In a virtual team it is critical to build capacity given that people are working more autonomously. Time spent equipping team members with the tools to influence, be proactive and also communicate is key.
​
This week I wanted to zoom into three skills related to coaching that may be valuable to your virtual or remote team. These skills are:

1. Goals
2. Listening
3. Questioning

I often am amazed at how many organizations have not invested time, or resources, into helping team members work around goals. While there are many frameworks including:

• SMART Goals
• CLEAR Goals – see John Whitmore’s Coaching for Performance writing
• WOOP Goals

I usually encourage organizations to consider what’s going to work best for you. A majority of clients I work with are aware of SMART Goals, which we morph into SMART – E Goals, E meaning Exciting. If our goals are not exciting or motivating, it’s unlikely that we will get them done.

As a quick refresher – SMART goals are goals that are:

The PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner is geared to virtual and remote team members. As I wrote in last week’s post, this month’s focus is going to be in the overlooked area of virtual and remote teams.

Spending time more intentionally on on-boarding virtual team members can go a far way. Today’s post reaches back to a post from the Teams365 blog in 2018 – Questions New Virtual Team Members May Have.

Here’s what I wrote,
“While this list is no means comprehensive, some questions new virtual team members may have, and areas you will want to cover (in an orientation or on-boarding program) are:

Team Issues:

• What is the culture of the team? Remember, how are things done around here.
• What are the team priorities?
• Who is on the team? What are their strengths?
• What could you reach out to them for?
• What else should the new team member know about the team and its focus?

 
The new team members’ role

• What are the roles and responsibilities of the new team member’s role?
• What key priorities and deadlines are there?
• Who will they need to reach out to?
• What feedback loops are there?
• What is expected in terms of performance?

 
Relationship between the team leader and new team member:

• What are your expectations of me as a team member? Team leader?
• How do you like to be communicated with?
• What are the issues I should surface directly to you? When?
• What are the things I should keep in mind in terms of reporting? Connecting with others on the team?
• What issues should I call about? Email about? Use the web about?

 
Who should I reach out to around:

• How to do things?
• Technical IT issues

What other issues are important to note?

Best,
Jennifer

For many years in my global career I faced multiple complexities which would get in the way of a regular work day. From regular periods of no electricity, to political and natural disasters which pulled work off course. I learned early in my career the value of two things which continue to help me flourish today –

#1 – Focus – Focus when you can, even if it is for a short while. Productivity is not always about the long haul, it can also be about the short burst of focused effort. This is especially true in my world where I am regularly juggling roles, hats, responsibilities and clients. As much as I would love to have huge swaths of time to undertake my work, it’s unlikely. Therefore, focused burst of work, coupled with #2, help me (and the business) keep moving!

#2 – Be clear on the top 3 – 5 goals for the day, week and month. My world was the world of contingency planning on steroids, so being clear on what top 3 or 4 to-dos were for the day, or the week, or the month, created a powerful anchor to planning, and also feeling satisfied when EVERYTHING on the list did not get done (which was almost every day).
​
What are your top 3-5 goals TODAY? This week? This quarter? Do you review these regularly throughout the week/month/quarter and adjust accordingly?

Best,
​Jennifer

Week 11 Focus – Enabler: Habits
Focus Question: What are the habits shaping your work?

Description
Habits are things that we undertake, almost subconsciously, to the point of sometimes not even being aware of them. As repetitive actions, habits are a powerful force, in shaping our work and business.

Story
At the beginning of each year, I find that conversation starts to flow towards dialogue around habits with my coaching clients. Perhaps this is because it’s time for a new year, or maybe because it’s a clean slate.

Here’s what I wrote about habits at the Teams365 blog,

“Habits and practices are things we do automatically, sometimes unconsciously, because they have come so ingrained. There are many schools of thought that create a link between habits and success. That habits lead to success.”
As the tagline in the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack asserts:

Daily Steps + Consistent Action = Momentum

Habits play a key role in shaping our regular actions. Habits are things we do automatically, and if we are able to instill regular go-to activities that can help us move forward, it can support automation of tasks and activities.
​
As you consider your current goals and priorities:
1. What will help you be successful this year?
2. What are the consistent behaviors and actions you want to or need to undertake to move you towards your goals?
3. What could amplify, or magnify, those goals?
4. What's missing that could make a difference?
5. What small shifts would make a new ripple?
6. What does consistency mean for you around habits?
7. What could get in the way?
8. What is going to remind you about your commitment to your goals?
9. What do you notice about how your mindset is influencing your habits?
10. What is becoming automatic for you OR what needs to become automatic for you in your successful pursuit towards your goal.”
(Source: https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-1466-2018-kickstart-day-5-of-8-habits-and-practices-to-move-you-towards-your-goals)

Activity
Make a list of the top 5-10 habits that shape your work as a business owner, solopreneur or remote worker. What are the things you consistently do, no matter what?

As part of the iceberg in Section 1 of the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack, you are invited to review pages 25 and 27 to identify your habits in work. Consider how they are helping and how they are hindering you.
​
What are the changes you want to make in service to your goals?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Complete pages 25 and 27 in both the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack, to identify your habits in work, and how they are helping and how they are hindering you.

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track

Virtual and remote teams need attention too! Did you know that a 2016 study by Culture Wizard found that only 22% of remote and virtual teams benefit from focused team development time?
When working with virtual and remote teams we want to help them develop on several levels including:

• Results
• Relationships
• Process

Virtual and Remote Teams need to get clear on Results. This entails having everyone be clear on:

• What are our major goals?
• What will success look like?
• How does each one of us feed into successful achievement of this goal?
• What does alignment look like for us?
• What are the number 1 priorities?
• If nothing else gets done, what is essential?
• What feedback loops do we have around this?

I have written quite a bit on Virtual and Remote Team Development over at my sister blog, the Teams365 blog. One series you may want to check out is the A-Z of Virtual and Remote Team Development Series.
On the Relationship front, we want to be sure to:

• Know each other
• Understand what strengths each person brings to the team
• Consider how our strengths can be leverage collectively, as well as what gaps might exist?
• What is building, and distracting, from trust?
• What is each person’s unique working style? Styles impact decision making, conflict, communication, pacing, stress etc.
• How might I need to adjust my style to better support them/connect with them?

 
Process pieces also keep virtual and remote teams moving. These include team practices of meeting regularly, updating each other, sharing information, providing feedback. What are the process pieces which are important for the team right now?
What are the things that are helping you as a team right now, build relationships, focus on results and refine process?
 
Best,
​Jennifer

​Week 10 Focus – Strengths
Focus Question: What are your innate talents and strengths? How do you use these every day?

Description
Each of us brings our own unique and innate strengths. What are the strengths you bring to the table every day?

Research/Story
For many decades now, Gallup has studied the impact of strengths on work. They have found some very compelling statistics behind why we should focus more on helping people connect with, and leverage, their strengths every day at work. Did you know:

• Gallup has found that when employees get to use their strengths every day they are:
  • 6x more engaged
  • 3x more likely to report having excellent quality of life
  • 8.9% more profitable
• Teams which focus on strengths have 12.5% greater productivity.

Gallup Strengths Center. 

Author Marcus Buckingham undertook research and he writes that “1.5 Million employees on 50, 000 teams were surveyed, and they found that the most important lever to team performance was ‘Do you have an opportunity to use your strengths at work every day?’ (Reference: Go Put Your Strengths to Work)
Those that “strongly agreed” found:

• 38% highly productive
  
• 44% high customer satisfaction scores
• 50% higher employee retention

(Marcus Buckingham, The Business Case for Strengths, 2016)
While we cannot always use our strengths at work every day, over time we may gravitate to jobs which do cultivate our strengths. As we set up businesses or work remote, being able to leverage strengths regularly can be an important motivational factor. When we are able to leverage strengths, we are more apt to move into flow and find greater job satisfaction.

Strengths over-used can become a blindspot. We may over-lean into our strengths in times of pressure, urgency and resource constraints. Notice what happens when your strengths become over-magnified.

Activity
If you have not yet worked with strengths, spend some time identifying what your strengths are.  There are several different strengths assessments you may want to explore including Gallup’s StrengthsFinder 2.0, the Entrepreneurial StrengthsFinder, as well as Positive Psychology’s VIA Character Survey.
If you have not undertaken one of these assessments to ascertain your top 5 strengths, take a few minutes to do that this week, reflecting on the questions:

• Where are you able to use your strengths regularly?
• How does this support your work and priorities right now?
• Where are you over-utilizing your strengths? What blind spot is that creating?
  

What other strengths are needed in your work? How do you outsource these pieces of work, or bring others onto the team, over time?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
There are several touch points throughout the planners to get you thinking about your strengths, including - Section 4 of both books which explores the Ecosystem as well as:

​ What are your strengths, and how you can leverage them?

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track

One of the favorite things I enjoy about the PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planners are the Trackers. I’ve included 12 sets of Monthly Daily Trackers in each publication, so that you can track the most important elements in your work (and life) over the course of a year.
Making things visible, and intentionally tracking items, can provide valuable information and data. This can help us with our decision making, and prioritizing.

Remote Workers might be tracking:

• Time spent on projects or tasks
• Meeting time
• Feedback provided
• Hours of work
  

Virtual Businesses might track:

• Revenue
• Sales
• Expenses
• Presentations or Pitches Given
• Client Meetings
• Services Delivered
  

What are the elements you are tracking?

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 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

Leveraging our time is as much about getting organized, as it is getting clear on what’s important. Against the backdrop of complexity, ongoing change and disruption, getting ruthless with our time management can be so important to many.
As a business owner, or remote worker, this is especially true. We can’t get our time back. So, when we go down a rabbit hole (whether it’s doing too much research online, following a shiny red object or thinking we just need to learn “one more thing”), the costs can be tremendous. Not just in NOT getting things done, but in terms of our focus, our motivation and also our profit line!

Discernment is about getting clear on what’s important and what’s not. It is about being clear of what’s going to provide impact now, later or never.

As a remote worker or virtual business owner, we are do often have greater control over our time. Our colleagues and/or superiors may be hundreds of miles away, or several time zones ahead. As remote workers, it’s not always about how we manage our time, but how we get our results. Those who feel the crunch in getting something over the finish line is usually only us (and those loved ones around us!).

With this in mind, what is the cost of not being discerning around where your time goes, or how clear your projects are, or what is a more important priority than another?

As we embark on new projects, or start a new week, it can be useful to ask ourselves, and our stakeholders:

• What’s most important today?
• What are the top 3-5 things I want to get completed?
• What are the MUST Dos?
• What will success look like with this project/task?
• As it relates to this project/task, what’s important?
• Have I considered the short-term, medium-term and long-term in making decisions?
• What would my colleague/boss/peer/customer say is most important to focus on today?
• What impact will this activity have? And that one?

 
What questions do you want to ask as you decide one priority to another?

Let us know using the comments below!
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

Week 4 Focus – VALUES – What’s important to you?
Focus Question: What are the values that anchor your business?

Description
Like a compass, values provide an important anchor for us. They influence our decisions, ways we work, and how we connect with others. What are the values which influence your work?

Research/Story
Working with Values as a Coach is a foundational part of what we do.There are many different ways to work with values as a coach including:

• Values Checklist (see below)
• Getting people to speak to a peak experience they have had
• Creating a Word String, adjectives which further define who we are.

This week you have the opportunity to revisit your values. Your values as a coach, as an individual and as a business owner. Note when these are similar, and how they are different.
​
​Activity
Values Checklist
Use the downloadable values checklist (found below) ​to highlight different values you hold. Once you have identified your top 5, give them a tagline or 3-4 adjectives each.
For example: If one of my values is high touch, that also means – small group size, integrating 1-1 calls with group calls, and taking time to really connect. 
​​
Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Given that values are such a core part of our work, you are invited to review these several times throughout the workbook.
As part of the Iceberg you are invited to identify your top 10 values for you and your business. Write these out on page 24 (CBB) or page 25 (PDT). You may want to read through this entire section from pages 23 – 29.
There is also space on page 38 under “Be True to Who you Are” - The Micro-Vision on page 38 (CBB) or page 42 (PDT).
You are invited to return to this in the Ecosystem in Section 4, noting your top 5 values as part of your anchoring system, grounding you (page 104 – CBB; page 108 – PDT). Note your top 5 values there as well.
 
Download a one-pager to create you own annual analog resource. 

Enjoy!
Jennifer

PS - Share your vision and how you engage with these activities on social media. Use the hashtag #dscam2019 (It stands for Daily Steps + Consistent Action = Momentum)