Many workers are concerned that visibility in the remote and virtual workspace is not like being “seen” in the in-person realm. In contrast, many others feel like they have never been more visible. What are you doing to remain visible in the digital and virtual space?

Business continues to leverage relationships and is grounded in results. What are you doing to foster business relationships while getting the work done?

Here are a number of activities you might want to consider:
​
Mentoring – Many professional associations connect professionals at all stages of their careers with a mentor. Mentoring can be an invaluable way to learn from others in your profession and organization.

Join a professional association – If you are not a member of your professional association, this may be a great time to join. Many host ongoing professional development activities at no or low fee, while others may host Virtual speed networking rounds.

Join a LinkedIn or Facebook group – Whether it’s connecting in for conversation or connecting in to take action in something like a Challenge, joining a social media group can connect you in with core topics of importance. I recently held the Stand Out Virtually challenge and was amazed to see the progress people made during the challenge.

Take an online learning course – There are a variety of courses different providers offer. I continue to offer several courses which are approved for International Coach Federation Continuing Coach Education Units – including Group Coaching Essentials and Virtual Facilitation Essentials. In addition to skill development, online learning courses often connect you in with others with a keen interest.

What are you looking to learn this year? What connections are you looking to foster?

Which activities might you consider?

What else might you consider?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

This time of year is always characterised by “let’s get back to routine”! While this year may be a little different (or a lot different depending on where you are), this week’s post gets you thinking about core activities which may have been put off that you’ll want to schedule before, or during, the fall.

#1 – One-on-one time. Individual conversations become even more important in the remote space. What’s your rhythm of 1-1 calls with team members? Getting into, or back to, the routine of regular 1-1 calls to check in, troubleshoot and see what team members need are key parts of team success. They helps with connection, results and motivation. Take a look at this Teams365 blog post for Questions You Might Incorporate Into Your 1-1 Conversations.

#2 – A regular rhythm of team meetings. Think about the team meetings you have been involved with. What is the rhythm? How frequently do you meet? What type of meetings are you holding? Are they always the most effective or efficient?
​
Consider using the 8 Essential Virtual Meeting Questions before you meet every time. You’ll find them here.

#3 – Quarterly planning. While the business context may look different than it did six months ago or even three months ago, quarterly planning is key. In the remote space it’s even more important for people to be on the same page. When are you planning to get together to look at your plans? When will you be focusing on coming together as a team to reflect on your successes and learning from the past few months?

#4 – Peer connections. Peer connections are key to learning, and feedback. What are you doing as a team to foster time between peers? Have you considered a co-working session?

#5 – Team and personal development. Ongoing learning has never been more important. What are you doing to support new learning at both the team and individual levels?

Learning can take many forms: from on-demand video-based programs to live, interactive webinars. What are you doing to foster team and personal development?

Enjoy your focus and conversations as you get back to (a new) routine!

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

When I went to write PlanDoTrack two years ago, I would have had no idea just how many people would be moving to work in the remote space right now. What I have loved seeing is how people have made the transition over to remote work smoothly and are now the in mid-term of their remote work experience. With that in mind, the principles and practices which underpin PlanDoTrack become even more important for sustainability. In this week’s blog post I wanted to zoom into five areas you might explore in terms of MAINTAINING productivity in the remote space. You’ll find more on each of these areas in sections 1 and 2 of the PlanDoTrack workbook and planner.
 
#1 - Create or Revisit the Vision
In recent months I’ve been spending a lot of time with groups in presentations talking about the importance of creating or revisiting your vision.
Our vision creates a horizon for us to aim towards. In times of disruption, this is even more important.

What are the elements which are important for YOU to focus on?

What are the elements which are important to keep an eye on?

#2 - Be Crystal Clear on Outcomes
 Leadership and teamwork in the remote space is all about outcomes. It’s about being very clear about:

• What will success look like?
• What is the outcome? What is NOT the outcome.
• What are you doing to stimulate conversations around outcomes?

#3 - Top 3 – 5 Goals
With vision and outcome in mind, what are the core essentials to be focusing on? It’s easy to get pulled into the eddies of other people’s priorities.

Questions:

• What are the top 3- 5 things you need to be sure you get done – today? This week? This month?
• What are you doing to keep your Top 3 – 5 visible and tracked?

Note that in many of the PlanDoTrack planning pages, there is space for you to track your Top 3-5.
 
#4 - Be Intentional (and ruthless) With Boundaries
As many have seen in recent mots, creating boundaries and routines that work well for each of our individual experiences are critical. Whether we are navigating work-life issues or working in a team that runs 24/7, being intentional and focused on our boundaries is critical for high performance. We need cycles to renew as much as cycles to run.

Questions to consider:

• What are the boundaries you need to employ?
• What are the renewal cycles you need to build in?

 
What’s important to note? Join us for more conversation around this at the Virtual and Remote Visionaries Hub on Facebook .

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!
​

Last week’s Weekly Planning Hack was about Focus on opportunities. This week’s is about the flipside, acknowledge the threats. As we have seen in recent months, the threats around a business can be just as important as requiring a pivot as other things.

Threats can range from changes in the business context, to new taxation regulations to changes in competition.

What are the threats you are facing as a remote professional  or in your work?

It’s important to be as proactive as we can be with threats and consider what are the things that are going to help us avoid them. This might include creating contingency plans or other.

What are the external threats that might derail your work? What are the things you can put in place to mitigate or minimize that possibility?
 
Enjoy the reflection,
Jennifer

In recent months, the lockdown globally has led to some very interesting research opportunities. Does remote work, really work? Is it as productive as working in person? Who likes to work remotely and who flourishes?

As with any type of work situation, and one that has been more pronounced, even for those of us who have always worked remotely, I think it’s interesting to explore what some of the initial statistics and studies show. Here are details from five different studies:

Here’s where we were before COVID:

• Approximately 3.4 percent of the population or 7 million people in the U.S. were working remotely
• Remote work had grown by 151% between 2018 to 2019, if job listings are an indicator

(https://media.thinknum.com/articles/remote-job-listings-are-growing-faster-than-office-jobs/)

Today…
Gallup research found that 54 percent of office workers would leave their job, if they could have one with more flexibility. And Gallup further states that “job flexibility increases engagement.”

According to this article by Kellie Wong – 25 Remote Work Statistics:

Gallup puts it all together: “Job flexibility engages remote workers — which drives performance.”
Here are some additional statistics Kellie Wong shares in her article:

• Remote workers can be 20 to 25 percent more productive than their onsite colleagues
• Real estate expenses saved by each remote worker average $10,000 a year.
• Employee turnover in companies that allow remote work is 25 percent lower than in companies that don’t offer that option.
• Employees who work remotely at least one day a month are “24 percent more likely to be happy and productive.”
• 85 percent of businesses say that implementing flexible work locations have made their company more productive.
• 75 percent of people who work remotely do so because there are fewer distractions.
• 77 percent of employees say that working remotely will help their company lower operating costs.|

 
Who is working remotely? According to this HubSpot survey:
Job Types of Remote Workers

• 18% of executives work remotely more than on-site. (Owl Labs)
• 35% of remote workers are individual contributors. (Owl Labs)
• 30% of people report working for a company that's fully remote. (Buffer)
• 46% of C-suite members work remotely at least part-time. (Owl Labs)
• 55% of VPs work remotely at least part-time. (Owl Labs)
• New employees might work remotely less often at their company. Roughly 75% more on-site workers have worked in their positions for less than a year, (Owl Labs)

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/remote-work-stats
 
What are you intrigued by? What’s important to note?
​
Join us for the conversation at the Virtual and Remote Visionaries Hub on Facebook. It’s a new group I am hosting and hope that you will come and join us to share ideas, resources and insights. Join us here. 

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!
​

The last several months have been a challenge for most in business. With a pandemic surrounding us, keeping things focused on the opportunities, rather than the threats swirling, has not always been easy.

There is a part of our brain known as the Reticular Articulating System, which works to focus on what we filter and let through to our brain and what we ignore.

There’s a well used phrase “What we focus on, expands”.  It’s sometimes also known as the shiny red object syndrome. You start noticing a new type of car, and then everywhere you look, there it is. In part, this can be because of what you are focusing on.

Think about your mindset at the moment. Where are you focusing? What do you notice?

Are you taking time to focus on the opportunities that exist? These might entail:

• Ways to do things differently?
• A different process?
• A new partnership?
• Joint ventures to expand into a new market?

What else would help to expand opportunities?

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!