It’s Friday which means that it’s time for a Flashback Friday. Today I wanted to reach back to a 2017 post on Things New Remote Teams Need. Whether you are new to remote work, or are supporting others who are, this week’s post can also serve as a good checkpoint at the start of the year to see how we are all doing in each of the areas explored.

Check out the original 2017 post here.

Here’s what I wrote:
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In today's business context many teams are moving to a mobile, distributed or remote work force. Whether it's because the talent pool is dispersed, or commute times are pressurizing employees, remote work can be as effective or more so, when virtual teams are set up for success. Today's post explores six things new virtual teams need in order to thrive. These elements include:

1. Clarity regarding reporting relationships. Who are they to report to on what issues? When is reporting required? If matrix reporting relationships exist, what do they report to whom? What issues need to be co-reported?
2. Clarity regarding expectations regarding working – hours, approaches, breaks, how to log and share work etc.
3. The technology and ability to connect with others in the team and across the organization. Working remote can be a lonely endeavor and just as social time is important for face-to -ace teams, so is face-to-face for virtual team.
4. Regular check ins and feedback. Regular check-ins and feedback may revolve around the questions:
   1. How’s it going?
   2. What’s working? What’s not?
   3. What support do you need?
   4. What are your current priorities?
   5. What resources do you need in order to get the results you need?
5. Platforms so they can see each other and connect with their team. This could include regular virtual potlucks where the team actually connects for a meal from each of their locations. It could also include face-to-face time – quarterly or on a regular basis.
6. Clarity regarding how to flag issues - what issues to raise and when. Who should they be flagging issues to? When is the team leader available and how?

What other elements do you see as essential for new virtual teams to hit the ground running?

What’s important for your team to focus on, or take action on right now?

Have a great weekend,
Jennifer

One of the themes I’ve been talking a lot about in recent months as we moved into year end, and now are in the start of the year is that Metrics Matter. On an individual level in our own planning, it can be very useful to note things like:

• Key achievements
• Time spent on different activities (work, meetings, troubleshooting, coaching, learning, etc.)
• The things you actually accomplish in any given day

On a team level, starting the year with a conversation around metrics, achievements and goals can be really important. As part of the start of year kick off you may want to:

• Note key metrics (where you are now, where you want to go by end of the year, and what your check in touchpoints are)
• Note key goals
• Identify aspirations and intentions – as I mentioned in an earlier blog post this year, aspirations and intentions are often wider in focus and help to anchor things.

What are the other items you want to note?

All the best, 
​Jennifer 

Today’s Milestone post (#2200!) is all about accelerating your teamwork this year. While the context of teamwork has shifted dramatically, the fundamentals of great teamwork has remained the same. I thought that it would be great idea to revisit what I term the 6 Factors of High Performing Teams: six core ingredients for team success. (Six Factors of High Performing Teams – Copyright Jennifer Britton 2017 - 2020)

Regardless of if you are a remote team, or an intact team, taking time to focus on these elements will help you go faster in the medium- and long-term.  I write more on this in part 3 of Effective Virtual Conversations.

As a team, have you taken time to clarify and agree upon these areas?
(as built upon from Teams365 #1920)

1. Shared purpose or mission (Your WHY)
   What is your purpose? Your mission? Why do you exist? Does everyone hold the same understanding? What does this mean practically for your work? What priorities does your purpose or mission naturally create? What are people doing to keep the vision and priorities VISIBLE?
   
   2. Shared behavioral norms
   How do you do things? What is acceptable and unacceptable on the team? What behaviors and habits exist? Which ones are supportive of exceptional performance? Which ones aren't? Is it time to revisit your shared agreements or TEAM charter and how you operate?
   
   3. Shared commitment
   What are team members committed to? What will you get done, no matter what? Is there anything that needs to be dropped off the list? How do members of the team have each other’s backs?
   
   4. Shared performance goals
   What are key goals for the team this year? What are key individual goals? How do your goals align across the team? Overlap?  What needs to get done by one team member and then passed on to another? What is contingent upon another task completion? What does success look like for each member? For the entire team? Does everyone have an understanding of the key goals of others on the team and how they feed into them?
   
   5. Shared team practices
   Teams that work together effectively share common practices which support both a focus on RESULTS and also a focus on RELATIONSHIPS. This might include team practices such as a Monday morning huddle, a Thursday night out or a daily check in at 3 pm ET for a team that needs to get things “out the door” by 5. What practices support your relationships? Your results?
   
   6. Clear Roles
   How do our roles overlap, align and connect? On the team, what are people’s strengths? Who is good at initiating things? Completing things? Checking for quality? Innovating things? What changes, if any, are needed this year around your roles giving your priorities?

As a team what’s important to note? What areas need further clarification?

All the best,
Jennifer

As we move into 2020, it’s easy to get swept up into the “doing” of work right away. Before the year gets further ahead, take a few minutes to be sure that you get these items scheduled in…

#1 – Team Meetings – Make them consistent and regular. It’s likely that you won’t be able to have everyone at the table (or the screen). Make sure that you create shared team agreements of what team members need to do if they are not present for meetings.

#2 – Meetings with Your Boss – Have you scheduled in time with your direct line manager? Keeping visible and being in regular communication is essential in today’s workplace. Corporate priorities can change quickly as can your boss’ priorities. How often are the two of you meeting? What format are you using? What’s important for them to know?

#3 – One-on-ones with The Team – While group and team meetings are great, team members still need some 1-1 time. Be sure to schedule in some time with your team on a regular basis. Are you aiming for monthly 1-1 conversations? Quarterly deeper dives? Daily touchpoints? As a team talk about expectations and make agreements about who is responsible for scheduling and follow up.

#4 – Team Development Time – As I shared in yesterday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip, team development time is critical and is often overlooked for virtual teams. Teams don’t just excel by osmosis! They need time to get to know each other, clarify how they are operating and focus in on what’s important.

#5 – Strategic Thinking Time — Are you leaving yourself enough time for reflection and thinking? Be sure to leave in enough time for strategic thinking. This can include creating, or revisiting your VISION, MISSION and MANDATE. Taking time to think strategically is important so that you have a clear big picture with a longer-term horizon. With things changing rapidly, the strategic horizon of 1, 3 or 5 years down the road can be invaluable in helping us keep moving, and not getting too set back by the small changes which can feel frenetic.

#6 — Time to Get Things Done — With meetings, communication and email taking a lot of time, what time are you leaving for yourself to get things done? For some professionals, it means coming into the office early to tackle key tasks for 30-60 minutes before others arrive. For others, it means booking a conference room and closing the door. Notice when you are most productive and when it’s important to get things done.

# 7 – Learning Time – What are your learning and development goals this year? Embracing ongoing learning has never been more important. What are the skills, processes and approaches which are going to help you do your best work? Note that learning can take many forms: including in-person programming, virtual learning as well as on-demand learning. Finally, peer learning (see #9) is another set of approaches.

#8 – Feedback Time – What feedback touchpoints are you building in throughout the year? Feedback in many organizations has moved to an ongoing cycle, and it can be important to make sure that it is happening regularly. Block off time in your schedule to get it done.

#9 – Peer Learning Time/Mentoring Time — What is the peer learning you want to undertake this year? Is it possible to do some job shadowing or pair with a peer partner throughout the year to compare notes, share resources and learn from each other?

In addition to peer learning, what about identifying a mentor in your organization or industry who can share their experience in order to help you understand “what’s below the waterline”?

#10 – Time Within Your Industry or Outside Your Regular Scope of Work — Finally, industry connections are key. Keeping current in your area of work may be as important, or more important, in the medium- and longer-term. What connection into professional associations are going to support you this year?

As you think about this year, what is going to support you best?

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

​It’s Monday which means that we are back to the Effective Virtual Conversations tip day. It’s 126 in the series, and today’s tip is “Learn about each other”.
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Successful teams aren’t simply CLEAR about the results they need, they are also knowledgeable about, and connected with, each other. This week’s Remote Team Tip is all about taking some time in your upcoming meetings to learn about each other.

While some teams will choose to make a strategic investment in structured team development activities throughout the year, many teams may choose to incorporate something into their weekly meetings. Either approach can work well, if it’s done consistently.

As someone who is often brought in to facilitate Team Days, I know how valued the connection piece is by other team members. Feelings of isolation and working alone are prevalent in the remote working space, and helping team members learn about WHO is WHO, and what people do, is an essential component to team development.

In the 20 Activities for Remote Teams, there are a number of structured activities you can facilitate with your team.

Some other ideas include:

• Dedicating time each team meeting to having one person’s role “in the spotlight”. They may have the floor for 5-15 minutes during a meeting to share what they do, their priorities and possibly a little bit about what’s unique about their context.
• Having team members work together in smaller pairs around team building activities or real-time team problem solving.
• Having people share what’s outside their screen or window – see chapter 7 of Effective Virtual Conversations around this.

Also check out Teams365 2097 – Remote Team Activities – for more info.

Want to learn more about how a team day could support your team’s results and relationships? Let’s talk. Email me to set up a conversation to learn more about the Team Days I facilitate (virtually of course!).

All the best, 
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the start of the year, 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.

Winter 2019 programs start this week including the Coaching Biz Growth Lab (an annual focus on coaching business development), GroupCoachingEssentials (8.75 CCEs), the Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs) and the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program (8.5 CCEs) - geared to support you in creating more exceptional virtual conversations. Finally the Mentor Coaching Group for Winter 2020 will begin - aimed at coaches who are working towards their ACC, PCC or renewing.

Now stepping into our 7th year here at the blog, it’s been a really interesting experiment to get into regular writing abut teamwork, remote work and productivity issues for such an extended time.
I thought it would be useful to share 7 of the areas you may wish to keep an eye on this year, whether you are a leader, a team member or growing a business. As you think about each area, consider what is important about this for you:

1. Creating more effective meetings – how much time are you spending in meetings? How much of it is productive? Check out the past posts on meetings I’ve covered this year
2. Building in more time to pause and reflect – the world is not slowing down, and probably neither are you. What windows are you creating to do proactive, strategic thinking? What will help you stop, and pause, so you can take more focused action?
3. Fitting in the things that are important by scheduling them in – Drucker wrote “What doesn’t get scheduled, doesn’t get done”. It’s highly unlikely that we will magically have more open space in our calendars, so what would it be like to experiment with scheduling in key activities well in advance so they may have space. This can include learning, collaboration and relationship building, self-care etc.
   
4. Discernment – Late last year I wrote about the critical skill set of discernment. What is important about this skill for you?
   
5. Keeping an eye on your vision and your WHY? IN today’s business context it’s likely that things are rapidly changing, and that the ups and downs feel more like turbulence. Even with significant change, hopefully our vision and WHY keep us grounded and help guide us forward. Keeping an eye on these big picture items can be very supportive and ease out the changes.
   
6. Building in regular renewal cycles – We know from high performance research that a rest can be as important as pushing things. High performance athletes build in time to renew after a big match or competition. While you may just be coming off a rest period, where else is it important to build in another rest cycle?
   
7. Focusing on relationships and results – At the heart of a successful business is results. In order to get results we need clarity around goals as well as being clear on relationships. Too much focus on results without a focus on relationships may burn people out over time. Too much focus on relationships without a focus on results leads to a lot of feeling good, but things not getting done. What's the balance for you and your team this year?
   

It's been a pleasure hosting this blog for 7 years now. A reminder to also catch up with me in a different way via my new podcast - The Remote Pathways podcast which I co-host with Michelle Mullins. We take a look the different pathways to remote work, and each episode explore different tools, resources and skills that help with exceptional remote work. Catch up with the podcast here at the new site or on your favorite podcast player. Be sure to subscribe.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the start of the year, 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.

Winter 2019 programs start this week including the Coaching Biz Growth Lab (an annual focus on coaching business development), GroupCoachingEssentials (8.75 CCEs), the Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs) and the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program (8.5 CCEs) - geared to support you in creating more exceptional virtual conversations. Finally the Mentor Coaching Group for Winter 2020 will begin - aimed at coaches who are working towards their ACC, PCC or renewing.

Welcome to the first Weekly Journaling Prompt of 2020. These are quick prompts geared to get you to stop, pause and take stock of what’s occurring in your world of work, and life. In my work as a coach, I regularly hear how valuable it is to be able to “pause” to reflect on what’s happening and what action is needed. When are you stopping to “pause” and take stock of where you are? Pauses may be 5- 15 minute only. It’s often more about the quality than the quantity!

This week’s prompt gets you to reflect and write on “I want to invest in…”. What are the things you want to invest in this year?

Our focus is finite as is the time we have. Where do you CHOOSE to invest your time and focus? Where do you want to invest? What’s the benefit? What can be the benefit for others?

I hope that you will enjoy these and a quick reminder for those that facilitate that the new Conversation Sparker Journaling cards are now available as well. These are a great tangible tool to bring into your workshops or retreats or coaching sessions. Do everything virtually? Inquire about a digital license.

Enjoy your weekly reflection time!
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Have a great weekend,
Jennifer

​Today may have been your first day back into the office or you may be gearing up for Monday when it’s back to work for many of us. This Friday I wanted to link into a series of earlier posts I had written which you might want to share with your team as you go about clarifying your 2020 goals.

Here are some questions I had included in Teams365 #710 –

Today's Six Leadership Questions a day gets you to think about goal setting. Consider these questions:

• What are the top priorities for the team right now? In the next quarter? The next year?
• Who will help the team be successful with these?
• How do the team goals connect with individual goals? Organizational goals?
• Does everyone understand how the goals and achievement will be measured?
• Does each team member understand how they will interface/impact each of our key priorities?
• If we shift our goal horizon from the practical and tactical, what do we notice? (Another way to look at this is if we move to look at our goals from the big picture or 30,000-foot view, what do we notice?

Enjoy!
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, 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.

Coaches - Join me January 1st as we kick off the 60 Day Acclerator of the Coaching Business Builder. 60 days of focused action on your coaching business.

As we step into 2020, I wanted to give you an opportunity to focus in on your goals for the year. Many like to list out their goals in a variety of ways.

From creating a goal or vision board which sits in your office to creating a One Page Plan (hear me talk about this more in the recent Remote Pathways podcast and download a copy of your own), keeping your goals visible can be an important part of success.

At the same time goals can become de-motivational, especially if we create too many or if we create goals that are not achievable.

In my writing I like to talk about goals that are not only SMART, but SMART-E.
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As a reminder these are:
S - Specific - What specifically do you want to achieve? What will it look like?
M - Measurable - How can you track progress?
A - Achievable - With some stretch are these achievable?
R - Realistic - Again, with stretch are these in range?
T - Timebound - What's the timeframe on this - next week, end of June, early 2021?
E - And most of all, are these goals Exciting? If they are not exciting, chances are they might got get done, or may get done only to get them checked off.
 
What are your top 3-5 SMART-E Goals for 2020?  Take a few minutes to work on them and be sure to check out the recent Remote Pathways Podcast Episode 3 to check out the One Page Plan Worksheet. You can find it here.

Enjoy your reflection and be sure to share with us your goals over at the Conversation Sparker Zone! If you haven’t joined us there before, you can join the main Conversation Sparker Zone community here. 

And the Remote Pathways Sparker Zone here. (note this group is more focused on remote work)

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Welcome to 2020 – Setting Annual and Decade Long Vision, Intentions and Goals and a new calendar to follow!

Welcome to 2020! Today is an opportunity to turn over not only a new page of a new year, but a new chapter of a new decade.

For some, it’s incredible to have a blank canvas. For others, it may create some doubt and hesitancy. A lot of my work and writing is grounded in the notion of daily steps create their own momentum. As Lao Tsu once wrote – “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”.

Today is a new day, new year and new decade. What’s the journey you want to take?

If this is the first time you’ve stumbled upon the Teams365 blog, welcome! If you’ve been with me since I started this experiment in daily blogging back on January 1st, 2014, welcome back for another year. I’m excited to see what themes and topics we explore this year.

Over the last six years of blogging daily, I’ve amassed quite a bit of content. Rather than having it get buried, this year there’s a new monthly calendar you can follow. I’ve curated some of my favorite posts from here at the Teams365 blog and you can follow them along! Click here to download the January 2020 Teams365 calendar.

Today’s post provides you with an opportunity to create not only an annual vision and set of intentions, and goals for what you want to create this year, but also for the upcoming year.

I hope that you may grab a new notebook or journal and join me for these prompts today. You may even want to grab a timer and set it for 2 minutes.

#1 – As you look out across 2020 – what is it that you want to create, or embrace this year?
#2 – What is your theme for 2020?
#3 – What’s important to build time and space to focus on this year?
#4 – What are the top 3-5 goals for the year?
#5 – By December 31 2020, I want to…..
#6 – By December 31, 2029, I hope that…..
#7 – The one habit I want to focus on this year is….
#8 – Across this new decade I want to bring in….
#9 – As I get started every day, I want to remind myself….
#10 – My hope for myself (and my loved ones or team) is…
#11 – What do you want to do on a consistent basis?
#12 – What do you want to make sure you fit into the margins of your life this year? This decade?

Enjoy the reflection!

For more on setting a vision for yourself please check out this video I recorded a few weeks ago. If you have a vision already created, what are you going to do to review it on a regular basis, and use it as a touchstone?

All the best, 
​Jennifer