This week’s blog post takes us into another layer of five of the productivity keys PlanDoTrack’s philosophy is grounded in. Taking time along the way to pause is critical for learning. If we go back to the educational model of David Kolb’s ERGA, he asserted that learning happens through a four stage process:

1. Experience: Have an experience – for example, complete a project or hold a team meeting
2. Reflect: Stop and reflect – individually or collectively. This could involve reflecting through questions, reflection
3. Generalize: Take note of the key learning and think about how it can be scaled to other area
4. Apply: Apply the learning to other projects – for example, your next project (even if it’s in a different area) or your next team meeting

One of the key challenges in today’s business context is that we are often moving so fast we don’t have time to stop and pause.

On an individual level, consider the benefit of:

• Tracking your details of the day in a journal or your daily planning system
• Reviewing on a weekly basis your achievements – see the Week in Focus pages of the monthly planning pages at PDT

Areas to consider as you create the PAUSE 

• What did I do today?
• What did I focus on?
• What learning did I have?
• What opportunities are available?
• What insights did I have?
• What do you want your PAUSE to look like?

Enjoy your pause!
​Jennifer

​​​​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon.

Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues.
​Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326

Check out these Instagram accounts @coachingbizbuilder & @remotepathways!
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Are you a remote professional? Listen into the Remote Pathways Podcast on your favorite podcast player!

“When you write down your ideas you automatically focus your full attention on them. Few, if any of us, can write one thought and think another at a time. Thus, a pencil and paper make excellent concentration tools.” – Michael LeBoeuf

How much are you keeping in your head? What is the cost of keeping too many ideas only up in the head and not captured somewhere? Many of us walk around all day trying to keep things in our head. What are the things you want to be capturing on paper or in an app?

Capture it before it flies away. How many times did you think of something great but didn’t capture it, and couldn’t remember it hour later?

We have limited capacity in terms of what we can carry in our brains, especially in short term memory. Have you heard of the 7 + or – 2 rule? That’s about how much our brains can remember at any given time, hence one of the reasons why phone numbers are only 7 digits in length.

It can be valuable to make our thoughts visible so you can keep it in focus and be reminded of it. In coaching, I usually encourage my clients to decide how they want to keep it visible. This might include a note on a whiteboard, a To Do list on their phone, a note in a journal or a file that on their computer.

Why write it down?
There are many reasons to write things down including the fact that:

• Once we have things written down, especially when it’s all in one place, we may be able to see new patterns and connections, sparking new ideas. 
• Get the little things out of your mind. Like cobwebs, this can start to muddle things up.
• Articulating issues, whether writing or speaking, helps us gain clarity and work through issues.
• Writing it out can help you see connections or clearly put language around something.

What are you going to capture on paper, or computer, today? How are you going to do that?

Enjoy your writing!
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon.

Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues.
​Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326

Check out these Instagram accounts @coachingbizbuilder & @remotepathways!
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Are you a remote professional? Listen into the Remote Pathways Podcast on your favorite podcast player!

With most work having gone virtual or remote overnight for those who can, what is needed in order to lead and be a great team member? Now's the time to get up to speed quickly.

For those who have been following along my writing for a while, you'll know that for the last 3 years I've done a monthly call related to Effective Virtual Conversations. You can find them here on YouTube. These are focused in on what it takes to have a great conversation in the remote space. Teams who shifted last week are going to need to have productive virtual working sessions this week - check out these videos for tips on how to lead virtual calls, skills needed, tricky issues (and how to avoid them).

A reminder that I'll be leading a group through the one-day Virtual Faciltation Essentials program this Wednesday March 25th from 10 - 530 pm Eastern/Toronto. Throughout the program you'll get a chance to learn, and practice, the various virtual facilitation tools which are available. 5 spots still open. Check it out here.

For those that are leading remote teams, you may want to focus on some of the remote work and remote team PlanDoTrack video calls I've done including:
Collaboration Virtually - No person is an island (February 2020). View it here. (30 min)
​Five Key Skills for Virtual and Remote Professionals (June 2019) - View it here.
Remote Team Skills (September 2019) - View it here.
Navigating the Matrix of Virtual and Remote Work (Spring 2019) - View it here.

Finally, for those who like to read, check out these latest articles I've posted on Thrive Global - 
Working from Home - In Focus. This article explores five areas to keep in mind as you work from home - Read it here.
Listening in the Virtual Space - Read it here.
Keeping your virtual meetings on track - Read it here.
3 Areas to Consider when your team makes the shit to remote work. Read it here.

If you haven't downloaded the Remote Working Whitepaper I did earlier this month, please check it out here.
Enjoy your Sunday!

With best wishes,
Jennifer
​​​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon.
Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues.
​Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326

Other resources to support you:
Check out these Instagram accounts @coachingbizbuilder & @remotepathways
Check out upcoming virtual learning  programs on our calendar
Are you a remote professional? Listen into the Remote Pathways Podcast on your favorite podcast player

The third productivity key which PlanDoTrack is grounded in is that of momentum. Creating momentum where things seemingly take on a life of their own, where strengths and/or velocity is leveraged, is key for business results. Momentum can involve consistent action as well as experimental action. It often will involve more risk than normal so that frequency of action is faster. Momentum may also involve incorporating strategic thinking so that you are looking further down the horizon to estimate where your actions will take you. Thinking about what happens when you ski or boat – we are usually looking across to the horizon for a point at which we are aiming for, to set the course over the medium or longer term, rather than immediately looking to the short course.
​
So, what can we do to create momentum? Here are some of the ideas I shared over at the Teams365 blog (my daily blog around leadership and teamwork issues).
 
“Some ideas to keep in mind with creating momentum around anything - whether it's getting more exercise, having more one on one time with your staff or eating better - are:

• Clear the clutter so what's important has space - What clutter could you remove to help this stand out more? I'm always amazed at how clearing clutter really can bring in some new energy.
• Schedule it - As Peter Drunker used to say, "What doesn't get scheduled, doesn't get done."
• Create an accountability partner - Who can you partner with to do the task, cheer you on or hold your feet to the fire?
• Remember the "why" behind why this is important
• Get started! Getting started is half the battle with most things. Whether it's getting into a routine of writing or clearing in box, get started. It can help to set a time for 15 minutes and see how far you get. You may find that that creates all the start you need, or it may be that it just the start.”

What are the things that are going to help you move forward as a business or team?
Check out this additional article which may be of interest by Glen Llopis. 

Enjoy!
Jennifer

​​​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon.

Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues.
​Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326

Check out these Instagram accounts @coachingbizbuilder & @remotepathways!
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Are you a remote professional? Listen into the Remote Pathways Podcast on your favorite podcast player!

​Do you suffer from post-it note syndrome – have put lots of ideas down but can’t locate it as they are all scattered?

Today’s post gets you thinking about how you organize your ideas all in one place so you can quickly find them.

This may involve a change in systems or habits for many, including:

• Moving from a physical system to one where things go straight onto the computer/phone in a To Do List or a Trello board.
• Getting in the habit of putting everything in one location – i.e. a book
• Getting in the habit of doing it and deleting it
• Making a list of all the tasks, plus information on annual To Do's and quarterly To Do's

While the development of a new habit can take time, it may also involve starting to focus on getting into the practice of the new habit. What are you doing to become more streamlined with your goals and tasks?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon.

Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues.
​Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326

Check out these Instagram accounts @coachingbizbuilder & @remotepathways!
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Are you a remote professional? Listen into the Remote Pathways Podcast on your favorite podcast player!

In response to the current COVID 19 context, I'll be hosting a 12 noon ET call each day this week (Friday's call will happen at 1 pm ET), sharing a tip, tool or idea about working remote and having virtual conversations. These will come from my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations, or my new (and still in manuscript form) Remote Pathways 90 Day Guide. These 12 pm ET calls will be held in zoom room 270-302-0415 (use this link -https://zoom.us/j/2703020415)

Please join us for a 20 minute call to connect and glean a tip or two for working and conversing in the remote space. I'll also be hosting 2 complimentary 1-1 calls each day with anyone who wants to use 20 minutes to drop in and "ask me anything". You can sign up and register here. I'll get an alert and we'll meet at your scheduled time in zoom. 

As someone who has worked in the remote space for three decades, as well as facilitated thousands of hours of calls with remote professionals, I look forward to supporting you as you make this transition and/or magnify your work. Please share with others.

THanks in advance, and be sure to check out the various resources I've created around PlanDoTrack and Effective Virtual Conversations. 

Pick up a copy of both, or one of my other books at Amazon.

Download a copy of my spring 2020 Remote Working Whitepaper here.

Jennifer Britton - CEO, Potentials Realized
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019)
Provider of specialized resources for remote professionals and teams (Coaching, Training and Consulting Services)
Co-host of the Remote Pathways Podcast
​

​We are exploring five of the different productivity keys captured in PlanDoTrack. The second one is around experimentation. With today’s business context characterized by change and disruption, experimentation can be an important strategy in product development, service delivery and also learning.

Just as in an experimental mindset, we can approach some of our project work from a trial and error standpoint. While these may not be all projects, some areas may be earmarked for innovation and experimentation.

Adopting an experimental mindset can lead to an ongoing cycle of trial, results, learning, iteration, adjustment.

Some of the areas you might consider experimenting with could include:

• Meetings: (times, flows and processes) – Given that many organizations realize that current meeting processes are not the most effective or efficient, might this be an area to experiment with different approaches and strategies? For example, facilitation at team meetings – Rather than the same person leading each team meeting might you rotate that?
• Program Delivery – Instead of offering everything in an in-person format, might you experiment with offering something as a virtual or online offering?
• Content Delivery – Instead of always writing something, might you experiment with something that is delivered via audio or video?

What are the changes you are noting in your industry? Where might experimentation be of service?

For more on this topic check out:

• Michael Thompsons article – 5 Benefits of Adopting an Experimental Mindset
• Alex Cuthbert’s article on Embracing and Experimental Mindset

What does an experimental mindset mean for you as a team or business? What can it look like?

Best,
​Jennifer

​​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon.

Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues.
​Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326

Check out these Instagram accounts @coachingbizbuilder & @remotepathways!
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Are you a remote professional? Listen into the Remote Pathways Podcast on your favorite podcast player!

Figure out the level of the plan (annual, monthly, weekly, daily, other)

What are the levels you are planning at?
Do you have a running task list?  On multiple post-its or lists or walls or boards?
What would it be like to have them consolidated in one place?
​
Having all you tasks under one umbrella can help you as you go to ensure that all the tasks were followed

Planning takes place on multiple levels – annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily and sometimes on a project basis. What levels are you planning at? How are you keeping the tasks in focus so that they can move forward?

In a couple of weeks we will be wrapping up Q1 of the year. What did you notice about how you engaged with planning?

In the PlanDoTrack planner, you will find that every month has it’s own Monthly To Dos page. You will find that you will want to shift the To Dos forward into your weekly planners and daily planners. I find this is an invaluable way to keep tasks in mind. Without it, I may forget some of the smaller tasks that need to get done – ie. reporting, invoicing, web updates

Activity: Spend some time thinking about, and reviewing, What are the levels you are planning at?
Consider what might be found in each of these areas:
Annually – Budgets, vision, meta-goals
Quarterly – Achievements, trends, major projects
Monthly – Breaking down projects, to tasks and activities.
Weekly – activities and tasks required to focus on this

Many use the running task list idea on a weekly basis. For other ideas on how to use a running task list, check out these articles:
The Petite Planners – How to Do a Running Task List in Your Bullet Journal:  https://thepetiteplanner.com/running-to-do-list/
Or Take a Look at this Weekly Running Task List - https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/157485318203265623/?lp=true

What’s important for you in terms of carrying things forward?

Enjoy your week,
​Jennifer

What are you noticing about the things that are helping you keep moving? Having led thousands of conversations around productivity with leaders, business owners, groups and teams over the last fifteen years, I felt it was important to distill these down to more generic keys for productivity in my 2019 publication - PlanDoTrack.

Five of the core themes which PlanDoTrack is built upon are the mantras of:

• Focus
• Experimentation
• Momentum
• Reflective Pauses
• Celebration

Let’s take a look at each of these in turn. We’ll be taking a deeper dive into each of these in the coming weeks here at the PlanDoTrack Blog. For more on these, also be sure to check out the associated questions embedded in Section 4 of PlanDoTrack.

Today’s post explores the topic of FOCUS.

In today’s VUCA context, being able to focus while also keeping an eye to the horizon of possible opportunities and threats, is key.

Focus is paramount as a remote professional on multiple levels including:

• Project work: Focusing in on the right projects at the right time. Consider that what might be important for you, might not be important for others on the team. What are the “right projects” for “right now”?
• Focus and workflow: A challenge for many remote workers today is being able to focus on core tasks without getting disturbed. If your work requires critical thinking, when is that happening? If your work involves creating new ideas for projects, products or services, when are you finding time to do that?
• Managing interruptions – With the average worker getting interrupted multiple times an hour, especially through the “digital interruptions” of pings, emails and instant messages, what are you noticing about the interruptions you are facing on a regular basis? What are you doing to manage these? Note that it’s not just the interruption itself, but also getting back on task. Dr. Gloria Marks has noted it can take upwards of 22 minutes to get back on task post-interruption.

 
Activity:

• Note what focus means for you right now – which of these areas needs attention?
• What are the things you want to do more of to amplify your focus?
• What do you need to change or say NO to?
• Who do you want to be accountable to around focus?

For more on this topic, check out an earlier 2020 blog post here.

Wishing you the best, 
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon.

Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues.
​Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326

Check out these Instagram accounts @coachingbizbuilder & @remotepathways!
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Are you a remote professional? Listen into the Remote Pathways Podcast on your favorite podcast player!

Do you have a running task list? Perhaps? On multiple post-its or lists or walls or boards?

What would it be like to have them consolidated in one place?

Having all your tasks under one umbrella can help you as you go to ensure that all the tasks were followed.

Figure out the level of the plan (annual, monthly, weekly, daily, other).

Planning takes place on multiple levels – annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily and sometimes on a project basis. What levels are you planning at? How are you keeping the tasks in focus so that they can move forward?

In the PlanDoTrack planner, you will find that every month has its own Monthly To Dos page. You will find that you will want to shift the To Dos forward into your weekly planners and daily planners. I find this is an invaluable way to keep tasks in mind. Without it, I may forget some of the smaller tasks that need to get done – i.e. reporting.

Many use the running task list idea on a weekly basis. For other ideas on how to use a running task list, check out these articles:

• The Petite Planners – How to Do a Running Task List in Your Bullet Journal
• Take a look at this Weekly Running Task List 

What’s important for you in terms of carrying things forward?
 
What are the levels you are planning at?
Annually – Budgets, vision, meta-goals
Quarterly – Achievements, trends, major projects
Monthly – Breaking down projects, to tasks and activities.
Weekly – activities and tasks required to focus on this.

All the best,
​Jennifer