Expanding Your Group and Team Coaching Toolkit - Visual Anchors (14)

Visual anchors are an important part of our work in the virtual space. They are a way to help our

coaching clients access new learning and insights.

In the May 2019 Effective Virtual Conversations newsletter I shared an article which explored 3 different ways to use visual anchors for engagement and retention. You can access it at: https://conta.cc/2HpiQMN.

Here’s what I wrote in that article:

Visual Anchors for Engagement and Retention: 3 Ideas

Over the last few years I have spoken a lot about the importance of "visual anchors" in creating greater impact, focus and retention. These are all key issues for relationships, results and business success. Several studies are finding that retention, or what we recall, in the digital age is shrinking.

What can we do to create more memorable calls? Consider enhancing the visual anchors in your sessions. Here are 3 ideas:

1. Incorporating more impactful visuals. We are in a visual Instagram era and our phones provide a wonderful vehicle for building our own stock imagery. Take a look at some of the photos I've captured on Instagram through my JennBritton (personal) Instagram feed, or the CoachingBizBuilder feed where images have come from Unsplash and AdobeStock.

2. Making visuals more tactile and hands-on. As many of you know, I have an affinity for using visual cards of all types. Back in 2014, I launched my own card deck, Conversation Sparker, a set of 72 photo and question cards. These are now available in digital format, so that practitioners can incorporate them into their virtual programs. Pick up a copy of the Conversation Sparker bundle where you get hard copy cards, digital cards and a copy of the 40 Ways to Work with Visual Cards e-book (Facilitated Instructions to 40 different ways you can work with visual cards)

Here's an example of me walking through the Conversation Sparker website using the Loom Video extension  I mentioned last month: View this walk-though video here (3 minutes)

3. Consider how you can convert text rich slides to more icon based slides. Much of this can be done in PowerPoint. Here's an example of the translation of the 5 Faux Pas for Virtual Meetings from Chapter 9 of Effective Virtual Conversations. Which one stands out more for you? Stay tuned for a future post on more details around slide redesign but key to this was  - using SmartArt, adding color and using icons.

For more on the topic of Engagement check out:

4 Ways to Move the Needle on Engagement - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szZYILv5O3Q  (30 minute video)

This month's Effective Virtual Conversations Call - 6 Keys for Engagement (32 minutes)

What can you do to create more impactful visuals in your work? We'll be covering this topic and a lot more in the June 2019 Virtual Facilitation Essentials program that will be held on Mondays from 1:30 - 3 pm ET June 3 - July 8 (no call 7/1).

A new newsletter comes out each month related to Effective Virtual Conversations. I hope that you’ll join the list – https://bit.ly/letstalkvirtual.

Six Questions

What’s the photo that represents…

n  Where you are now? Where you want to be six months from now? One year?

n  What you bring to the group?

n  What’s possible for ____(the team/the organization/your work….)?

n  How you can embrace change?

n  What’s another way of looking at it (your biggest challenge/opportunity)?

n  Your strengths/the team’s strengths?

Resources

Unsplash

Check out a commercial subscription at AdobeStock

What else?


With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, PCC – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development)

Join us for an upcoming ICF CCE approved program - Group Coaching Essentials (starts Friday June 7 - 8.75 CCEs), Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (starts Monday July 8: 10 CCEs) or the Certified Facilitator Program for PlanDoTrack and the Coaching Business Builder starting this week.

Expanding Your Grouip and Team Coaching Toolkit - Virtual platform tools (13)

One of the areas I continue finding myself spending a lot of time in these days is the in space of

virtual learning. As a former virtual leader, I’ve always been an early adopter of tech – even throughout the 1990s and early 2000s when business and tech looked a lot different than today. For the last 15 years I’ve headed a virtual business, and the bulk of my work has been virtual, supporting teams, groups and individuals, through coaching, training and consulting services.


With this in mind, I’m dedicating the next three weeks to posts around expanding your group ad team coaching toolkit into the virtual space. This week’s post gets you thinking about leveraging all the tools available to you on the virtual platform. There’s a lot more available to you than you might think. It’s usually the inclusion of these tools that moves us from on a one way talking head/death by PowerPoint experience to an interactive conversation.


Things to keep in mind:

Trust and connection are key to conversation in the virtual space. Be sure to include activities and exercises that will connect people early on to each other, and what they know, and can share.


Switch the pace every 7-10 minutes – Pacing is key in the virtual space for engagement and learning


Leverage the tools available to you. These could include:

Breakouts  Just like in the in-person room, breakouts bring the conversation to the personal level. For larger groups breakouts are an essential part of the group coaching experience. Some skill development around questioning and listening may be required with groups that are non-coaches. For more on breakouts check out my October 2017 video – Breakouts that Sizzle! LINSERT LINK

What can you do to leverage breakouts?

Polls – Polls are a great way to incorporate discussion and dialogue. From using the internal polls available (which can be activated on most platforms like WebEx and Zoom), to using an external app like Kahoot, polls area  real-time way to get consensus happening and see where the group or team is.

What can you do to leverage polls?

Annotation – Annotation is a great way to get people moving. For kinesthetic learners this invites people to create together. Whether it’s having a team draw their vision for themselves on a white screen, or having people share the theme they want to explore that week, annotation is also a key tools in making things visual. More on this next week.


Questions to consider:

What can you do to leverage the tools available?

What’s the environment you want to create in your virtual call?

What breakout opportunities

What will connect people to others quickly in the conversation?

What will connect people quickly to their WIIFM – What’s in it for me?

What polls might you add to the conversation 


For resources on this topic check out

My 2017 book – Effective Virtual Conversations (444 pages) – pick up a copy at Amazon (almost all of the 13 chapters of the book have relevance to this topic, including part 3 which is geared to supporting virtual team development)

Jane Bozarth – Bettter than Bullet Points

ICF’s January 2018 blog on the Virtues of Virtual Coaching – read it at https://coachfederation.org/blog/virtues-virtual-coaching


I also have a whole series of past community calls you can tap into around the topic of creating Engaging Virtual Conversations – you can check them out at https://www.youtube.com/effectivegroupcoach (Check out the Effective Virtual Conversations playlist)

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, PCC – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development)

Join us for an upcoming ICF CCE approved program - Group Coaching Essentials (starts Monday July 8 - 8.75 CCEs), Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (starts Monday July 8: 10 CCEs) or the Virtual Facilitation Essentials(starts July) 

Expanding your Group and Team Coacing Toolkit - Peer Learning (12)

Coaching conversations are not only an individualized approach. They can also be a powerful vehicle

for peer learning. In group coaching, the conversation lens is usually wide and broad, providing coaching clients with an opportunity to get sparked by the stories and experiences of others, while still being able to focus in on their own areas.


Peer learning is a key part of many coaching processes and support processes. In this week’s post, I want to get you to start thinking about the role of peer learning in support of the varied coaching conversations you are having. Peer coaching skills also become important when you are hosting your group and team coaching conversations virtually, incorporating breakouts or peer partners where there is likely to be a lot more peer coaching conversations.

We often underestimate the power of peers in any process. Think about leadership or groups and teams you have been a part of. We often see that influence often happens more between peers, especially if trust levels are low.


If you are undertaking group or team coaching, it can be valuable to spend some time working with group members to develop and/or hone skills in the areas of:

Listening

Questioning

Becoming Curious

Coaching, not advising


What are the peer skills which will be useful to cultivate in your work?

Check out the other peer coaching posts I have written here over the years:
http://groupcoaching.blogspot.com/search/label/peer%20coaching


Peers can also be powerful accountability partners throughout the coaching process. How are you supporting clients in accessing these resources for themselves?


Six Questions to consider (this week these are questions you might seed for others)

What’s the on thing you’d love to explore today?

What’s possible?

What’s important about this?

What’s another way of exploring this?

What else?

What are you committed to doing, not matter what?


Resources for peer coaching:

Marshall Goldsmith - check out his feedforward process and other great resources

From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching

What other resources do you recommend?

Enjoy your week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, PCC – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development)

Two reminders of special events this week:
Tuesday between 2:30 - 3 pm ET I will be hosting a special 30 minute call covering the ins and outs of the upcoming Facilitator Training program which is happening virtually this July for PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder. Please join me in my zoom room (270-302-0415).

Friday the June through September Mentor Coaching Group starts - 10 CCEs and meets the ICF Requirements for Mentor Coaching. We meet on Fridays from 9 - 10 am ET. More details at https://www.groupcoachingessentials.ca/mentor-coaching-group.html (2 spots open)

Facilitator Training for Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack begins July 9th

Save the dates  - July 9, 10, 23, 24, and 30 , 31: Facilitator Training for Coaching Business Builder

and PlanDoTrack

Are you a coach looking to expand your offerings, without having to reinvent the wheel? I'm excited to announce  the inaugural CBB/Plan Do Track Facilitator Training this July. It is grounded in 15 years of coaching and training conversations . The training will be held virtually.

My goal is to bring my latest two books - PlanDoTrack and the Coaching Business Builder into the hands and onto the desks of 20,000 leaders, 20,000 team members and 20,000 entrepreneurs by 2020. I can’t do this alone!

Here’s where you fit in – become a Facilitator for PlanDoTrack (PDT) and the Coaching Business Builder (CBB).

As a CBB and/or PDT Facilitator you can use the material in variety of settings:

You might incorporate it into VIP days with virtual entrepreneurs;

You might work through parts as pre-work in group coaching;

You might host a retreat around it;

You might support individual coaching clients who are remote workers by using it.

You’ll purchase a copy of the book for each of your clients.

To become a CBB or PDT facilitator, Jennifer will be leading a live hands-on facilitator session virtually by zoom this summer. Live, interactive sessions will be held Tuesdays and Wednesdays July 9, 10, 23, 24, and 30 , 31 from 9- 12 noon ET

The facilitator program will include:

• 6 half day virtual training sessions – Running This July 2019
• A deep dive into the ins and outs of the resource
• A supplementary Guide for Navigating the CBB/PDT which includes an additional 110 pages of information on how to lead clients through the resources, and additional exercises to support extended conversations.

Here’s what we cover in the six modules of live virtual training (you need to be able to participate in these live sessions in order to become a facilitator of the work).

Module 1–An introduction to the foundations of PlanDoTrack and Coaching Busienss Builder

Module 2 – Setting up your own program, Knowing Your Clients

Module 3 – The Primer, The Ecosystem, Creating Your Roadmap

Module 4 – Marketing Your Programs

Module 5 – The Planner, and Practicum

Module 6 – Practicum

As a facilitator you’ll have access to:

• The GUIDE for Navigating the CBB and PDT
• A virtual community of other CBB/PDT Facilitators
• Learning and growth opportunities - there will be ongoing quarterly calls for facilitators
• A robust resource portal to support your work as a facilitator which includes additional videos and resources

LEARN more about the program here for those working with remote workers, virtual team leaders or virtual entrepreneurs (PlanDoTrack) or those who work with coaches who are growing their business (the Coaching Business Builder Facilitator Program). 

Price goes up June 21^st so take advantage of the Early Bird Rate.

Cost: $1995 US in one installment or $175/month. Want to offer both resources? $3300 or $290 US/month for 12 months.

I'll be hosting a call on Tuesday June 11th from 230 - 3 pm ET on zoom to share more about the program. I hope you will join us in zoom room 270-302-0415. 

Learn more about the PlanDoTrack Facilitator program here or the Coaching Business Builder Facilitator Program Here

I hope you will join us!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, PCC – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development)

Expanding Your Group and Team Coaching Toolkit - Creativity (11)

Depending on the types of clients you work with exploring creativity may be at the heart of your   This week we are going to explore the landscape of expanding your group and team coaching toolkit around CREATIVITY. This is a huge topic and today’s post is literally, the tip of the iceberg. Creativity is a topic of importance to most professionals today – those who have it as the main part of their work – authors, artists, course creators AS WELL AS other professionals who are being called upon to do things in sometimes a radically different way due to changes in resourcing, timelines and/or other factors (political, environmental etc).

process.


In today’s business context we’ve been talking a lot about VUCA for several years now, where things have become volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Whether you are leading (or supporting) people who see each other every day or are supporting remote teams, creativity is a “go to” in times of disruption and change.


Let’s take a look at some of the different tools we might incorporate in our work as group and team coaches. In addition to several creativity tools which I mention on a regular basis such as “visual cards” or Mindmapping, helping people expand and explore different perspectives around topics is a central part of creativity. The focus may be slightly different in the landscape of coaching many.

When group coaching, it’s likely that the perspectives work will be on the individual. Questions like “What’s another way of looking at this?” or “What’s another perspective?| can help the individual expand their thinking. Inherently, in a group coaching process, hearing from others about their perspectives can also be a powerful way to expand thinking.


In a team coaching context it’s likely that the focus on perspectives may be a blend of individual and collective. In fact, in coaching for creativity we may be aiming to expand thinking, harnessing the varying perspectives across a team so they can explore the myriad of angles possible.


Many coaches have know the power of time urgency in their work as well. For many years, as I have coached using exercises such as the Sweetspot (something I share in From one to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching), I’ve helped people “short circuit some of their creative blockages” by giving short time windows. Whether it’s been 90 seconds to come up with an answer to a  question of “What do your clients want, need and prefer” OR giving people a two minute writing prompt, the use of time windows may also be another way to jiggle some new creative spins, and move people out of blocks.


A third one I wanted to mention is something I have incorporated in my own work since the spring of 2016 – offering shorter program cycles which I call Sprints and Hacks. For years I would work with program designers for a 4-6 hour program, providing them with lots of space for structured program design. A few years ago, inspired by the rapid iteration of Agile processes, I started shortening this and offering 45 – 60 minute design sprints. The results have been amazing! Several of the skeletal programs which were initially sketched out have come to fruition for several group coaching clients. How might a sprint or hack focus expedite your clients work?


Questions to consider - Coaching For Creativity:

What does coaching for creativity mean for you?

What does it mean to be creative?

What’s going to help you get unstuck?

What role can time play with unleashing creativity?

What’s another way of looking at things?

If you knew you would not fail, what would you do?

What else?


Resources to check out:

https://www.creativityatwork.com/2015/03/25/creativity-coaching /: A great article How to Coach for Creativity and Innovation in the Workplace by Creativityatwork.com

The Creativity Coaching Association - https://www.creativitycoachingassociation.com/

Coaching Toys Company - https://www.coachingtoys.com  : Find a wide variety of great tools you might incorporate as you explore this topic

MindTools – https://www.mindtools.com: MindTools takes a deep dive into a wide-range of topic areas, providing links to resources and how tos


Enjoy the exploration this week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, PCC – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development)

Join us for an upcoming ICF CCE approved program - Group Coaching Essentials (starts Friday June 7 - 8.75 CCEs), Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (starts Monday July 8: 10 CCEs) or the Virtual Facilitation Essentials(starts Monday June 3rd  - TODAY at 1:30 pm ET - 8.5 CCEs)

Jennifer