Thursday, February 14, 2008

10 Ways to Get to Know Your Team


Strengthening Your Team Relationships
10 Ways to Get To Know Your Team
Copyright 2008 - Jennifer Britton. All Rights Reserved

We can spend a majority of our waking hours at work. But how well do you know other members of your team?

This month's blog focus is all about strengthening relationships in your work and life. Here's a list of 10 things you could do to strengthen relationships within your team by getting to know each other a little better:

1. Create out of the office/off-hours opportunities to connect. It may be as simple as a luncheon out, or a walk through a nearby park.

2. Create a job shadowning day where you get paired with a fellow colleague and learn about what they do you. If a full day is just too long, make it a half day process.

3. Pair staff members together as team supports or buddies. These support teams can be rotated every month or so, enabling all team members to get to know each other.

4. Create special project teams which will foster closer working relationships.

5. Create an environment of trust. Trust is essential in order to facilitate close working relationships and create the foundation of for . How we create trust? Through transparency. Walking our talk. Creating shared leadership opportunities, practicing integrity.

6. Create opportunities for loved ones or family members to attend team events. These people know your team mates best. You might be surprised at what you learn about them, and what you learn about yourself based on discussions.

7. Instead of bouncing that email to your team mate, get up, go over and speak to them!

8. Invest in opportunities for the staff/team to "get away" from the office to focus in on team issues and get to know one another. Bring in an external facilitator to boost the process (Click here for an article I wrote on what to consider when designing your next team retreat).

9. Make sure that your team meetings are working for you as a team. Are they sapping energy? or boosting morale? Have team members suggest short activities or ideas that could be brought into the meetings to avoid the Death by Meeting syndrome.

10. Look at what everyone brings to the table. As a team, you should have a shared vision of what you want to accomplish. How does each team member see their role in contributing to the team's vision and accomplisments?

What are some approaches that have worked well for your teams? As always, I look forward to having you comment below.

Warm regards,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer{at}potentialsrealized.com

Looking for some additional ways to strengthen your team. Read my article: Team Building Tips: Take Your Team From Great to Extraordinary

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Strengthening Your Relationships At Work


My theme for February is all about relationships in honour of Valentine's day. As a relationship systems coach I tend to do a lot of work with business partnerships and teams (as well as some intimate couples) who want to move their relationship from great to extraordinary. In honour of this, most of my blog posts here, along with my sister sites Your Balanced Life! (all about work-life balance) and Group Coaching Ins and Outs (all about group facilitation) will have a relationship flair to the end of the month.


When was the last time you focused on your relationships at work? It's funny how we spend a majority of our waking day at work, and yet many workplaces suffer from a clinical team detachment. How often do you get together with your team mates to communicate? Or do you work for a company where your communication with your next door neighbour is by email? Please don't laugh -- this really does happen in some workplaces.


So....regardless of what your commuication mode is...here's some food for thought as you consider strengthening your relationships at work.


Creating Positive Workplace Relationships - a great article from Peter Vajda over at management-issues.com


Creating Positive Intentional Business Partnerships -- a blog post I wrote last week on questions to consider when you are looking at creating any business partnerships -- joint venture or business model



So here's a question for you - What is one thing you could do this week to strengthen your relationships at work? What impact would that have?

Stay Tuned later this month as I'll share a list of intentional activities you can do to foster stronger working relationships with your co-workers and business partners.

Have a great rest of the week,

Jennifer


Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized


Monday, February 04, 2008

Come - Get Organized with Me Next Week

Was one of your New Year's Resolutions to get organized? Is it still sitting on your new year's list? Ready to check it off?

Come join me, world class organizer Hellen Buttigieg, and a small group of other individuals, next Monday night for the Get Organized Virtual Intensive . The program will be held on Monday February 11 AND 25th from 7-10pm (EST) by phone. We are hosting a group coaching program for individuals who are READY to GET ORGANIZED!

It’s going to be a very interactive two evenings of information and action -- to support you in getting things in order. We are holding the program by phone, so that you can tackle your closets, your drawers, your desk during our time together…no excuses! The program is a mix of time spent on the phone as a group where you will get tips, tools and other resources for organizing (15 minutes every hour) and then structured individual exercises offline to apply these new tips at your home right away (the next 45 minutes of every hour). Hellen and I will be there throughout the two evenings to support you to bust through any obstacles that may pop up!

For more information about the program please click here.We still have space for a few more individuals to join us for these two evenings of fun, organizing, coaching and tips so if you’ve been sitting on the fence about joining us, I hope that you will email me at info@potentialsrealized.com to reserve your spot. Cost: $250 US or Canadian( a fraction of the cost of what it would be to work with Hellen and I individually for the same amount of time ~ approximately $4000). Registration forms are available here.

Get a head start on your spring cleaning and check it off on your list!

Questions? Please give me a shout at 1-866-217-1960 or drop me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

Warm wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized