which needs to be shared, how do we ensure that we speak it, reinforce it with a written message, and maybe reach out for a one-on-one conversation?

Another channel available to us is also using images to anchor in the ideas we want to communicate. What are the icons and images which will support the conversation? What can you do to support the reinforcement of the messages you want to share?

As you think about your conversations this week, what’s important to reinforce?

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

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#TEAMS365 #1981 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 97: Listening in the Virtual SPace

6/3/2019

Welcome back to another Monday Effective Virtual Conversations tip. This week’s tip focuses into the skill of listening.

As both leaders and team members listening is a critical skill, particularly in the virtual space. It is important for all of us - leaders, entrepreneurs, individual contributors and team members.

Keys to listening in the virtual and remote space are to ensure that we are:

Focusing – Focusing 100% of our attention on the person who is speaking – not using other devices or focusing on other things.
Listening to the tone as well as the words. If you are streaming, what do you notice about the body language?
Listening for the pause points – What does their speed and rate of pitch say? How quickly or slowly are they speaking.

Finally, do you fall into one of the biggest pitfalls of listening today? We want to make sure that we are listening for what is really being said, rather than listening to respond. One of the greatest challenges for most professionals today is that they are so focused on figuring out what they plan to say, that they really are not listening to what is being said. What are you listening for?

I recently came across a great article by Ben Gross on the importance of listening. Here's a link to his article on listening.

It is often said that employees leave managers, not companies. What can you do to boost your listening skills? What did you notice about your last conversation?

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.

#TEAMS365 #1957 – #FLASHBACKFRIDAY: A - Z of Team Development Activities

5/10/2019

With our focus this month on teamwork in uncertainty, my guess is that many of you are thinking about the questions “Practically, what are some things that I can do to support my team through uncertainty?” OR “What can we do to address these topics?”

This week’s FlashbackFriday post takes us back to Teams365 #1657 when I hosted a series around the A- Z of Team Development Activities. As leaders (and team members) it is important to have a variety of ideas and tools available to facilitate the conversations needed for teams to excel.
You can read the original post here.

Here’s what I wrote:

“This month’s focus is on team development. The summer months may be one of the only times when people have an opportunity to focus in on what’s needed for their team. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing a quick A through Z of possibilities for team development activities, whether you are supporting a virtual team, intact team or project team. Over the last five years I’ve written about a lot of these different areas and I’ll include links to the original posts for you to check out:

A – Assumptions, Acknowledgements, Action and Accountability

Take a step back to one of the first A through Z series I did back in 2014 on Leadership. Read the Leadership A – Z around A for Action and Accountability here.

B – Barriers, Beliefs, Behaviors, Boundaries, Brevity, Bottom lining, Beauty, Better, and Best

Check out Teams365 #427 where I explore 6 Leadership Questions for B here.

Check out Teams365 #309 for additional focus areas around B – Check it out here.

C – Culture, Communication, Conversation, Change, Collaboration

Check out these six leadership questions around C here.

Virtual and Remote Leadership – C is for Communication. Read it here.

Check out the Leadership Myth – Change is Easy here.

D – Delegation, Decisions, Direct, Difficult Conversations

Check out Teams365 #315 on D is for Delegation. Read it here.

Check out Teams365 #431 - Six Leadership Questions a day - read it here.

And finally: Virtual and Remote Team Leadership - read it here.

As you consider the A-D of your team right now, what are focus areas the team could work around? Highlight 4-5 key areas you’d like to have conversation or a focus around in the coming weeks.”

Consider what type of conversations you want to have.

With 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 an digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.

#TEAMS365 #1922 #FlashbackFriday – Mavericks in Virtual Leadership

4/5/2019

It’s Friday and time for another FlashbackFriday. I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at April 5th, 2016 to see what I was writing about then. In March and April of 2016, I was undertaking a series I called the A-Z of Virtual and Remote Team Leadership. On April 5th of 2016, we had arrived at M – which I earmarked as M for MAVERICK. What connotation does Maverick have in your organization today? Is it a good, or a bad thing? Regardless, here’s what I wrote, pointing to the Oxford Dictionary’s definition. How can a dash of “maverick” support innovation in your context right now?

Here’s the post – Teams365 #826:

Today we are at the M in the Virtual and Remote Leadership Series. One of the most important characteristics I think virtual and remote team leaders can have is that of a maverick. The Oxford Dictionary defines maverick as:

Maverick: An unorthodox or independent-minded person - Oxford Dictionary
As virtual team leaders our ability to be unorthodox with our thinking, solutions and approaches can be very important, especially if our organization is just starting to embrace virtual teams.

It is likely that developing out of the box solutions will be common place, as is supporting our team members to do similar types of thinking on their own.

As virtual and remote team leaders we are often having to innovate in new areas, and come up with practices and processes that have not existed before. Being a maverick means innovating, AND it also means being respectful in our disruption.

I always think of my last virtual team leadership role where I instituted an annual face-to-face two-day retreat for team members. When I started my role, I asked the office about how often the team got together. The team was based across ten countries, and prior to my start had never met physically in almost 30 years. The lost cost of sharing of experience across these countries, and innovation was apparent. Hobbling together funding from different sources the first year of my leadership, and a lot of flexibility and good will on the part of the team, I was able to bring people together for three days. The output was immediately recognizable by not only my team but our superiors, and became an easy selling point for the following years' budgets.

Questions to consider:

What does maverick mean to you? Your organization? Your context?
What's important about being a maverick?
What maverick role models do you have?
What actions would be in service to the team? The organization?

Enjoy your week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development).
Check out the new 19 Tips for Productivity On-Demand Course. If this is your year to get things moving, check it out now. Join Jenn for bi-weekly live group calls until July. $129 US. Learn more and enroll here.

#TEAMS365 #1784: Celebration – Project Management Influencer from Fit Small Business

11/18/2018

As a writer and author I never know where my work is going to find it's feet. Recently I was awarded the title of Project Management Influencer by Fit Small Business. They award to those who have “shown excellence in their field”. You can read their press release here.
My writing in the areas of Group and Team Coaching has rippled out the world since late 2009. Last year with the publication of Effective Virtual Conversations, an increasing number of professionals, organizations and teams are finding themselves working remote and virtually. If you join me for any of my speaking engagements you’ll hear me usually pull in a focus around the virtual and remote space, given my own background in remote and virtual leadership as a program manager and entrepreneur for two and a half decades now (how time flies!).
My own involvement in the project management sector started with my first office job in the early 1990s. Whether it was engaging in project development and planning, or writing proposals, supporting implementation, to undertaking Monitoring and Evaluation, projects are the backbone of so many industries.
It’s a privilege to reach so many professionals today through my written word. What are the books which have influenced you this year? What social media sites have supported you through useful content and insights?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: [email protected]
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1768 – Leadership A-Z: FlashbackFriday

11/2/2018

I thought that it would be interesting to take a look back to the first week of November in 2014 during the first week of this blog. What was I writing about then? In fact, that week marked the start of one of the first A-Z series I’ve hosted here at the blog. That one took us through the A-Z of leadership. You might recall that I’ve hosted other A-Z series in 2015 (Virtual and Remote) as well as in Team Development Activities. Do check them out!

Here’s what I wrote back in 2014 as I kicked off the A-Z series:

“Today marks the start of a new series focusing on the a through z of Team Leadership. This time last year I did a similar series of blog posts over at the BizToolKit blog. You can read what I read my last year's post on A is for Action and Accountability over at the BizToolkit blog leadership here.

In addition to Action and Accountability, some of the words I have included in the Teams365 version for A include:
Attitude - What's the attitude you are demonstrating. What's the attitude each team member is bringing?
Able/Ability - What are you able to do? What abilities does the team bring? Each team member? How do you leverage these?
Aspire - Where do you aspire to move to?
Assumptions - What assumptions are you holding?
Articulation - To articulate is to spell something out. What do you need to articulate to the team?
Accepting - How accepting is the team? What do you bend for? Consider a bottom line? Deal Breaker?
Astute - Astute leaders use their intuition and observe. What are you noticing?
Assessment - What assessments are working for the team? What do you each need to step back and make a self-assessment on?
Agility - Agility, which embodies flexibility, is critical for today's ever changing workplace. Agile is also a term which has been embraced within the IT, and related sectors, as a core component of,, and approaches around, leadership.

What are the questions for you to explore today?”
I won’t be going through each day again this month, but you are encouraged to take a look and in any spare minutes, think about the opportunities for you as a team leader, or aspiring team leader.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: [email protected]
(416)996-8326

#TEAMS365 #1756 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 67 #letstalkvirtual

10/22/2018

An increasing number of leaders are now supporting virtual and remote teams. While many organizations feel that a step into remote leadership is just like managing people in the bull pen or down the hall, virtual team leadership requires super-strong skills in relationship management, influence and working across differences.
Creating alignment across a virtual team can be a big challenge. Goals often create the anchors for team members who may be assigned to different projects, be managed in matrix fashion, as well as have a different context in which they operate.

Today’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip comes from page 350 of the book, which poses several questions for virtual team leaders to consider when working with teams virtually. These are all questions a leader can pose in individual one-on-one conversations with a team member, or during an entire team meeting.

Consider these question to help create clarity, alignment and accountability around goals:

1. How do our team’s and department goals fit into this? This question helps team members understand the bigger picture and connection amongst goals.

2. Do people understand how their individual effort impacts the organizational goals? This question also helps people connect their individual contribution to the bigger picture. It helps to reduce a sense of operating in a vacuum, and lower motivation when virtual team members do not see where they efforts make an impact.

3. Do individuals on the team understand how their work interfaces and supports others, leading into other goals focused on by other team members?Even is a team does not connect physically, helping team members understand how their work connects with others, helps not only with motivation but also in getting things done. If I know that Sujit’s work is contingent on a specific piece of work I need to complete, I may prioritize things more and/or be sure to get things done on time, or in a certain fashion.

4. How do we measure goals and is there clarity around it? Understanding what success looks like it critical for success, and this needs to be shared across a team. Is there clarity around what success looks like and how it is measured? This may include indicators of success, timelines and other factors.

As you think about your team and their goals for the rest of the year, what’s important to explore?

More on this in the last few chapters of Effective Virtual Conversations where I take a deeper dive into virtual team leadership and virtual teamwork.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: [email protected]
(416)996-8326

#teams365 #805: Virtual TEam Leader a-z: A is for approachable, agile and adaptable

3/15/2016

Today we are kicking off the A – Z of virtual and remote team series. Similar to other a-z series I’ve done, this will take us over the course of the next month or so. Given today's explosion of virtual and remote teams where teams may be not be co-located, team members may be physically remote and/or teams may span a variety of cultures, virtual and remote team leaders can benefit from support. This is something we hear often at the Teams365 blog and in our leadership training (for face to face leaders, and virtual ones).

Key to success in virtual or remote team management today is availability. If team members do not feel connected with you they may not reach out regularly to share updates and successes as well as flag smaller issues. This is a concern as issues which might have been addressed, may become much larger very quickly if not shared.
Creating an open door policy and being clear on when you are available is key to success. Going hand in hand with availability is approachability. If people do not feel like they can reach out to you it does not matter if your door is open or not.

Agility is also key. Given that local level realities may be different in each location for team members, it’s important that team leaders are adaptable and agile. Agile is a term being used quite frequently today. There are several key principles that underscore agile including a customer focus, ongoing modification. You can refer to 10 principles in this Agile Manifesto here
Finally, adaptability is also key. If you are not able to flex and change the role of a virtual team leader will be very stressful. With geographic differences adaptability takes the shape of many levels. From being fluid to adapting programming and priorities for different local level realities, adaptability is key.
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Contact us to discuss coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326
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