Many people don’t enjoy meetings at the best of times. There are entire books written on how to run effective meetings, and lots of cartoons and jokes about ineffective meetings.  Meetings are an obvious pain point for many.

Pivoting to holding meetings virtually is handy in some ways, and can be incredibly frustrating in others. All the things you didn’t like about attending meetings in person, are amplified when the meetings are held online. Some of the things that appealed to those who like attending meetings in person, seem to be missing when the meetings are taking place virtually.

How can we possibly make virtual meetings work you ask?

This article shares 25 tactics and a couple of bonus tips that can vastly improve your virtual meeting experience. I’m sharing what I learned from when I first started holding hybrid meetings (live, by phone and by video connection) more than a decade ago while serving as a senior officer in the Canadian military, and what I’ve refined over the last 8 years as an entrepreneur who works with virtual teams.

5 Tactics for Meeting Preparation:

Preparation plays a big part in holding effective meetings.  Here are a few things you could add to your virtual meeting check list:

1. Share the meeting link in advance, and then share it again the day of the meeting.
2. Share the purpose of the meeting and a draft agenda in advance (preferably with the first meeting link). 
3. Share reading materials in advance when at all possible.
4. Log in a few minutes early to address any technical issues. 
5. Make sure everyone understands how to use the technology in advance.  For important meetings, hold a dress rehearsal with key participants.

BONUS TIP:  If the agenda is more than 90 minutes long, consider including a health break.

When participants know the purpose of the meeting, and have an opportunity to look at and contribute to the Draft Agenda, they know what to expect and are able to prepare in advance. Even really creative people, who always seem to be going in a million directions at once, enjoy having an idea of what to expect at a meeting.

10 Practical Tactics for Making your Virtual Meeting Work:

1. Start the agenda with brief introductions, this helps people understand who is in the meeting, and their purpose for being there.  
2. If you’re expecting a large group, set a time limit for introductions and have a time keeper (also sometimes known as a facilitator, or the meeting Chair) gently remind people to stick to the time limit.
3. After the introductions state the purpose of the meeting to focus people’s attention.
4. Go through each item on the agenda, under the assumption that people have read the materials in advance, so that the discussion can keep moving along.
5. If you’re holding a meeting that requires motions to be approved, where possible draft motions in advance, it helps save time and keep the meeting moving.
6. Make sure that participants share the air. If someone starts monopolizing the time, which risks taking the meeting off the agenda, firmly, politely, and kindly ask them to table their thoughts for a side bar meeting on that topic, or ask them to share their thoughts in an email or phone call after the meeting is over.
7. Always leave time near the end of the meeting for a round table discussion. This is an opportunity for participants to bring up things that they’d like covered, if not today, then at the next meeting. It’s also an opportunity for participants to confirm their understanding of what took place during the meeting. Some people wait until they are asked to share their ideas before revealing the gems of knowledge and ground-breaking ideas that they’ve thought of.  Not everyone is an extrovert ready and willing to share their ideas to anyone who will remain still long enough to listen.
8. It’s very effective for the meeting Chair to list tasks and ensure that people know what’s expected of them before the meeting closes.
9. The last item on the agenda is the date and time for the next meeting, if applicable.
10. Commit to ending the meeting on time. People are busy, they appreciate knowing that they can rely on the meeting Chair to respect their time by sticking to the agenda. If at all possible, end the meeting a few minutes early!  People will enjoy attending your meetings if you respect their time.

BONUS TIP: Thank people for participating in your meeting, even if it’s a part of their regular duties. Adding a few words about their specific contribution is a nice touch. It demonstrates that they were heard and are valued.

5 Tactics for Inclusive Virtual Meetings:

1. Make sure that everyone has the opportunity to participate, and that they can do so in a manner that is comfortable for them. Some people prefer to type in the chat, rather than speaking out loud. That’s OK!
2. Allow participants to turn off their cameras and mics. Part of the virtual meeting fatigue is feeling like you always have to be “ON” and camera ready.
3. Approximately 20% of the world’s population is disabled, sometimes with invisible disabilities. This may make virtual meetings more difficult for them. Provide live closed captioning and/or sign language interpreters whenever possible. Especially if you know your meeting is going to include people with disabilities. If you have a large company, your human resources team can find out how many people require this sort of accommodation. 
4. Whenever possible include at least closed captioning for every meeting, this normalizes the practice and relieves the people who normally wish for this sort of support from the burden of having to ask for it. Closed captioning helps the deaf and hard of hearing people, those who are attending a meeting in their second or third language, and those who have difficulty processing the spoken word.
5. If you’re working with a set team, get in the habit of calling on people by name to provide their feedback in a set order, so that they know that they can chime in with their thoughts, either verbally or in the chat, when it is their turn.  This is particularly important if you’re holding a brainstorming meeting using a round table method.  

5 Additional Tactics to Facilitate Hybrid Meetings:

1. Follow all of the tactics listed above, paying particular attention to calling on those who are attending virtually to share their thoughts on each agenda item.
2. Make a point of calling on the virtual attendees first when it comes time for a round table discussion. This allows them the opportunity to share their brilliant ideas, without feeling like they’re being included as an afterthought.
3. Allow people who are attending virtually to signal that they “pass” on commenting on some items. If you’re a sighted person you can see the people in your face-to-face meeting signalling that they want to pass. People participating by phone or by video should be asked. This may feel awkward at first. Don’t worry, with practice it gets easier.
4. If a virtual attendee makes a motion, or shares a key resource, ask them to include that text and/or link in the chat. This makes it easier for the person taking the minutes.
5. Make a point of thanking everyone, those who attended in person and those who attended virtually for making your meeting a success.

There you go - 25 Tactics for Making Virtual Meetings Work! Plus, a couple of Bonus Tips. May you enjoy all of your virtual and hybrid meetings moving forward.

If you enjoyed reading this you may also enjoy:

Investing in Accessible Online Learning
Growing your Network Online 
Leading Volunteers a Rewarding and Challenging Experience

To learn more about my new online courses click here.

To sign up for a pdf copy of a short eBook called "Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces" and my monthly newsletter click here.

On Monday June 21, 2021 I had the honour to be one of the AVA members to witness Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class (retired) Deborah Eisan being presented with her Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) Honorary Captain (Navy) Scroll and Pins.

Debbie is an Ojibway Anishinabe kwe from Batchewana First Nation. She was formally appointed as an Honorary Captain (Navy) of the Royal Canadian Navy on the 19th October 2020. HCapt(N) Eisan is affiliated with the future Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Margaret Brooke scheduled to be delivered to the Royal Canadian Navy summer 2021.

I met Debbie over a decade ago, through the work she was doing with the Department of National Defence Aboriginal Advisory Group (DAAG). She was a vocal supporter of all Indigenous peoples interested in, serving with, and veterans of, the Canadian military. Debbie supported the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) programs to help Indigenous youth experience what Human Resources professionals call a Realistic Job Preview.

Debbie gently used her circles of influence to ensure that the Canadian Forces Aboriginal Entry Plan (CFAEP), the summer programs called Bold Eagle, Raven and Black Bear, and the Aboriginal Leadership Opportunity Year (ALOY) received support, helping participants learn new skills they could use in whatever future they chose.

Debbie continued to support the programs as a veteran, as she expanded her circles of influence to help even more Indigenous peoples thrive.  Debbie now plays an important role as the Community Events Planner at the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre.

Lots of important people shared congratulatory messages during the ceremony.  I’m sure the Navy will share their names and ranks.

The parts I was most interested in were the support and words of encouragement from Raymond Sewell who started the ceremony by drumming and singing the Mi’kmaq Honour song for Debbie, the congratulations from Chief Dean Sayers, Chief of Batchewana First Nations, and Debbie’s speech.

I was also thrilled to see Petty Officer 1st Class (PO1) Katrina Stewart, a Boatswain in the RCN from the Nisga’a Nation of New Aiyansh, British Columbia, serving as the flag bearer. Katrina graduated from the CAF Indigenous Pre-Recruit Training program known as CFAEP and has served in the Navy for 19 years.

HCapt(N) Debbie Eisan spoke about the dream that led her to join the Canadian military. She also spoke about the dream she and PO2 Innis had of creating an Eagle Staff for Indigenous peoples serving in the CAF.

Debbie ended off her speech with words of wisdom, that I’ve tried to capture here “Dreams do come, not always in the way you expect, in ways only the creator can explain. If we open our eyes and watch for signals, we’ll achieve our dreams.”

As a woman veteran, what struck me as particularly appropriate is that Debbie is HCapt(N) for the HMCS Margaret Brooke an Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) who’s first Commanding Officer also happens to be a woman, Commander Nicole Robichaud.

Miigwetch, Marsee, Merci, Qujannamiik, All our relations Debbie!

If you enjoyed reading this you may also enjoy these military themed blog posts:

Women Veterans, Helping each other Thrive
Do we have Systemic Bias/Racism in Canada published in June 2020
"Mercenary" Partnerships and Trust

Do you feel frustrated with your career, like things aren’t going the way you expected or hoped?

Do you feel like you’re stuck and running out of options?

You’re not alone!

Many people go through this phase as they try to figure out how to get the jobs they really want.
So much so that I offer an 8 week Thought Partner program to help people learn strategies and tactics so they can learn how to design courses of action to achieve their definitions of success. You can learn more about the Navigating your Career Route Map program here.

Sometimes people just need a hint, or a short conversation to give them a boost of confidence to realize that it’s OK to ask for what they want.

I was brought up on the family legend of my mother asking for what she wanted, a posting to Europe, where she met and married my father. My parents repeatedly told us to ask for what we wanted, with the follow up that the worst that could happen would be that the answer is “no.”

On the other hand, the answer could be “Yes!”

Throughout my military career, I asked for what I wanted. This included courses, postings and even volunteer roles. I viewed meetings with the career manager as an opportunity to negotiate. When I was told as a newly commissioned officer, that my next posting would be to a job where the majority of my work would deal with things like requests for access to information, I cheekily asked if I could have a “real job.”

Luckily my career manager had a sense of humour and asked me to define what a “real job” was. I told him that I wanted a job where I had a staff and responsibilities, where I could use all the leadership training, I’d had during my military college experience. I also said I was willing to go anywhere for that kind of job.

That’s how I ended up at 403 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Gagetown, New Brunswick, where I was responsible for administrative, transportation, vehicle maintenance, supply and financial services support. I led a multi-faceted team, in a very male dominated environment. It was a fabulous opportunity and I thoroughly enjoyed my job.

Now, one of the things I do as a Thought Partner is help others identify the opportunities, they have to ask for what they want.

Last week, I had a lovely phone call with a woman I hadn’t spoken to in a few years. Kris Dawson saw my post about the Navigating Your Career Route Map program and asked if I had time for a call. Between getting ready for the program launching on June 25, and projects I’m working on for clients, my weekdays are pretty much booked solid, so I suggested a weekend phone call. Here’s what Kris wrote about me on LinkedIn:

“Even though part of my background was as a career coach, it's really hard to coach yourself into your next career. So I reached out to Chantal to get some clarity around my approach to a possible job opportunity. (She made herself available right away for me - on a Sunday morning!) She gave me some straight forward simple advice (and confidence) on what to do to ensure my needs were met. And, it worked! I landed exactly what I was after. Thanks Chantal for being my trusted coach and cheerleader all in one!

More on Chantal: I first met Chantal around 7 years ago through an HR Conference, hadn't spoken to her in awhile but always had her in the back of my mind. She carries with her great knowledge and experience and a very positive mindset and is available when you need her most! I have no doubt that she can help others gain a clearer path to their next career move.”

The advice that I gave Kris can be summed up as “ask for what you want, you might just get it!”

There’s more to it than that of course, which is why there’s always work for career coaches, mentors and Thought Partners.

Here’s my small ask, if my content resonates with you, please share it with your friends, family and colleagues, so that they can learn about the services I offer.

Here’s my big ask, consider investing your time, energy and hard-earned money in the Navigating your Career Route Map: Designing Courses of Action to Help You Achieve Your Definition of Success program.

If you enjoyed reading this you may also enjoy:

Job Search Tips #1 
Job Search Tips #2 Informational Interviews
Volunteering, Why Bother?

To learn more about my new online courses click here.

To sign up for my monthly newsletter and to receive advance notice of when courses are going live click here.

I’m thrilled to share that the introductory offering of the Navigating your Career Route Map: Designing Courses of Action to Help You Achieve Your Definition of Success program is now available online!

The Navigating your Career Route Map program is all about helping you discover and explore practical strategies and tips that may help you navigate how you can achieve your definition of success.

This program combines facilitated discussion with elements of coaching, mentoring and Mastermind processes. The program is presented in a small group, accessible, online setting, and includes individual Thought Partner sessions with me.

I’ll be sharing my insights into how you can navigate your work life, based on my successful military career, my transition to life as a veteran and entrepreneur, and the successes my coaching clients and mentees have experienced.

You’ll be participating in an interactive online group setting, which immediately expands your Friendly Forces network, and gives you an accountability partner group.

You may be wondering what Thought Partner means. Until I sat down to write this post, I thought it was a term I made up, to describe how I prefer to work with people.
​
Then I googled “Thought Partner” and learned that the term has been around since at least June 2012, when Rania Anderson, a wildly successful Speaker, Author, and Executive Business Coach, wrote a guest post for Forbes which reads in part:

“A Thought Partner is someone who:

Challenges your thinking.

Causes you to modify or change your paradigms, assumptions or actions

Has information or a way of thinking that provokes you to innovate or otherwise leads to value creation in your business, career or life.

A Thought Partner is different from a Thought Leader. Thought Leaders are people who are clearly and widely recognized as leading experts and visionaries in their field.

Thought Partners may also be Thought Leaders, though generally, they are not. Thought Partners are usually people who possess information, knowledge, or a way of thinking that challenges and provokes divergent thinking and action for you. Your Thought Partners may arise from within any area of your life; you just have to engage with and listen to them. When you can attune yourselves, there is music to be made.”

These words resonated so powerfully that the first thing I did after reading them was to reach out through LinkedIn to invite Rania to join my network. (We're now connected!!!) Then I went back to writing.

Wondering if the Navigating your Career Route Map program might be for you?

If you:
-  want to make changes in your work life, develop your career, and/or explore other career options; and
-  are willing to do the hard work of figuring out why things aren’t going the way you expected, to face things you might rather ignore, and to communicate with radical candour;
-  then this program might be the one you’ve been searching for!

I look forward to meeting, learning about, and sharing thoughts with the 12 participants in the Navigating your Career Route Map: Designing Courses of Action to Help You Achieve Your Definition of Success program. I hope to connect with you soon!

If you enjoyed reading this you may also enjoy:

Digital Bread Crumbs
Invisible Disabilities & Accessibility

To learn more about my new online courses click here.

To sign up for my monthly newsletter and to receive advance notice of when courses are going live click here.

Seeking out new learning opportunities is a life long habit.  On Sunday June 6, I officially joined the A.T.H.E.N.A. program run by the Audrée Dufresne and David Morrow from HRD2KILL. This program was specifically created for Canadian women veterans.

During my intake interview, I learned that in addition to participating in a weekly exercise session with the rest of my sister veterans, I’ll also be receiving 3 tailored workout plans each week as “homework” that will help me reach my goal to “be healthier” while respecting the body I have and my current range of motion.

Aubree interviewed me to find out what kinds of exercise I enjoy doing, and what I won’t do: no more jogging or running for me! She also asked me to perform a few stretching exercises so she could assess my current range of motion.

My friends, family and long-time colleagues know that I’m not a natural athlete. I enjoy moving my body. However, like many people I find it much easier to stay on track of my fitness program if I’m exercising as part of a group.

The A.T.H.E.N.A. program is totally virtual, and the other participants are all people I can relate to. We share the common bond of having served in the military. We’re all used to teamwork and for this serial of A.T.H.E.N.A. at least, we’re all of a similar age.

One of the great things about a shared military background, is that there’s a high likelihood that we’ll celebrate each other’s successes, and be understanding when one of us makes a mistake, or misses a session.

In my experience with the military, most people embraced a lessons learned framework. That is, when someone made a mistake, or if a plan didn’t turn out as expected, we reflected on what went wrong, and tried to do things differently moving forward to achieve a more positive result.

This is something I’ve seen time and time again as I connect with military members, veterans and even those who are military affiliated (part of a military or veteran family, or working as a civilian within military units). Generally speaking, we’re quick to admit when we make a mistake, and look for ways to do better moving forward.

We admit we’re human, and we are willing to help others achieve their goals. This means that when we join the civilian workforce or become an entrepreneur, we sometimes experience culture shock, as many organizational cultures are very different from what we’re used to.

I know without even having met the other participants of the A.T.H.E.N.A. program yet, that they will become part of my Friendly Forces network. It’s what most veterans do, we help each other and try to help those still in uniform as mentors or friends.

As I worked on developing the first of my paid online programs, I invested time and effort into imagining my ideal clients. I wondered, who do I know best? Who can I help the most? How can I target a specific group of ideal clients?

At about the same time as I was trying to pin down my ideal clients, I learned that there are 85,000 women veterans in Canada alone. I also learned that many veterans, and most especially women and LGBTQ veterans, find the programs readily available for all veterans to be too male dominated. Many women and LGBTQ veterans would like to participate in programs that speak to their needs, that while similar to those of male veterans, are distinctly different.

There are things that come as a particular culture shock to us that a male veteran is unlikely to experience. For example, when I became a veteran, I was appalled to learn that women and LGBTQ people can generally expect to earn 20-30% less than their cis gender male counterparts, even if they have essentially the same job, education, and experience.

I knew that I wanted to run a multi-week program, where I could help people explore and discover new ways of thinking about their work life to help them achieve their definition of success. Like I did when I became a veteran and started my own business.

Then it hit me, my ideal audience, the people I knew the best were military veterans. As a woman, my insights are likely to help other veterans who are not men. If I assume that only one sixth of women veterans are interested in pursuing a second career or starting their own business (in effect creating their own second career), then the number is just over 14,000.

The maximum course load for the first serial of “Navigating your Career Route Map: Designing Courses of Action to help you Achieve your Definition of Success” is 12. That’s less than 0.1 % of my ideal audience. Now all I have to do is find a way to reach up to 12 participants interested in investing in the program.

My next blog will be about a scholarship contest for one of those 12 spots. The contest will be shared widely on social media, with advance notice going to those who are on my email marketing list.

NOTE: Being part of my “ideal” audience is NOT a prerequisite to participating in the “Navigating your Career Route Map: Designing Courses of Action to help you Achieve your Definition of Success” program. All are welcome, as long as you follow the Rules of Engagement.

If you enjoyed reading this you may also enjoy:

Micro-Blogging, Does it Work? - features a brief story about two women veterans who started their dream business The County Emporium
and
To Speak, or Not to Speak: Professionally 

To learn more about my new online courses click here.

To sign up for my monthly newsletter and to receive advance notice of when courses are going live click here.