Focus Question: What are the shared team practices – meetings, huddles, social events – which keep the team connected and in conversation?

Description 
Meetings and team practices are a key part of “keeping the conversation going”. This is crucial for remote teams who may quickly find that their focus and understanding of each other without regular touchpoints started to morph outwards, away from your common purpose.

Team Practices might include:

• Team Huddles

• Formal Team Meetings
• Project Status Updates
• Social Time Every Week/Bi-Weekly (Yes, virtually.)
• A Quarterly Retreat (virtual)

What do team practices look like for you?

One of the recent challenges posed by everyone shifting to stay in place and quarantine has been the shift of poor meeting etiquette into the remote space.

A reminder of these 8 Essential Meeting Questions:
Taking some time to pre-plan your virtual meetings can go a long way. It can be useful to frame out your conversations with these essential meetings questions. Consider using these 8 essential virtual meeting questions I share in Effective Virtual Conversations:
1. What’s the purpose?
2. What takeaways do we want?
3. Who needs to be on the call?
4. What preparation is needed for us to be most effective in the meeting?
5. What pace to do we want in order to keep it engaging?
6. What will help keep the focus?
7. What’s absolutely essential? (Versus what will be nice to cover or where can people go for more information around topics?)
8. What follow up might be required?
(Excerpt: Effective Virtual Conversations, Britton, page 304, 2017)

Activity
Take stock of the team practices you use. What’s important to note?
 
For more on this topic check out Chapter 9 of Effective Virtual Conversations on Meetings in the Virtual Space.

Wishing you the best,
Jennifer​

Description
Our team culture (as I have written in other Teams365 posts) is WHO we are and HOW we do things. It consists of our norms, our Team Charter or Agreements on how we do things, what’s acceptable and what’s not. A large part of our work at Potentials Realized is in support of team development. We work with teams who are creating their team norms, and intentionally shaping their team culture.

Each team is unique in its team culture, and this may vary from organizational culture. Creating a strong remote team culture is critical, especially when people are part of multiple team cultures.

Our team culture is also shaped by our values. If we value quality, we will always make a point to review key pieces of communication before they go out the door. If we value experimentation, we may be very open as a team to things that don’t work as planned (note that I’m not even using the term failure).

Team culture also includes the visual and other elements which make us, us. This might be HOW we hold meetings, or the fact that we provide both positive and constructive feedback around new projects and initiatives. Visual elements might include a mascot or metaphors which help them team identify themselves. For example, a team may associate itself with a firecracker (being bold and making an impact) or a fire pit (bringing people together for collaboration and problem solving). What are the elements of your team culture which you want to make more pronounced or visible?
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In a virtual or remote team, it can be key to focus in on being more explicit in taking time to articulate and share our team culture given that we may not be able to see it every day. It may be captured in our slides or stickers that are put on computers or notebooks. What structures do you want to use to make it visible?

Activity
What are the elements of your team culture? Think about the things that make your team unique. This might include HOW you meet. WHAT you prioritize. Any sayings or taglines you embrace.

Team culture also speaks to HOW you do things.  What is acceptable on this team? What is not? What team agreements and norms do you have in place?
 
Consider the question this week "What are three adjectives to describe your team culture?".
 
What do these adjectives say about you? What you value? How is it reflected in your work?"
 
For more on this topic check out:
Teams365 #1526 at Potentials Realized.com - Team Culture
 
Teams365 #2156 – Keeping Your Remote Team All On One Page at PotentialsRealized.com

All the best,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Co-host of the Remote Pathways Podcast
Potentials Realized – Coaching, Training and Consulting Services for remote teams, leaders and professionals 
 
Check out the most recent Remote Pathways Podcast Episode, where we explore the people, places and processes of exceptional remote work. You can listen to the latest episode here, or on your favorite podcast player.
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