It’s back to work and time to revisit HOW you are working. What are the things that are working? What’s things aren’t? I thought it would be useful to revisit the start of year checklist, given that September is often known as the second new year. How are you doing around these 10 areas: 1. What are your top 3 priorities for the rest of the year? Where are these visible? Does everyone you interface with know about these? 2. When are your 1-1s scheduled with your boss? Your team? 3. Peer time - When have you scheduled meetings and outreach with your peers? 4. Deep work time - What are the times you have earmarked for the heavier thinking tasks and activities? 5. Organizing- What are the things that need to be streamlined? What items need to be organized – physically and digitally? 6. Tolerations - What is the one thing that bothered you this year that you want to fix? Maybe it was something in your office that didn't work, or something on your computer that wasn't configured right? 7. Learning - What do you have earmarked for learning? What formats will it take? Are you building in time to apply the learning you have already taken, or have you become a consumer of learning? 8. Habits - What are the habits that are doing to keep you at peak performance? 9. Boundaries -What are the boundaries around work which will help support you? As a virtual and remote team member it's easy to have the lines blur. What's important to carve out as "your time" or "Family time". When are you available for others? When are you not? Have you communicated this? 10. Renewal and peak performance - The working life of a virtual and remote professional can be sedentary at times. What are you doing to renew, energize and keep yourself at peak performance? Is there anything else you want to add to the list? Enjoy the conversation! 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!
0 Comments
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 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 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 coaching, we often ask clients to think about the structure, of their accountabilities and what they have committed to doing going forward. If someone is working on becoming more efficient by doing things once rather than returning back to it time and time again to perfect it, a structure might be “better done than perfect”. If someone is wanting to become better at minimizing the paper on their desk or emails in their inbox, it might be a note on their desktop saying “Touch it once” or “Get to zero”. For someone else, productivity might mean becoming more efficient with their time windows, and having an alarm or a timer to note when it’s time to sign off. By creating more urgency, it can help us move through moments of procrastination or increase our pacing. Finally, for someone who wants to get better at getting into the routine of working out, the structure might be having the gym bag in the trunk, or a pair or running shoes in the car, to fit in the later in the day workout, after shopping or work (if you are out and about). If you are home, it might mean setting a timer and having your gym things ready for when you are ready to head out. Structures can be visible – a post it, a note on your computer. Structures can be auditory – a song, or an alarm, or even a verbal note. What are the structures which are going to support you in achieving your goals this quarter? Enjoy! 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! "And even, if circumstances required, a contingency plan for his contingency plan's contingency plan." -Frank Beddor As recent events have shown, plans don’t always go as planned, especially when the context changes so much. This week’s Weekly Planning Hack is all about contingency planning. My former world of work with the international sector, and in working with disaster management, was grounded in contingency planning. I like to say that I would start my day with a plan of A – Z which would morph and adjust to become a list of D2 to I2 over the course of the day. Contingency planning is grounded in flexibility and consistent action. It is reactive, and sometimes proactive, making sure that plans are fluid and always moving. Contingency planning allows for changes and learning to occur from event to event. It does require strong skills in prioritization, adaptability, and flexibility. What can contingency planning look like for you? 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! One of my favorite creative projects this year has been creating and co-hosting the Remote Pathways podcast with Michelle Mullins. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, I hope that you will listen in, either at our site, or on your favorite podcast platform. Little did we know back last fall when we launched in November, how may people would be working remote at this moment in time. The Remote Pathways podcast explores the people, places and pathways to remote work. Here's a list of where our first 10 episodes have taken us (each one is about 15-20 minutes in length): Episode 1 - Welcome and Introduction. Listen in here. Episode 2 - Getting Started with Remote Work. Listen in here. Episode 3 - Goals, The One Page Plan. Remote Pathways - Serial Entrepreneurs and Coaches. Listen in here. Episode 4 - Vision, Metrics, Pathways: Project Management and Sales. Listen in here. Episode 5 - SMART-E Goals, Creative Solopreneurs and Virtual Facilitators - Listen in Here. Episode 6 - Systems, Mentors and Work From Anywhere. Listen in here. Episode 7 - Collaboration (In the virtual space); Pathways - Voluntary Sector and Selling Your Start up. Listen in here. Episode 8 - Special Guest - Jennifer Grote: Strengths, Wellness and Mojo Habits. Listen in here. Episode 9-Remote. Virtual or Mobile? Listen in here. Episode 10 - Susan Combs and Mentoring in the Virtual Space. Listen in here. Let us know what is your FAVORITE episode so far? What other topics would you like to hear? Use the comments listed below, or share with us over at the Remote Pathways Facebook page. With best wishes, Jennifer Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized You can now pick up a digital PDF copy of PlanDoTrack at our Potentials Realized Store. Download and print at home! Let's connect to discuss the virtual and remote support needs you have for your team or organization. Phone me at 416.996.8326 (M-F 8 - 4 pm ET) Check out upcoming programs on our calendar - Virtual Events of course 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:
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 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! Ten minutes of planning can save upwards of 60 minutes of unfocused efforts, according to an old project management adage. It’s alluring to write something down or put it in the system without taking a few minutes each day to look ahead and think about how our planning works, or to look to the wider picture and to think about what’s important. At what levels are you planning? Planning doesn’t always have to be undertaken in a daily focus. Many times, the traction comes from looking to the wider landscape. In fact, PlanDoTrack isn’t a daily planner. It’s about focusing on monthly, quarterly and annual planning. When we shift our attention to the higher level of planning, it can serve as an anchor for us, through the ups and downs. Don’t forget to explore planning at these levels: Annual planning – While we spend a lot of time focusing on these at the start and end of the year, when was the last time you reviewed your annual plan? When you achieve these items, what are you doing to celebrate? Quarterly planning – What are the things you are aspiring to on a tri-monthly basis? For many of us there is seasonality in our work. What are the core goals you want to engage in throughout the year? Weekly planning – What are the key goals you have this week? What are the things which are getting carried over week to week? This may be a signal that they need to be dropped, delegated or deleted. What do you want to do about those tasks? Enjoy your planning! 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! Happy Holidays! My hope is that this week you are able to spend some quality time with loved ones and/or renewing.
We know that high performance is as much about renewal as it is about pushing hard when needed. Thank you for spending time this year with the blog. I hope that you have found many interesting posts and elements to support you in productivity and remote work. I look forward to continuing to bring you the Weekly Planning Hacks and other information about planning, doing and tracking. Enjoy your holiday time off! Jennifer Jennifer Britton Author of PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner (2019) The weekly planning hacks are geared to get you into immediate action. The tagline for PlanDoTrack, and Coaching Business Builder is “Daily Steps + Consistent Action = Momentum”. Things are easier to get done when in process. Think about how much energy it takes to get things going. Part of this approach is to plan first. To take bigger tasks and break them down into manageable parts. For example, let’s say as a business owner you want to write a book. Planning can be key to success with a project like this.
While “pumping out the first draft” may sound overwhelming, remember, you’ve got items in your MindMap and/or outline to start writing from. As we know in writing, it’s often through the process that the words come! As you consider current projects you want to undertake, what does PLANNING first mean for you? 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 the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course. Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram |
AuthorJennifer Britton is the blogger behind the popular Teams365 blog, a daily,blog for team leaders and members since 2014. Her latest publication is the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner. Pick up a copy at Amazon. Pick Up a CopyUpcoming Programs
Join us for the 21 For 21 Virtual Co-working Sprints - $21 US. Want to access the recordings and bonus worksheets? Join us at the Booster Pack $79 US early bird rate. Sign up at 21for21 Virtual Co-working - STAND OUT VIRTUALLY! Stand Out Virtually - Incubator - Running an online, virtual or digital business and want to get the word out to organizations? Join us for the 8 week Stand Out Virtually Incubator. Next group starts April 2021. Build out your brand, offers and proposals. Virtual Facilitation Essentials (8.5 CCEs)- Expand your toolkit for better remote and virtual conversations. This is a virtual train-the-trainer - 5 weeks: Fall 2021 programming starts in October $495 US Learn more and register. Coaches! Register for the 60 Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator. Join us for 60 Days support and ACTION for coaches wanting to grow their businesses. On-Demand Course. PlanDoTrack Facilitator Training Program (24 CCEs) - Starts again in October. Contact Jennifer to discuss. Month-End/Quarterly Planning Session: Thursday September 30th - 8 -9 am ET Archives
January 2021
Categories
All
|