Networking is all about identifying Friendly Forces (allies and colleagues), creating trusting relationships and helping each other achieve your goals. You can do that on Instagram!

I resisted joining Instagram (IG) for a long time. Mostly because I think in words and not in pictures.  I assumed that I’d have to be an accomplished photographer before posting on IG.

Late in 2020, I joined Instagram with the goal of following a bunch of phenomenal Indigenous women entrepreneurs I’d met through the NWAC #BeTheDrum Entrepreneur Navigation Program. I happily started following people and liking posts, adding an occasional comment or emoji.

Disclaimer: I’m a Gen X person, also known as a Digital Immigrant. Communicating with emoji’s doesn’t come naturally to me. I generally stick to a thumbs up, smiley face, or heart.

I’ve been actively networking for almost 4 decades. I knew a lot of people used Instagram, but I had a hard time imagining how I’d use this social media platform to network.

When I began writing a phrase or a few sentences as a comment on people’s posts, it started to feel like networking.

Then I discovered the joys of direct messaging (DM) people I’d come to know online, for real time text chats. I’m not talking about dating DMs! Any DMs that even hint at being someone or some bot looking for romance is blocked. No explanations, no apologies, just a simple block.

You’d be surprised at how many predators there are out there looking to misuse social media. To learn more about how to stay safe online follow Matt Richardson, Director: Intelligence and Investigations. 

Some examples of networking I’ve participated in using the Instagram DM function are chat’s about growing your business, accessibility, and books. I now feel like I know some of the people I DM with, they’re a part of my network.

In February 2021, I created my first IG post, a picture of what my office looked like at that time. As of the writing of this blog, I’ve posted 110 times on IG, and even managed to share some stories to my timeline! 

So far my IG network is the smallest of my social media networks, with over 500 followers – some of which I’m confident are bots. Even taking that into consideration, I’ve met and learned from some really intriguing people, with fantastic stories to share, and I’ve grown my overall network.

As I write this piece it occurred to me that I should post a new picture of my office, and up my game when it comes to networking with others on IG. Tasks to add to my “to do” list.

I encourage you to explore networking opportunities on your preferred social media platforms!

What's your favourite way to network?

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

​Virtual Networking: LinkedIn
Growing your Network Online 

To get a free copy of my eBook “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” click here (note it’s easier to sign up using a laptop than a phone).

In 2021, as I prepared to launch my first online courses, “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” and “Navigating your Career Route Map: Designing Courses of Action to Help You Achieve Your Definition of Success” I decided to invest in help from professionals whose strengths complement mine.

As you can likely guess from the long titles for my courses, I think in words! I have a really hard time visualizing images in my head. I reached out to Jen Detlor Kerr, from DetDesigns, and asked her to create a logo to represent the signature course “Navigating your Career Route Map.”

Jen created a glorious image, that exceeded my expectations, and looked nothing like anything I could have possibly visualized on my own. It represents a treasure map for living a good life. Many things are uncertain, there are no charted paths, opportunities are all around us, and there is more than one definition of success.

The jewels represent opportunities, which are sometimes hidden. The blocks represent obstacles. The network image represents an inclusive network of Friendly Forces, people who want to help us achieve our goals. The 3 concentric circles represent the circle of influence. The silver trophy and the silver medal with a purple ribbon represent different definitions of success. The compass represents each individual’s capacity to seize control of discovering, exploring and navigating a path to their unique definition of success.

The Beta version of an 8-week group session of the Navigating your Career Route Map course ran between June and August 2021. The feedback was fabulous, 100% of the participants would recommend this course to others. By the time we held a reunion in December 2021 all of them had found and were in or about to take on new jobs.

Now I’m putting the finishing touches on the on demand asynchronous version of the "Navigating your Career Route Map" course, in a 3-part series. During our reunion I learned that my explanation of how the homework worked was the only part of the course that needed improvement. I’ve drafted the new Homework slides and speakers notes. Now all I need to do is sit at my laptop and press record. After which I’ll send the series of edited videos to CCS Inc. for closed captioning and transcripts. This process is taking longer than I expected, and that’s OK!

What kinds of projects are you working on?

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

A Rave of Squirrels and Being a Solo-preneur
​Time Spent in Recce is Seldom Wasted
​Promises to Myself 

To get a free copy of my eBook “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” click here (note it’s easier to sign up using a laptop than a phone).

This year’s aspirational word is “health” as in changing some of my habits to bring more health and wellness into my day-to-day life. Part of creating a healthier life is making better food choices.

I’ve known about the power of vision boards for several years; last February I was assigned creating a vision board as part of a course I took. During a winter solstice celebration with Brenda MacIntyre Medicine Song Woman, I finally completed my very first vision board, it’s about 29 inches (74 cms) tall and about 20 inches (51 cms) wide. My main motivation was to create a teaching aid for the homework section of the online courses that I’ll be launching soon.

I love pictures of food, and I happened to have several resources on hand with lovely images of healthy meals. Since I knew my goal for 2022 was to become healthier, I went with the theme of healthy food for my vision board. It’s currently resting on top of the large printer in my office, and I see it every time I walk to my desk.

I also like to buy locally whenever possible, so I selected a page from a free calendar with the words “Love Local Food” as the central image. In the interests of being kind to the environment, the images are glued to what used to be a project board for one of my offspring’s grade school assignments.

Have I mentioned that I’m a bit of a hoarder? I tend to hang on to things that may serve a useful purpose at a later date. Which was why I also happened to have a bunch of images of healthy foods in a crafting portfolio.

My first goal for life and business for 2022 is to increase my personal health and wellness. This includes taking regular breaks from sitting at my desk, moving around the house (I’ve worked from home since 2012), taking semi-regular walks, moving my body through Chi Kung and Tai Chi courses with Greg Magwood, Magwood's Martial Arts and taking Yoga classes from Julie Sweeney, Insight to Action Coaching Services.

What is one of your goals for 2022?

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

It's OK to Take a Break 
A Rave of Squirrels and Being a Solo-preneur
Thoughts on Why?

To get a free copy of my eBook “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” click here (note it’s easier to sign up using a laptop than a phone).

This post is to share my Gratitude for many of the strategic partners and colleagues that I collaborated with in 2021. I’m looking forward to working with you all again in the future!

If you’re interested in upping your game when it comes to Inclusion Diversity Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) especially if you’re interested in connecting with Indigenous peoples across the lands we call Canada, with job opportunities, bursaries, or surveys, then consider partnering with Indigenous Link – they’ve been successfully connecting with Indigenous communities and organizations since 1999.

If you’re interested in setting up a Mentoring program powered by Canadian software, consider partnering with MentorCity. The software platform was created in 2011 and is incredibly easy to use as a Mentee, Mentor, and/or Administrator for your organization.  Added bonus, the MentorCity servers are in Canada and the platform is available in English and/or French.

If you’re a First Nations, Inuit, or Metis woman or non-binary person living and/or working in Canada, and you’re interested in becoming an entrepreneur, or you’re looking to up your game when it comes to running your business, consider the programs offered by NWAC.

If you’re a woman or non-binary person living and/or working in Ontario, and you’re interested in becoming an entrepreneur, or you’re looking to up your game when it comes to running your business, then consider becoming a PARO member. PARO is a not-for-profit organization that’s been helping people find meaningful employment, start and grow businesses for 27 years (and counting). They offer a number of programs including individual meetings with a Business Growth Advisor (like me); weekly Wednesday webinars, and several business camps (BizCamps).

If you’re a woman or non-binary person living and/or working in the Greater Kingston Ontario area, and interested in learning more about running a business, you may also be interested in the WE-CAN Project at Queen’s University. They offer a number of coaching programs and webinars.  I’m honoured to be presenting a webinar with WE-CAN on January 20, 2022.

I’m grateful to Lisa Isaac, from Lisa Isaac HR Professional Services, Carrie Calder, from Nakanagis Consulting Inc, and Elizabeth Nicholas for being part of the “Dream Team” on Empowered Path Inc.’s biggest project to date. I’m also grateful to Brad Labadie and the CFWD team for choosing our bid for their project.

There are so many more to list: Girls Inc. Limestone and District, Build Marketing, The National Research Council of Canada, Assist in Time, The Computer Store, Signable Vi5ion, CCS Inc., Thinkific, Zoom, and the list goes on.

I’m also grateful to my family and friends for supporting me as I leaned into my business and expanded both my offerings and partnerships. You know who you are!

Lastly, but definitely not least, I’m grateful that my loved ones and I remain relatively healthy and well, in spite of the challenges that 2021 placed in our paths.

Wishing health, joy, peace and abundance for you and all your loved ones as we move into 2022.

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

Gratitude, the Gift that Keeps on Giving
Gratitude Plants the Seeds for Abundance
Gratitude: Noticing and Appreciating the Little Things in Life
Gratitude and the Need for a New Normal

To get a free copy of my eBook “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” click here (note it’s easier to sign up using a laptop than a phone).

Networking is all about identifying Friendly Forces (allies and colleagues), creating trusting relationships and helping each other achieve your goals. You can do that on LinkedIn!

Did you know that LinkedIn is meant to help people connect and build professional relationships with others on the platform?  It was created to help professionals network. Did you know that over half of the adult population, close to 17 million people in Canada is on LinkedIn?

Networking on LinkedIn can help job seekers find their ideal job. It can also help professionals find people to ask for advice, and help entrepreneurs find others to collaborate with as they seek bigger contracts than they could handle on their own.

A virtual network has the advantage of having a much larger geographic reach: with LinkedIn in 200 countries, you can grow your network to a global scale or you can keep it local, it’s totally up to you. 

The fact is you’re likely to meet people on LinkedIn that you wouldn’t meet at in person networking events. You can nurture your professional relationships using messages, and by liking, commenting on, and sharing posts.

A cautionary note, there are a few people who treat LinkedIn like a dating app. Feel free to ignore them, it’s much easier to do this online than in person! There are also people who are doing the equivalent of cold-calling potential clients by asking to connect, and then immediately trying to sell you something. Feel free to message back "no thanks" or ignore them too.

The majority of the people on LinkedIn are genuinely seeking connections for professional networking purposes. 

In the last 24 hours, I’ve recommended people I know IRL and on LinkedIn to others who were looking for someone specific to take on part time gigs in their organization. And I’ve introduced people to each other who may be the right fit for collaborating on a big contract. Early this morning I shared a job posting that one of the people in my network posted for her growing HR company.

Solo-preneurs like me, can find the people we’d like to work with on LinkedIn. This is particularly effective when someone you know and trust introduces you to someone else who could be the strategic partner you’re looking for.

LinkedIn may also be used as a place to learn about companies and what their corporate culture is actually like. For example, when I present sessions to organizations with a LinkedIn presence, I’ll go and lurk, scrolling through their LinkedIn company posts to learn what they share, and if their employees self-identify as working for that employer. 

If you’re still feeling like you’re stuck at home, or if you’re feeling like it’s safer to stay away from large gatherings and IRL networking opportunities, then consider scrolling through LinkedIn and making connections there! Even when things open up and there are more IRL networking opportunities, you can add the people you meet face to face to your LinkedIn network, helping you stay connected to your growing network. (For digital immigrants, IRL is the acronym for in real life)

Pro Tip: Always add a personal note when you invite someone to join your LinkedIn network.  Sharing how you found or met that person, and why you’d like to connect with them will help them choose to accept your invitation.

If you’re interested in learning how to really leverage LinkedIn as an entrepreneur, follow Petra Fisher on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

Six Degrees of Networking
Social Media and Networking

To get a free copy of my eBook “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” click here (note it’s easier to sign up using a laptop than a phone).

Today’s blog was inspired by a LinkedIn post from Hannah Gzik, showcasing one of the Build a Kick Ass Company’s free downloadable posters. The poster is in the image I’ve used to illustrate this blog.

Part of my comment on the LinkedIn post reads “In our neighbourhood there are lots of squirrels, rabbits, and the occasional owl and coyote keeping the other critters on high alert. Both literally and figuratively speaking.”

And it’s true.

Many people think that being an entrepreneur is all about getting processes in place and being able to accurately predict your cashflows, in other words, getting all of your ducks in a row. While it’s true that processes can help you save time and be more efficient, and that understanding your businesses cashflow is critical for long term success, there is a LOT about running your own business that is more like a wild rave of squirrels than a nice row of ducks.

When you’re a solo-preneur like me, there are many things competing for your attention, from replying to client emails and phone calls, to creating content, writing proposals, providing services and completing more mundane, yet necessary tasks such as sending invoices and engaging in outreach with current and potential clients.

Some of these tasks are like squirrels; they grab your attention, and you feel like you have to attend to them immediately. Answering clients’ emails and phone calls for example. Then a new squirrel will pop up, such as a recurring client requesting a proposal for a new training series, or strategic partners requesting a meeting to brainstorm a new long-term venture. Some tasks are like rabbits, they nibble away at your time, like creating content and posting it on social media.

And sometimes, an owl silently swoops in, causing you to completely change your plan for the day.  For example, a family member needs to visit your local hospital’s emergency room. Even if all you have to do is drop them off and then pick them up to drive them home again, it can completely disrupt your plans for the day. Worrying about a family member’s health makes it difficult to concentrate on writing a proposal for new training!

Sometimes the unexpected is more like a coyote, and the disruption caused is because, like a trickster, a new client’s potential project morphs into something completely unexpected. Requiring either a complete overhaul of the planned services, or a graceful exit from the project.

I’m grateful that I literally live in a rural neighbourhood, with mature trees, brush, and a variety of plants and wildlife. I’m also grateful that I enjoy the benefits of working with a diverse network of skilled and knowledgeable strategic partners, coaches, mentors, and colleagues. They help me figure out how to pivot when things don’t go as expected, and regularly point out opportunities that I may not have recognized on my own.

So, what can you learn from this post?

As an entrepreneur, it’s a great idea to try and get at least some ducks in a row (business processes and cash flow), however, it’s also necessary to expect the rave of squirrels (competing demands), set aside time and resources for rabbits (necessary tasks like social media and sending invoices) and a good idea to expect the occasional owl and coyote (unexpected occurrences and project scope creep) while being prepared to pivot and adjust your plans.

Thanks again to Build a Kick Ass Company’s Hannah Gzik for the inspiration for this post!  You can download a free version of the poster, and many other inspiring posters, at this link.

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

Growing your Network Online
Home Based Business: Let's Talk Money part 1
Home Based Business: Let's Talk Money part 2

To get a free copy of my eBook “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” click here (note it’s easier to sign up using a laptop than a phone).

To learn more about Business Coaching services click here or visit the PARO Centre for Women's Enterprise here.  I joined PARO as a subcontractor, providing Business Growth Advisor (BGA) services to women entrepreneurs from across Ontario in July 2021.

“Train hard, fight easy” is an expression that military members across Canada, and perhaps even further abroad are familiar with.

The expression means that if you train for as many likely possibilities as you can imagine, then when it comes time to put that training into action in real life, you’ll be ready. So ready, that the real life experience will seem easy by comparison.

You may have noticed this during your studies. For example, when taking math class in high school.  The more of the practice questions you complete while taking a math course, generally the easier it is to write math exams. This is because math teachers will often save themselves time and effort by selecting questions from the text book for their exams. If your practice included doing more questions than assigned as homework, chances are you’ll have completed some of the exam questions ahead of time.

Preparing for job interviews is the same thing! If you practice answering potential interview questions, then it will be easier when it comes time to answer strangers during the actual interview. 

Many interviewers, like math teachers, pull standard questions from their portfolio, when preparing for interviews.

Here are four tips to help you get the most out of your interview practices:

1. Research common questions for the types of job you aspire to have
2. Draft answers to these common questions, using “So What?” stories as much as possible
3. Practice with someone who can give you live, instant feedback
4. Repeat

Research

Researching potential questions on your own can give you insight into why these questions are being asked, and what sorts of answers the interviewers are likely looking for. Here are a few resources which can help you find practice questions.

Worktable has many fabulous articles to help, such as https://resources.workable.com/tutorial/faq-interview-process

Glassdoor Canada includes a section called Interview questions

You can also use Boolean search strings, to help narrow down you search for questions.

Sometimes employers ask questions they shouldn’t, this article gives great hints on how to respond https://globalnews.ca/news/3515774/6-job-interview-questions-potential-employers-are-not-allowed-to-ask-and-how-to-handle-them/

Draft Answers

Even though you may have read answers during your research, take the time to draft your own answers. I recommend using “So What?” stories from your lived experience, at work, in volunteer roles, and your education. This can also include your experience playing sports or enjoying your hobbies. All your experiences contribute to your ability to problem solve and bring value to your workplace.

For tips on “So What?” stories read Job Search Tips #3

Practice

Once you’ve drafted your answers, practicing them on your own will help. Practicing with someone else asking you the questions, and then responding to your answers live (phone, video, in person) is even more effective!

You can practice with a friend, a family member, a colleague, your current supervisor, or a professional career coach. The more interviewing knowledge and experience the person you practice with has, the more effective their feedback will be.

Repeat

Remember “Train hard, fight easy?” The more you practice, the easier it will be when it’s time to complete your Job Interview!

When you apply for different jobs, do additional research to find more appropriate questions, draft answers for those questions, and practice answering them with a live person, for immediate feedback.

Closing Thoughts and Gratitude

I’m grateful for the opportunity to share networking tips with military members and their families as they prepare for life after military service.

This blog was inspired by the chat during a virtual SCAN seminar held at 8 Wing Trenton on Tuesday October 5, 2021.

I offer career transition advice as a service. Later this Fall, I’ll also be launching an online accessible on demand course to help people help themselves through career transitions.

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

Job Search Tips #1 Research
Job Search Tips #2 Informational Interviews 
Job Search Tips #3 "So What?" Stories

To get a free copy of my eBook “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” click here (note it’s easier to sign up using a laptop than a phone).

To learn more about Career Coaching services click here

Earlier this week it occurred to me that I hadn’t published a blog lately. I wondered if I was suffering from writer’s block, or if it was something else. Then I set aside the thought, because I had a full week.

This morning when I woke up after an excellent night’s sleep, I realized why it’s been a month since my last blog. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Because my summer had been much busier work wise than I’m used to, I took a bit of a break from work near the end of August. I read several novels, rereading a few old favourites, enjoying a few new ones, and even thought about reading a few work-related books.

I also completed a 1000-piece puzzle, on my own. I’d meant to give my creativity a kick start by doing something out of the norm. I got so engrossed in the puzzle, I started and finished it in one (long) sitting. I kept thinking, just one more photo, then I’ll take a break. This is hyper focus in action! I had to stretch when I was done! I’d lost track of time because I was having so much fun doing the puzzle. I’ve included a picture of the completed puzzle below.
​

Facilitating Learning

For the last three weeks I’ve been hyper focusing on getting ready for sessions for clients, creating 4 new sessions, ones that I haven’t delivered before, in response to collaborations with clients who were looking for specific learning experiences.

I have a tendency to dive right in and do a LOT of research before creating a new session. I prefer to have so much information that I have to edit down what I’m going to say, to stay within the time frame allocated for a session. Last week I delivered a customized session that I’ve given many times before, and one of the new sessions. Both were well received!

Next week, I’m delivering one new session, and participating as a panelist in a session I’ve done several times before. Which makes it a slightly lighter week, and means that this weekend I have time to blog!

The following week, I’ll be delivering 3 new sessions. One is a collaboration with Elizabeth Nicholas. We drafted “Networking: Expanding Your Circle of Influence” last spring and refined it in August. This is a pro-bono online session that we offer on behalf of our HRPA Chapter.

Last year we co-facilitated a similar event called “Speed Networking – Pandemic Survivor HR Style.”  HRPA members from across Ontario participated, and gave such great reviews that we’re back again this year. With so many events still being held virtually, many people appreciate an event that encourages them to interact with and learn in small groups. You’ve got to love the Breakout room feature in Zoom!

Life as an Entrepreneur

I logged onto to LinkedIn this afternoon, because I received a notice that a few people had messaged me. Thank you to Shahina Suleman, Lisa Hallsworth, and Stephanie Anaka for being the first people to congratulate me on my 9th anniversary as an entrepreneur!

Time does indeed fly when I’m having fun. I can still remember my initial model for my business. I planned to do more of what I loved best while in the military - speaking and training. It took me some time to get to the place I’m at now, providing training sessions on behalf of two strategic partners: Indigenous Link and MentorCity; and providing custom training sessions for other clients, including the occasional pro-bono sessions for my professional associations and for military and veteran families.

This summer I delivered the beta version of a new accessible online program called “Navigating your Career Route Map: Designing Courses of Action to help you Achieve your Definition of Success.” The participants have all given me fabulous feedback, helping me refine the content and get it ready for delivery this Fall, as an asynchronous offering. Getting ready for the launch near the end of October is also keeping me busy!

I also joined PARO, as a Business Growth Advisor, which offers me more opportunities to do something else I love, helping others start and/or grow their own businesses. I’m meeting so many fascinating people through PARO!

All this to say, I’ve been having so much fun, I forgot to Blog!

What sort of fun activities help you lose track of time?

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

​Digital Bread Crumbs
Micro-blogging, does it work?
The Power of Teamwork

To get a free copy of my eBook “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” click here

To learn more about individual Thought Partner services click here

In early June 2021, I joined the BFLF Women Veterans Program A.T.H.E.N.A. funded by the Quebec Veterans Foundation. Completing the participants’ survey today made me think I should give you an update on my progress to date.

I’ve been a veteran for almost 9 years, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I weigh more and am less fit that I was when I served in uniform. My priorities have not been on maintaining a militarily fit body, and it shows. That being said, I’m healthy, and I’m grateful for my body, which enables me to do pretty much anything I aspire to do.

I joined the A.T.H.E.N.A. program, because I knew that having a group of accountability partners, between the staff and my sister veterans, would help motivate me to be more physically active. And it has!

Dave Morrow and Audrée Dufresne both welcomed me to the program, explaining how it worked and keeping in touch throughout. Audrée is our trainer. She starts us off with an assessment of our overall fitness and flexibility during a Zoom meeting. Then she creates custom workout plans, including the warm up and cool down sessions. She’s been great about changing things up, like removing the Yoga child pose from my routines, because, quite frankly my belly gets in the way!

As part of the program, we have access to the Dave Morrow Personal Trainer Fitness Training App, which includes all kinds of fun features that I don’t take advantage of. I do like the video explanations of each exercise in my workout routines, the voice telling me what exercise is coming up next and how much time I have left. I also love that the App tracks my progress.

Audrée also runs our weekly group session, sharing fun facts and personal updates as we get ready to meet the challenges she’s prepared for us that week. One of the best features of the group workouts is that Audrée demonstrates the exercises, including more than one way to perform most of them, so that we can select the level of difficulty that works best for us. I’ll admit, my sister veterans in the program all look like they’re in much better shape than I am! Some of them even shared that they run 5 and 10 kms, regularly!

That being said, I feel welcomed and encouraged by my sister veterans, Audrée and Dave. Dave taught one of our group classes when Audree wasn’t available – she was on military training – and couldn’t join us that week. Dave did a great job of explaining different levels of difficulty too.

I haven’t lost weight since I joined the A.T.H.E.N.A. program, and I’m OK with that. What has changed is my overall fitness. In just 10 weeks, I’ve gone from walking once or twice a week, for 30 to 45 minutes, to regularly completing 50 to 60 minute workouts, and doing other physical activities like walks and gardening.

I’ve completed 30 cardio sessions and several other workouts. I’ve gone from not being able to do more than a couple of half knee push-ups, to regularly pumping off 20 or more half knee push-ups.

What’s a half knee push-up you ask? It’s doing push-ups from the knees and only going halfway down before going back up again. Why am I doing them that way instead of going all the way down to the ground and back up? For the same reason that I avoid the yoga position called the child pose. My belly gets in the way! And that’s OK. I can feel my body becoming more toned and I have more energy.

It’s unlikely that I’ll drop all of the weight I’ve put on since I became a veteran. And I’m OK with that too. I’m grateful that I’m becoming more fit, and that I’m healthy. I feel like I’ve got lots of energy, and I’m getting most of the things on my to do list done. I’d probably do even better, if I wasn’t interested in doing so many things!

Happily, I’m following my own advice and getting help from others to do some of the things I don’t like to do, or that I’m not great at doing. Now, the question is, do I sign up for the paid program with Dave and Audrée when my 3 months on the A.T.H.E.N.A. program are over? Or do I pick a fitness program closer to home, so I can attend in person, assuming pandemic conditions allow for that?

I’ve learned that I’m more likely to be fit with accountability partners, so I do plan on investing in some sort of workout program moving into the Fall.

As an aside, if you’re a woman veteran in Canada (you don’t have to be in Quebec) consider signing up for the A.T.H.E.N.A. program, funded by the Quebec Veterans Foundation, it’s a lot of fun and it works!

PS: After publishing this post, I received fabulous news! I'm able to stick with the program for the full 6 months originally envisioned for participants. Even though I joined late. I also learned a couple of spots have opened up for new participants!

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

Women Veterans, Helping Each Other Thrive
​Daffodils and New Beginnings 
Respecting "I Can't"

To get a free copy of my eBook “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” click here

To learn more about individual Thought Partner services click here

When I served in the military, shortly after I arrived at a new posting, I met one on one with all my direct reports and invested the time to learn what their career goals were. When new people joined my team, I would hold a meeting to welcome and learn about them too.

I asked my team what training and resources they wanted to help them achieve their goals. I also learned their aptitudes, strengths and interests (also known as gifts). Then for the duration of the time that we worked together, I strove to help them achieve their goals by assigning them tasks they would excel at, loading them on the training they wanted, and getting them the resources they needed to do their job. I valued each member of my team for the different gifts they shared.

Embracing Inclusion has been a way of life for me, for as long as I can remember. I’m not perfect, because after all I’m only human. That being said I strive to better understand people with different lived experiences than mine to help me be a better leader. This post explains how IDEA (Inclusion Diversity Equity Accessibility) is an effective leadership strategy.

Note, you don’t need to be in a leadership position to lead, and it is possible for everyone on the team to be a leader, each taking the lead when their gifts are those that the team needs.

Inclusion

Each of us is unique, we have different capacities to do different things. We all have different gifts.

To me inclusion means appreciating everyone for the gifts they bring to the team and finding ways to help each other thrive. When we support and encourage each other as we work towards common goals, we can achieve what many would consider impossible. I’ve found this to be true time and again throughout my career in the military, as a community volunteer and now as an entrepreneur.

An example of this is a project I’m part of with the Business and Professional Women of Ontario. Our organization is more than 100 years old, and many of our original policies and practices are still in place today. 

In January 2021, a Mentoring Task Force was created to explore Mentoring program options to cover the province. A group of 3 women were interested in the project and volunteered for the Task Force. We still haven’t named a formal chair or produced any minutes.

In 5 months, we went from a glimmer of an idea to presenting a Mentoring program and having a budget approved to carry it out. We did this by investing the time and energy to get to know each other and what we were good at, by exploring other mentoring programs being run across Canada and the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, and then coming up with two options and costing them out. We presented our findings to BPW Ontario members at the June 2021 Conference and our recommended plan and budget were approved.

We’re all good at researching topics that interest us, we split up the different BPW mentoring programs and reached out to learn more. I researched the BPW Montreal program, as the only French speaking member of our team. Carrie Andrews who is mostly retired, reached out to different clubs around the world. A representative from BPW Calgary joined us for a meeting to share their resources and answer our questions. Shahina Suleman runs a mentoring program for new Canadians and shared her mentoring experiences.

We chose to meet every week, for about an hour, to touch base, compare notes, and agree on next steps. We kept our meetings on task without using formal agendas, as this was mostly a brainstorming process.

We decided not to keep formal minutes, because that would slow us down. Instead, we shared our understanding of what we’d accomplished and what our next steps were as we closed each meeting.
We didn’t worry about achieving perfection we concentrated on getting the big things right; progress over perfection.

When life threw us curve balls, we were flexible and adjusted our plan to keep moving forward. For example, at the outset we chose to meet weekly. A few times one of us would have something come up and let the others know she couldn’t make the meeting. Depending on what was going on for the others, we would decide to meet, or to completely skip a meeting.

Sometimes we wouldn’t achieve everything we meant to between meetings. We accepted that as OK, and adjusted our next steps accordingly. Through it all, the weekly meetings, generally at 4 pm on Friday became something we all look forward to and enjoy.

As I’m writing this, our Mentoring Task Force is in the process of standing up a BPW Ontario Mentoring Committee to bring the Mentoring program to life. So far, four other women have volunteered to participate.

Diversity

Part of inclusion is celebrating diversity. The BPW Ontario Mentoring Task Force is three women with different ancestries, spiritual beliefs, cultures, and lived experiences. We have different ways of tackling research and problem solving.

We have a common goal of taking action to help women (and others) thrive.

We each play to our strengths, for example I find writing easy, and I give presentations for a living, so during our meetings I draft documents such as our presentation that won the support of BPW Ontario members and approval of our proposed budget.

We each had a speaking role during the presentation, Shahina our liaison and spokesperson with the BPW Ontario Board, took the first part of the presentation, outlining our mandate and accomplishments to date.

Carrie spoke passionately about the positive impact a formal mentoring program could create for our members and our organization.

I outlined the next steps and introduced Shawn Mintz, CEO of MentorCity who presented and demonstrated the platform.

Canada, like many countries, has a number of acts and laws intended to protect people living and working here. While the Acts and Laws are important, diversity goes much further than anything that can be captured on paper.

When we celebrate our differences and gifts, we can accomplish more than when we dwell on “the other.”

Equity

Equity is about everyone being recognized for their gifts, and being given the support they need to perform their duties to the best of their abilities.

This can include something as simple as giving people their own collection of stamps so they don’t have to cross a large room to stamp official documents (read “Mercenary” Partnerships and Trust for the rest of the story) or as complex as subsidizing post secondary education for a high potential employee with limited financial means.

As an experienced facilitator and someone who types pretty quickly, I find it easy to capture ideas on a document during a video meeting. When the BPW Mentoring Task Force realized that this was one of my gifts, I became our note keeper, drafting our documents, in real time. The other two are also quite capable of typing and taking notes, however, I can do it more quickly, which saves us all time in the long run. Together we refine the message.

Shahina is a skilled speaker and influencer, and is our liaison with the BPW Ontario Board. She anticipates questions, and draws the answers from our Task Force before the questions are asked, so that she is fully prepared whenever she speaks on our behalf. She inspires us to think deeper.

Carrie is a systems thinker, she’s also a gifted influencer, and eloquently addresses people’s emotions turning fear into hope. She has a gift for identifying the heart of a problem and the levers that can be activated to create positive change.

Accessibility

In 2020, I realized that Disabled people are often left out of discussion on Inclusion and Diversity.

I learned about IDEA which stands for Inclusion Diversity Equity and Access or Accessibility in early 2021 from Ainsley Latour, who in turn credits one of her mentors for teaching her the acronym.

When Accessibility laws are interpreted as constraints people get frustrated and resist accommodating others as “too expensive” or “impractical.”

The reality is when we strive to create and adopt more accessible workplaces everyone wins.

I know that when my children were young, I was really happy to encounter automatic doors while pushing a stroller and holding the hand of a toddler.

Choosing to invest in making your online content accessible helps people with communications disabilities AND it helps people who are speaking English as a second language.

You can choose to create a more accessible workplace. For example, if you’re holding meetings using a video platform, encourage people to interact in the way that is most comfortable for them. Writing in the chat is just as valid as speaking out loud. There are many readily available closed captioning services and lots of ASL and LSQ translators that can be hired to help Deaf and hearing-impaired people participate fully.

IDEA something to celebrate and an effective leadership strategy

The main idea of this blog is that celebrating and embracing Inclusion Diversity Equity and Accessibility is an effective leadership strategy. For those of you who scoff at this, consider the return on investment of creating a team where everyone can perform to the best of their abilities, where everyone feels included, and wants to do their best work to help their team mates and you succeed.

The reality is, if you embrace inclusion and celebrate the different gifts your team has to share, then you can find ways to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Consider shifting your focus from IDEA being something that must be mandated, to something that when embraced significantly and markedly increases the overall productivity and engagement of your teams.  It’s more than the right thing to do, it’s a great investment in your team and your organization.

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

"Mercenary" Partnerships and Trust 
Invisible Disabilities and Accessibility 
​Investing in Accessible Online Learning

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