Focus Question: What are the skills you want to grow into?

Description
There are many skills which can help you stand out as a remote professional – here are the ones I shared in Effective Virtual Conversations for remote leaders. In fact, for most remote professionals we can benefit from skills in these areas.

What do you need to focus on in as it relates to skills in each area? What can help you grow? What areas have you had not exposure to?

As a remote worker it may be even more important to revisit these skills on a regular basis. Ask for feedback from others.
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Looking back to last week’s post on the ecosystem of learning where we explored the different ways you can learn in the remote space, what can you do to expand your skills in these different areas?

Activity
Take look at your skills in each of these areas. Rate yourself on a 1-10 with 1 being low and 10 being high. Note what your focus is going forward, including how you want to grow or develop your skills in each area.

Note your ratings and consider what you want to do to grow in these areas you have highlighted. My top 3 areas of focus are:
1.
2.
3.

Take a few minutes to download this week's 52 Week for Remote Work one-pager on Remote Working Skills.

All the best,
​Jennifer

​Check out the most recent Remote Pathways Podcast Episode which covers the topic of Mentoring, Working from anywhere and systems. You can listen to Episode 6 here, or on your favorite podcast player. Also be sure to take a look at the episode download.

Focus Question: What learning do you want to undertake?

Description
Learning can take many forms. As a remote professional, it can be very important to build in time for ongoing learning.
As I wrote in Effective Virtual Conversations, consider the following approaches to learning. It might include:

What are the things you are wanting to learn? What are the best modalities to learn these? Where else might you explore these learnings?

Activity
Identify the learning needs you have to do your best work. What type of learning is going to help you? Where can you access this learning? What do you need to schedule in? What else do you need to note?

Need to Know
In addition to the different types of learning, there are many different areas and bands you can be exploring around learning.
Just like this week’s quote, we will want to explore the various layers: actions, habits, values and destiny.

So what? – What’s important about this topic?
There are many different ways we can learn tasks. What’s going to support you with learning as you need it, when you need it and how you need it?

For more on this:
Check out the PlanDoTrack call on the Forgetting Curve – Spring 2019.
Check out chapter 3 of Effective Virtual Conversations, Jennifer Britton, especially page 11.

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

​Check out the most recent Remote Pathways Podcast Episode which covers the topic of Vision. You can listen to Episode 4 here, or on your favorite podcast player.

Focus Question: What are the things that you do really well?

Description
Strengths based leadership asserts that each individual has innate talents and things they can do exceptionally well. Our top strengths are a unique fingerprint and in combination create “unique superpowers”.
 
As a remote worker we may find ourselves leaning into work that is more aligned with our strengths. A challenge can be finding others to collaborate with who we can work with to round out of weaknesses.  Research continues to show that it’s easier to grow our strengths than our weaknesses. As a remote worker the reality may be that we have tasks we HAVE TO DO and can’t delegate or defer. What can we do overtime to possibly rebalance our work focus?

Activity
Complete a strengths assessment so you can learn more about what you are innately talented in. You might consider completing online assessments including VIA Strengths from Positive Psychology OR StrengthsFinder 2.0. Use your browser to see if these would be of interest.

Need to Know
Consider your strengths in light of what you do every day.
How are your strengths helping you? Hindering you?
As you consider the work you do with others, what do you know of notice about their strengths and preferences?
What might you need to magnify or minimize in order to relate with them better?

So what? – What’s important about this topic?
Understanding our strengths and how we might overleverage them is an important part of remote worker’s self-awareness. When things are busy, uncertain or stressful, it’s likely that we may lean into our strengths. Sometimes strengths become over leveraged and create a blindspot. Consider where you might be overleveraging or over utilizing your strengths.

For more on this:
Check out section 1 and section 4 of PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder. Section 4 asks you to consider the strengths that you bring, also in combination with your values and opportunities.

This is a rich body of work you will want to explore as a leader of a team. Be sure to check out some of these books:
Go, Put Your Strengths to Work – Marcus Buckingham
Strengths-Based Leadership
StrengthsFinder2.0

All the best, 
Jennifer

​Check out the most recent Remote Pathways Podcast Episode which covers the topic of Vision. You can listen to Episode 4 here, or on your favorite podcast player.

Focus Question: What gets you motivated as a remote worker?

Description
Motivation usually has several components – internal and external factors.  

Internal factors include our own preferences.  We do something because we love to do it or want to learn. External factors are when we do something because of an external impact – we are going to get rewarded, or praised, or even punished.

What drives you? Where do you get your motivation in work?

Regardless of the source, knowing what motivates us, and what doesn’t, is critical for remote workers. While we work autonomously, if we are not self-motivated, it can have an impact.

What are the elements which are going to keep you moving forward, and excited, with your work? What’s going to get you out of bed in the morning? What’s going to replace the water cooler talk?
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Self-motivation can be critical for remote workers given that we are working in isolation.

Activity
Take some time this week to think about the things that have helped you move projects across the finish line. From this list below, what were the factors which helped you?

Questions to consider:

• What are the flags which might signal that you are in lower levels of motivation?
• What are the elements which can signal that you are in flow – insert what you need for flow to occur?
• What inspires you?
• What helps you go “above and beyond”?
• When do you know that it’s time to stop?

 
For more on this:
Check out the Iceberg exercise in section 1 of PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder.
Be clear on what your motivators are. Inquire about others on your team.
Some additional resources around motivation include writing from authors including:
Maslow, Daniel Pink - Drive

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

​Check out the most recent Remote Pathways Podcast Episode which covers the topic of Vision. You can listen to Episode 4 here, or on your favorite podcast player.