This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip focuses on the question “On what platform will connection between calls work best?”. In coaching we have a saying that the “’impact of coaching happens in between the calls”. It is often the actions, insights and connections made in between your virtual sessions where people put ideas into practice, connect the dots, pass ideas forward, that learning and momentum happen.

The platform which connects group members in between the calls can be instrumental in enhancing this. There are many options which are possible including:

• Private Community Groups such as Mighty Networks
• Secret Facebook Groups (non-searchable)
• Chat groups on your own Learning Management System – we use Teachable as our e-learning portal
• Text

​What is going to keep the conversation going for the groups you are working with?

As you go to select your platform, consider these items:

• The purpose – is it to share successes, resources, links, files, other
• Accessibility and mobility
• Confidentiality

Best,
Jennifer

Over the last few years I have written about a number of virtual team resources I think you will find interesting and valuable.

Also, if you haven’t taken a look at my latest book, PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner for Remote and Virtual Professionals, be sure to check out the related blog which includes posts related to virtual teams, working remote and virtual productivity. You can find the blog here.

Recently I have been posting 2-3 times a week with unique posts geared to these topics, including a new Friday series which is running throughout 2019 geared for virtual business development.

If you are on Facebook, join us at the PlanDoTrack Facebook page, with resources geared to productivity and also virtual professionals. You can connect here.

I have set up a virtual communication group over at Mighty Networks called the Conversation Sparker Zone. You can connect around topics related to virtual teams, productivity, business development and/or group and team coaching issues. I hope that you will join us and drop in for some conversation. Click here to join the conversation. Once there you can select which threads you want to follow.

Finally, I am continuing to host regular calls related to Effective Virtual Conversations (my 2017 book). The latest call was held earlier this week. Check past calls at my YouTube Channel. Calls are usually held on Mondays from 11 – 11:30 am ET on the first and second week of the month.

What resources do you want to explore for your virtual team?

Warm regards,
​Jennifer

Yesterday’s Teams365 post #1905 focused on virtual team culture. Be sure to check it out if you haven't done so.

Today I wanted to explore three different ways you might support your team in identifying their own virtual team culture.

As a reminder, team culture usually points to three things - who we are, how do we do things and what is important to us.

Here’s a quick listing of different activities you might consider incorporating:

Who we are:
Virtual teams which excel know each other. They have strong relationships across the team, which allows them to call on others, and “have each others’ backs”. To strengthen your connection, consider these activities:

Have the team create a list of words/adjectives which describe who you are. Shape these into a word cloud which can be visible to the team.
Discuss the question “Who are we when we are at our best?”. Again, use the words to create a graphic about who you are.

At your next team meeting, have each person share one thing others may not know about them.

At your next team meeting, have each person share something that is unique to their location (this works especially well if you have a global team).

In your next meeting, share your screen which includes a variety of photos or icons. Have each person select the photo or icon which represents what they bring to the team.

How we do things:
Each team will have its own unique practices and ways of doing things. This will vary from team to team. Spending time discussing how you do things, and what the expectations are, creates clarity and builds trust, boosting both performance and results.

To explore this topic further consider:
Discussing “how we do things” (communicate, make decisions, work across differences, address conflict) can be a series of different discussions and activities. It might include a Rules of the Road which everyone has signed off on.

What makes you unique and distinct in terms of how you do things?

Another tool is to look at the IS/IS NOT table. This can include it is, it is not…
 
What is important to us:
Clarity around priorities and goals for the entire team helps with alignment, prioritization and decision making. Spending time on a regular basis discussing what is important to us may also involve:
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A list visible to the entire team (ie. Think Intranet or other post on)

• Top 5 Goals for the month
• Top 5 Priorities for the week
• Top 5 Priorities for the quarter
• Enshrining your Team Agreements or Ways of Working into something that is visible. Some teams have enshrined this into a plaque, a screen saver or other.

For more on these topics, and a demonstration of what some of these can look like (photos), take a look at my January 2019 Virtual Team Builders call which I did as part of the Effective Virtual Conversations series. You can check it out here.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

​As we continue our journey through this month’s exploration on virtual teams, I couldn’t not talk about team culture which forms the bedrock of any team, especially one that is virtual. Our team culture points to:

who are we, how do we do things and what is important to us.

Being clear about what our team culture is as a virtual team is critical, given that many, or all of our members may be members of multiple teams. Let’s look at how we can explore these three elements as a virtual team:

1. Who are we – What do we do? Why do we exist? Virtual teams excel when they have a clear identity about who they are. This helps to differentiate how they do things on one team versus another. Virtual team members may be members of multiple teams. Spending time as a team to connect, and "get to know each other" - who we are, what are roles are, what we do -is critical for virtual team success.
   
2. How do we do things - What are our agreements around communication? Task completion? Follow-through? Flagging issues? Communicating with each other?

All of these elements can vary dramatically from one team to another.
Taking time to discuss how we do things is an important part of identifying and focusing in on who we are as a team.

3. What is important to us? All members of the team should be well versed with what’s important at multiple levels.  This can entail:

• What’s important to us this week?
• This month?
• This quarter?

Ensuring that everyone is clear on what’s important helps with decision making. It also helps with negotiating where focus goes, especially if you are members of multiple matrix team.
 
Having discussion is one way of working with team culture. There are also some other creative ways which we’ll explore in tomorrow’s post. I hope you'll join me tomorrow

Stay tuned!
Jennifer

This month I am highlighting different virtual team builders. These are all things I use regularly with different teams I work with. From health care, to social services, public service to IT. Yesterday I spotlighted a quick energizer/warm up called COINS, and today I wanted to talk a little about using ICONS to explore different topics.

Here’s what I wrote about incorporating icons into a virtual team session:
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“Another exercise I use regularly in helping teams get to know each other, and stat to build trust is sharing a slide which has a variety of icons on it. You will see an example below. While I show this on the screen I have select an icon which represents what they are bringing to the group/team that day or what they are thinking about around the topic we are exploring.

This exercise has the advantage of providing a springboard for some interesting themes to emerge in the conversation.

Here's an example of a recent icons slide I shared. I purchased the original graphic over at Adobe Stock.
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I’ve used iterations of ICON activities for different teams I’ve worked with. Sometimes we are exploring the topic of feedback, other times, difficult conversations, goals for the year, or sometimes goals for the year. The benefit of using ICONS is that it can provide new layers to a conversation. When people are working in different languages, or even the same language, it can provide some new nuances to a conversation, energizing it in different ways.
 
How might you incorporate more around icons in your work?

For more on creating engaging virtual conversations, and virtual team development, check out my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations.

Best,
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.
​

As I wrote in my most recent Effective Virtual Conversations newsletter,  one of my favorite “ad-hoc” virtual team builder activity is one called COINS. I picked this up from a colleague several years ago who uses it regularly for in-person programs. I’ve found it to be just as effective in virtual programs.

Here’s how I described it in this month’s newsletter:

Exercise #1 - COINS
This exercise involves team members selecting some change/coins that they have available at their desk (or maybe in their pocket or their briefcase or purse).
 
First they need to select a coin and then notice what is the year on that coin.
 
The invitation is to share one thing about your work, your life, or what you were doing in the world during that year.

Perhaps I picked 2004. That was the year Potentials Realized, my company was started. Maybe I pick a coin that was 2009, which was the first year one of my books was published - Effective Group Coaching, or maybe I picked 2017 and I decided to talk a little bit about releasing Effective Virtual Conversations.

So coins is a lower risk exercise. Hopefully people have materials on hand.

This exercise can be a real conversation starter especially if you are working with a global team. It is interesting for people to show their national coinage. It also gives people a chance to talk a little bit more about how coins operate or how currency operates in their own context.”

How might you incorporate an activity/conversation starter like COINS in your next activity?
​
For more on creating engaging virtual conversations, and virtual team development, check out my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations.
 
Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (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 we explore topics related to productivity, teamwork, coaching, business development and leadership. ​

​Welcome to the 85th Effective Virtual Conversations tip. This week’ tip is “Be clear on expectations”. This is particularly important when you are working in the virtual space, given the diversity of location, experience and past experiences which can exist within any virtual teams or groups you are working with.

This week let’s discuss the many ways we start to create expectations around virtual experience.
​
If it’s a virtual team you are working with, you will want to have shared or co-created experiences as it relates to your virtual meetings as well as your virtual processes.
​
Virtual team and group meetings will want to have shared expectations or agreement for meetings. For example, as a virtual team or group you might agree to:

• Start and end on time
• Be present and be focused during meetings
• Follow-through

With virtual events our expectations start before the process begins. This may be from the moment people read something on your website, or the first email they receive from you. If there is anything you want the group to do before a program or process, let them know.

Make a list of any items you want people to complete or take action on prior to a conversation.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (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 we explore topics related to productivity, teamwork, coaching, business development and leadership. ​

​Welcome back to Team Building Tip #226. Each Thursday I bring you a different question which I hope you will consider as part of your next team meeting or use as a discussion sparker in your 1-1 meetings.

This week’s question is “Let’s carry forward….”.

We are now two months into the year and there probably have been some key learnings undertaken from things that have worked well, and things that perhaps have not worked well. How are you noting these as a team?

Best,
​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.
​

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing a variety of Virtual Team Builders to support you with quick activities that are going to support virtual and remote teams in focusing in on results and/or relationships.

Virtual Teams benefit from time spent in getting to know each other – who is who, who does what, and what priorities they are working on. Virtual team building activities don’t need to take a lot of time.
​
Something most teams will want to build in across time are quick warm-up exercises to create connection.

The first exercise I wanted to share (which will be followed next week by 2 more), is by creating connection through Icons.
 
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, creating trust and connection across a group is critical. If it’s a virtual and remote team you are working with, you might be working across geographic locations. You may have a team member calling in from Asia, one from Australia, one from Africa, one from New York, one from Europe.

Part of creating connection and team success is ensuring that people get comfortable and feel confident on the call, especially if they might be using a working language that is not their first language.

In my work over the last several decades I’ve liked to incorporate photos and icons as “door openers” and metaphors for conversation.

Before I started Potentials Realized, one of my last roles was as a sub- regional manager. I had staff in 10 countries and out of our team of about 30 at one point there were 20+ different nationalities.
​
In creating connection across a virtual team, we want to give the team an opportunity to:

• Get to know each other
• Understand who we are as a team
• Explore what's important to us
• and understand how we are similar and how we are different.

These questions and the exploration of these questions is a really critical component of the virtual team leader's role.

Back to the icon exercise, using your access to stock photography find a photo that offers a selection of icons. Have each person select an icon that they connect with, which represents what they bring to the team.

As you go around the table, this is a fun way to share a little bit about yourself in a way that hopefully is not too threatening. Select a graphic that has enough icons which provide enough variety to invite people into the conversation. 

Best wishes,
​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.  Learn more and enroll here.

​Last month I hosted a call on five virtual team builders as part of my monthly Effective Virtual Conversations community call. As part of this month’s focus on virtual team development, I am going to share segments of that call so you too can benefit. Before jumping into actual tools and activities (which are coming your way!), let’s start with a quick highlight of three practical things to make your virtual calls of all types more effective.

First, I think we all want to avoid what I term “death by conference call”.
If you spend any time working virtually, you know this. Rushing back to back with conference calls or streaming meetings where people are speaking “at you”.  This leads to the speaker sounding like a voice on TV (Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah). No surprise, you've got a thousand to do's and you turn to checking your email or reading through “that other document”.

We want to avoid that at all costs. If we have to meet, let’s make it effective and engaging! This can be dependent on the platform and groups that you're working with. There is still a lot of variety happening in the virtual learning environment. We may be doing Zoom calls, we may be doing WebEx calls. We may still be on the phone.

Second, in the virtual space, we need to consider the pace which typically is quicker than face-to-face contexts. We want to use more interaction and be intentional in bringing people's voices on to the line.
​
For example, I had a new group launch this morning. It's a group of 10. We use chat, we use breakouts. We used annotation several times through the 75 minutes of the call. We used chat to create our ground rules and ways of working, and breakouts to deepen connection across the group.
​
In a virtual space we want to be intentional in creating multiple ways to engage. We want to create multiple opportunities to boost connection and trust. If people don't feel safe or connected with others in the group, they're not going to engage.
​
One quick factor we can use is to leverage streaming so people see each other – so using video on Zoom, or Skype, or WebEx.

Third - another factor in making it work is really helping people have visual anchors. This might include a photograph shown at the start of the call, which creates focus OR having people write something on a screen as they start into a call. Making it interactive AND keep it simple is key in virtual work.

In the next couple of Tuesday and Wednesday posts here at the Teams365 blog I will share with you five main activities you can consider using when you work with virtual teams.

If you have a copy of my book, Effective Virtual Conversations, many of these posts touch on chapters related to part three of effective virtual conversations (pages 300 to about 444).

Enjoy!
 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.
​