 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
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 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 Join in for Effective Virtual Conversations and Remote Working Tips this week at 12 noon ET3/16/2020  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   Week 33 Focus – People Management 101 Focus Question: What makes your people exceptional? Description People are at the heart of any great business, or team. People management is a critical element for success. If you are a first-time team developer there’s lots to learn. It is often said that the move to first time supervisor or manager of people is the largest step you’ll ever undertake during your career. In PlanDoTrack, I explore core skills needed by both team leaders and team members. Given the autonomous nature of virtual and remote work, it can be beneficial and valuable to build these skills across an entire team – not just with the leader. As a leader of people, there are a variety of different conversations you will engage in. Here are several of them:
Activity Consider your skill base right now. What is one skill area you could become more effective in to boost your impact as a people leader? Connection to the Workbook and Planner Complete the Wheel of Virtual and Remote Work in PlanDoTrack and review the skills listed in Section 1 of PlanDoTrack. What do you notice? Where can you improve? 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  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 32 Focus – One Percent Rule to Business Development Focus Question: What are the consistent daily steps you want to undertake? Description Since 2005 I have been sharing what I call the One Percent Rule to Business Development. I've heard from a lot of entrepreneurs that they like this notion of incremental business action. So here it is! The 1% rule to business development consists of a series of 8 different stages: 1. Create the Vision: Our vision sets the broad swath of possibility. It gets us thinking about what is possible. It also helps to anchor us when we think about where we want to go and what we want to do. Making our vision detailed and keeping it visible can be important. How are you enshrining your vision? 2. Prepare. During the preparation phase we want to get clear on what the requirements are for our work and projects. We want to know what a successful result looks like. We want to be clear on what resourcing is needed. During the preparation phase we will gather all the information we have so we can pull together a plan. 3. Create an action plan. In my work as a coach, I usually get my clients to create a One-Page Action Plan. The value of the One-Page Plan is that it contains all of the most important information in one page. The One-Pager be placed in a visual location so that you can refer to it quickly AND regularly. What’s on your action plan? 4. Seek out support. What is going to help you achieve the key goals you have set out for yourself? Support can take many forms – financial, technical, people. What do you need to be successful? 5. Take ongoing small steps. As my father, a retired entrepreneur himself, always reminds me that “Rome was not built in a day”. The premise behind the workbook planners is about taking REGULAR, CONSISTENT action. In building a business by ourselves burnout may be a possibility if we move too fast. It can be important to take regular small steps to create the momentum needed for things done quickly. 6. Test, Learn, Retest. In the sixth step were going to test things out. Today's volatility and complexity requires that we experiment regularly. With the data we receive from the initial test or action we can learn and apply then retest and learn again. This is an iterative process which continues. Throughout the business cycle we may move through different bouts of experimentation. Each cycle creates an opportunity for learning and growth. 7. Learn, Iterate and Act. Each action creates a reaction, which over time creates its own momentum, making it easier to achieve the goal. Along the way learning and feedback will help to shape what we do. 8. Ultimately our goal is achieved. Based on our experience we will further refine the vision that we set out for ourselves, expanding it or modifying it based on our experience. This will further support and shape our actions are we move forward with the next cycle and process. This cycle may take place in a short amount of time, for example a day or it may be phased over the longer term of a project. Activity Using your business or a current project, work through the One Percent Rule. What can action and learning look like around one of your most important goals? Map out the 8 steps of the One Percent Rule.  Connection to the Workbook and Planner Refer to the One Percent Rule to Business in Section 1 on page 29 of the Coaching Business Builder, or page 31 of PlanDoTrack. 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  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 31 Focus – Marketing Review Focus Question: What needs a tweak with your 5 P’s? Description Last week we started to take stock of where you are around dialogue and marketing of your work. Whether you are internal, or external, we are regularly marketing ourselves. Internally we may be focused on personal branding and/or creating and positioning a business case for our work. Externally, we want to offer the best item of value to our customers or clients. When we explore the topic of marketing and program/product design, we often talk about the Marketing Mix or the 5 P’s– Product, Placement, Promotion, People, and Price. Knowing our 5 P’s and reviewing it regularly ensures that we are on target with what our customers or stakeholders want. This week, as review, note what’s worked, and what hasn’t recently in the five different areas of the 5 P’s.  Activity Use associated worksheet to note what’s worked and what hasn’t around the 5 P’s around your product or service offering. Undertake a review of your metrics. This could include numbers of subscribers, engagement, posts, views, follows, comments etc. What do you notice? What’s working around your marketing right now? Consider the business which has come in, over last six months. What sources led to it? What is in the pipeline? What has shaped this? Do an audit on your content. Consider:
Connection to the Workbook and Planner Part of doing a marketing review is reviewing metrics and trends. Take a look back at your notes. What do you notice? You may want to:
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  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 27 Focus – Communities on Social Media – Facebook, Mighty Networks, LinkedIn etc.… Focus Question: What are the communities you want to build on social media? Description In early 2018 Facebook announced it was going to place an emphasis on communities in their social media ecosystem. In addition to having a profile on the varying social networks, building community intentionally on social media has multiple benefits including cultivating connection with like-minded people, sharing resources with people who have a common interest, and also adding value to a community who can refer. What are the communities you want to build on social media? There are several different platforms you might want to consider including:
Activity Consider what community you might want to spearhead in social media.
What content would you populate your new community on social media with? Consider material you have created, go-to resources from others, and polls to find out what people want. Consider dedicating each day to a different theme: Throwback Thursday, Motivation Monday… Connection to the Workbook and Planner Use the Content Daily Trackers, and Content Brainstorm to identify key content you are sharing or plan to share. 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  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 Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram   Week 25 Focus – Building Connection & Community While Strengthening Your Personal Brand on Social Media Focus Question: What does building connection and community mean for you? Why is this important? Description Connection and community are yearned for by many operating in the virtual and small business space. What are the ways you want to build stronger connection with others, and create more community? This week’s focus is on using social media as an avenue to build more connection and community. As a virtual business it’s likely that many of your days are spent operating solo, bouncing in and out of virtual calls with people who might be hours, and time zones, away from you. Isolation is often seen as a downside to virtual work. Virtual and remote professionals may be more proactive in exploring various avenues for creating community and connection. In building community consider these questions:
Six Questions
Activity Review or create your strategy around social media. What’s the purpose? What are you doing to do, WHEN? What can you do to magnify your message? Consider how you can magnify and repurpose. What can you share different spins on the same item across platforms? For example, if you have written an article on something, could you pull out a couple of quotes to make it a tweet, or serve as a quote graphic? Could that same article become the seeds of a presentation? Review visibility tips. Consider what your strengths are and what your key message is.  Connection to the Workbook and Planner The Monthly and Daily Trackers in the planner section of the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack can be used to track how much time you are spending on promotion, the different channels, as well as what impact you are getting. Use the Content Planner to make a plan you can execute on. Check out the Don’t Just Do it Once! Tool in the content section so you can think about magnifying your message. 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  Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday or Thursday here. Be sure to like our page to be updated each week! Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)  Over the last month we’ve been exploring different skills and practices for virtual professionals. This week’s post focuses in on five people virtual team members need in their network. Given the more autonomous role of the virtual and remote employee, five people virtual team members will want to make sure they have strong relationships with, are:
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  Questions form the backbone to any great coaching conversation. What is the state of questions being asked in your team? While asking informational questions can be of great value, in the virtual team context, we may be in multiple conversations where we are using questions to:
When we operate in the virtual and remote context it usually means that we aren’t having to advise, but rather coach. This can necessitate a different set of questions or a different way to ask questions rather than a Yes/No approach. In creating more powerful questions for the virtual space we want to focus on a few things:
In coaching we usually encourage questions to be:
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 Copy
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Virtual Facilitation Essentials (8.5 CCEs)- Expand your toolkit for better remote and virtual conversations - Wednesday June 10 - 9 - 430 pm ET or Mondays 130 - 245 pm ET June 8, 15, 22, 29, and July 6, 2020. Learn more and register. Coaches! Register for the 60 Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator. Join us for 60 Days of live and on-demand support for coaches wanting to grow their businesses. PlanDoTrack Facilitator Training Program (24 CCEs) - Thursday June 18, Tuesday June 23, Thursday June 25 (9 - 330 pm ET each day) Next PlanDoTrack Quarterly Virtual Retreat: Thursday June 18 (3:30 - 7:30 pm ET Month-End Planning Session: Tuesday June 30 - 7-8 am ET Archives
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