Audio is making a big comeback in a lot of ways, given the popularity and presence of Google Home Minis, Alexa’s and other audio assistants in our kitchens, homes and cars.

Since the Team365 blog began back in 2014, I’ve dedicated Sunday as a day where I’ve been sharing either audios (what you’d find up to about 2016) or videos (most of the new Sunday posts from 2016 onwards).

Given that there’s some great content that’s still relevant (yes, even though the context is changing so much, things do remain the same!) which I thought would be useful to spotlight a couple of times a month in a From the Vault Series where I’ll reach back into our repository and share past posts.

Here are three audios from 2015 that I think you’ll like, aligned with this month’s topic of teamwork:

Ten Questions To Be Asking As  A Team Leader (Teams365 #376 – 22 minutes) 

Three Problem Solving Tools (Teams365 #488 – 9.5 minutes) 

Hosting Effective Virtual Meetings (Teams365 #390 – 10.5 minutes) 

What new audios would you like to see? I’ll be starting to schedule some of our November and December posts in the next few weeks so do let me know what content you’d like to see here at the Teams365 blog for the end of 2018 and start of 2019.

Looking forward to our 3:30 pm call!

Best,
Jennifer

This weekend, we are going to take a look back at some of the Teams365 Teamwork Videos already created, just in case you missed them. Take a look at these past videos:
​
Teams365 #885: Accountability and the Team: 1 minute 41 seconds – View it here.
Teams365 #553: Project Check Points - Check it out here.
Teams365 #391: Delegation - Watch it here.
Teams365 #1611: Teamwork and Complexity/ Focus and Renewal - Check it out here.
​
A reminder for you to feel free to link to any of these videos or show them as part of your upcoming team sessions.

If there are videos you would like to see created from past Teams365 posts, please let me know.
 
Best wishes,
Jennifer

In the first FlashbackFriday of the month I wanted to take you to back to the month of April 2017 when I last did a series on teamwork skills. I hope that you will check out the posts from that month as you go through this month’s series.
I wanted to link us back to Teams365 #1211 where I spotlighted 10 different team development activities. Several of these are useful in building capacity in the different teamwork areas we’ll be exploring this month – trust, emotional intelligence, collaboration, relationship building etc.
 
Here’s what I wrote in that post:
​
Whether it's an offsite team retreat, or a strategic planning session, or a one day team building session, teams benefit from  focused time together, time spent in getting to know each other and also focusing in on goals and results.

​The following list includes ten areas you may want to explore together as a team during your upcoming team development sessions:

​1. What's your vision? As we've seen in other posts, having a shared vision is critical in creating alignment and supporting team members to work more autonomously. As Seneca wrote, "If one does not know to which port is sailing, no wind is favorable."
​What's your vision as a team?

​2. What do you have going for you? Doing work around strengths can be a powerful way to help team members get to know each other, and understand what they uniquely bring to the team. Whether you explore StrengthsFinder 2.0 or undertake an Everything DiSC profile, learning more about ourselves helps us understand our natural inclinations as well as where we tend to go when under stress or pressure (which can be a daily reality for some teams today!).

​3. Fun initiative tasks - It's important to have fun and websites like Wilderdom.com provide you with dozens (if not hundreds of fun ideas of things to do).

​4. Tower Building - There are many iterations of tower building. in essence it's about providing micro-teams or smaller groups with asset of materials to build the tallest tower they can in the time provided. It's a great activity to bring out new learning around roles, planning and communication!

​5. Moving from point a to b - My roots in the late 1980s in experiential education come out when I get to incorporate the "old school" initiative tasks of getting people to "Cross the divide" and move from point a to b with the resources provided. This can be a great activity to reinforce innovation and practice.

​6. Scavenger Hunts - Although these take some time to plan, scavenger hunts in a "bounded" area can be extremely fun and great for those that like to compete!

​7. Work with Visual Cards - sparking conversations is a huge part of the work I do with teams, and photographs and other visual cards are a different way to invite exploration around topics like perspectives, innovation and strategy. Check out our Conversation Sparker Cards for more info.

​8. Team Bingo - It's always good to return to the basics and even if you have worked together for a while, it's likely that you don't know everything about each other. the organizer can ask each team member to submit one or two interesting factoids about themselves and these statements can be put in a bingo format (5 x 5 layout). The first person to capture all the right signatures wins! A fun way to learn a little more about your team.

​9. Team Storyboard - using scrapbooking materials, photos and other materials, have the team create a storyboard of your greatest adventures!

​10.  Team Model - using aluminum foil, have the team create a model which represents who you are. It's always interesting to see just what can be created out of tinfoil.

​What do you think you might try at your next meeting? I hope that it has sparked some new ideas and possibilities for you.
Here's a link to that original post.
 
What do you want to make sure you schedule and incorporate for your team this fall?

Best,
​Jennifer

​We’re continuing to move along with more things you’ll want to focus on this fall with your team, to support them in getting results and building relationships. We know that teams which excel have strong relationships – they know who is who and who does what, what people’s strengths and prefeerenes are, and great teams are also good at getting results.
 
Area #6 – Building Connections Across the Team
It’s likely that your team composition may have changed at some point during the year. Does everyone know each other?
If you are looking for some quick icebreakers you may want to consider these resources:

Wilderdom’s Group Portal – including their index of different activities and resources. While this is incredibly vast, you may find some that pique your curiosity and can be adapted for your team. Check them out here.

BusinessBalls listing of a variety of exercises under the “recommended resources” column. Find them here.

Since 2005 I have hosted the Group Coaching Ins and Outs blog. One series I have focused on are different exercises and resources coaches will want to add to their toolkit. Take a look at these dozen plus posts here.
 
Using Visual Cards to spark conversation – The 40 Ways to Work with Visual Cards e-book, highlights 40 different ways you can use any visual card deck to spark dialogue and learning across your team. Pick up a digital copy of this resource at our website here.
 
Area #7 – Revisiting Your Vision and Making it Tangible
One of the most important things teams can do to create alignment in the fluid working space, it to have a shared vision. When did you last revisit your vision, and what you are aiming towards? Team vision statements can have different time windows, as well as formats.
This fall, you may want to dedicate some time in your team meetings revisiting your vision and making it tangible. In the realm of coaching, we work with our clients to create STRUCTURES. A structure is usually a visual or tangible item which serves as a reminder.
In working with your vision this fall, what’s the one way you can make it tangible?
Here are some ideas teams I have worked with, have created structures for themselves:

1. A photograph of the team vision/story line they have created together. This has been circulated and in one instance, became the screensaver for the team.
2. Using tinfoil, creating a solar system with each planet representing different elements, and milestones, of the journey.
3. Ringtones to remind the team of key taglines/mottos shaping their vision and aspirations.

What can you do to revisit or create your team vision for the fall, 2019 or the next fiscal cycle?
I’ll be back with more team activities ideas next Tuesday so stay tuned.

Best,
​Jennifer

It’s Monday and time to get you thinking about “upping the ante” with your virtual conversations. Perhaps you have a webinar you are going to lead this month, or a conference call for your team. Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversation tips are geared to support you in making them more effective. Take a look at past EVC tips here.
Today’s tip comes from my book, Effective Virtual Conversations, where I write “Take stock of the photos you have and can use”.
We know that photos have a much quicker impact than words can in the virtual space. From the choice of colors you use, to the font type, what is the message you are communicating? There is a whole science behind color use. While leaders and business owners may not need to become experts in this, it is an important area to consider, given that messaging and presentations are just a large part of our work, I’ll do a future post on the power of color, but for today, consider what access you have to photos, images and icons. Your media department may be able to advise on this. For smaller businesses, you will want to make sure you have commercial licenses to use any stock photography, as well as what crediting is necessary.
Some great sites to go to for resources are;

• Unsplash
• AdobeStock – paid subscriptions available for businesses
• Pixabay

Always be sure to check usage and copyright.
An additional way to approach images is to create your own. With the explosion of Instagram and phone devices, visuals are becoming an extremely important vehicle for communication of all sorts.
Two of the resource people I continue to turn to are the writings and teachings of:

• Garr Reynolds: PresentationZen
• Kat Walters and her work and teaching around Instagram

Who do you turn to as a resource person in this area?
What can you do to incorporate more visuals into your messaging?

Enjoy your Monday!
 Jennifer

This week brings us to Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #58  and Virtual Facilitation Faux Pas #5 – Not being clear on what’s been agreed to and who is accountable.

With some professionals spending 40% of their time in meetings, it’s important that we make them the most efficient they can be. One of the greatest pitfalls in virtual meetings is not being clear on what’s been agreed to and who is accountable for doing what.

Even if it’s clear who is doing what it is important that you set some times to check in around how progress is coming and what needs an update.

In my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations, I share a template for use in meeting tracking. It gets group members to highlight what has been agreed to, who is following up and what the next steps are.

As a team or group, make sure you are building in a few minutes to recap agreed upon points. The more visual you can make it the better – just hearing it may not be enough.

Think about an efficient way you can keep meetings rolling. Remember, efficient does not always equal the time it takes!

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

This week’s Effective Virtual conversation tip gets you thinking about how you can incorporate more visuals into your virtual presentations, conference calls and virtual meetings. Visuals create an anchor point for the conversation. It provides a starting point which can frame the conversation.
Different types of meetings will call on the need for different types of visuals – for example -
Videos to provide education and training for team members
Photos to prompt discussion
A virtual whiteboard to support brainstorming and decision making
Streaming to boost connection and trust across the team
Using emojis to solicit feelings on issues

Many times we forget to use visuals in the virtual space and focus solely on conversation.

Visuals help to frame, focus and also widen perspectives.

If you have my book, Effective Virtual Conversations, check out pages 244 -247 for many examples of different types of visual activities you might want to incorporate into your virtual conversations.

How might you use more visuals in your upcoming conversations?

Have a great start to your week,
Jennifer

Visuals capture so much in one picture. Today I wanted to share with you a quick drawing that was made for our business, which integrates most of the focus areas I've been writing on these last four months and which the bulk of our work with teams involves.

Questions to Consider:
As you look at the drawing below, what are the areas you excel in?
Which ones need some shoring up?
What support do you need to move the needle on these?
How can we help?

Let us know! You can reach me directly at (416)996-TEAM (8326) or by email.

Jennifer Britton, MES, PCC, CPT
Potentials Realized - Leadership and Team Development, Coaching, Retreats
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Email us to find out how we can support you and your team in getting your best results through coaching, training or a retreat program
(416)996-TEAM (8326)