Hi Miro Heroes

Anna here, your Community Manager.

This March, we are celebrating Women’s History Month by hosting a special edition of the Miroverse Challenge, Womxn at Work, and highlighting the most inspiring female creators that contributed templates to our template library. 

I’m super excited to share our conversation with @Regine, a Certified Professional in Talent & Development (CPTD). Regine is a prominent Miroverse Creator and longtime Miro Community Member who authored two useful templates — Virtual Winter Wonderland Village and Niching Down: Online Course Persona Empathy Map. It won Miro users over because of great design and potential to engage teams.

We sat down with Regine to talk about her career path and get some tips & tricks for aspiring Miroverse Creators, and I’m excited to share her wisdom with the Miro Community.

TL;DR:

• Best advice for women going through a career transition: identify your North Star and chart out a path made up of manageable stepping stones that will help you get there.

• If your manager doesn’t give you enough support: Don't give up — this is what happens when you're moving into something that's completely new and there isn't enough structure in place to help you succeed; focus on doing your own research, looking for information, and seeking out your own resources. 

• If you are hosting a virtual event or workshop: Having a theme creates an experience; make sure you take all participants on a journey and plan the experience in advance.

• How to create your first Miroverse template: Start on paper, think about what you're trying to create and write it out before transferring it into Miro; that approach will allow you to be more creative and focus on solving the challenge.

Want to continue the conversation?

• If you have a question for @Regine about coaching, team building, creating templates, or anything else, add it to the thread below. She will answer all of your questions asynchronously.

• If you have a favorite template for educators (either from Miroverse or your own), post it in the thread as well!

Full Q&A with Regine @ Transformational Learning

What’s your background? How did you start working as a Talent and Organizational Development Leader?

I started out in the business world, but I've always looked for ways to tap into my creativity. 

I first got exposed to the field of talent, organizational and personal development when I was going through my own career transition. Initially, it was more about leveraging my creativity. Now, it’s really more about a constant pursuit to solve challenges creatively and help individuals and organizations reach their potential. It's great to be able to combine my analytical and creative side, but more importantly, I’m driven by the impact that I see. 

What are the most common requests people have when they approach you?

Lately, I've been doing a lot of team building and team effectiveness sessions. Very often, leadership wants to solve a business challenge and they're not sure how, and I try to be thoughtful about how to bring everybody together and design a process that will move the team from point A to point Z. I work with team members to help them access a deeper level of thinking and contribute to the solution. And then I share feedback from the team with the managers and decide how to act on that. 
A lot of times it takes multiple conversations, but through using a tool like Miro and facilitation skills, it's very easy to get to solutioning.

What was a project or transformation that you were the most proud of?

I have two projects in mind, a personal transformation and a team transformation. For the personal transformation, I recently worked with a client (Linda) who was at a loss on how to balance her family responsibilities and her career aspirations. I focused on equipping her with tools so she could prioritize her goals, and also helped her develop an action plan. Sometimes people have the vision, but aren’t sure how to get to their end goal. Once Linda saw the plan, it felt more manageable and it gave her a lot of encouragement so she was able to push forward and make leaps.

As for team transformations, those often require a culture change and that can take time. I once worked with a client whose team was rather large and who was experiencing high turnover. I designed a series of brainstorming sessions that took place over the course of two years. Throughout these discussions, we documented key processes, created templates, and standards for moving through projects and solving business challenges. I am very proud of that project because of the impact it made both on the team members (who gained clarity, autonomy and confidence) and the team leaders who saw the turnover rate split in half.

Are there any differences between men and women when it comes to setting career goals?

Definitely. Oftentimes, women have to pivot between what they seek and what is within reach. We are often the primary caregivers for children or parents in the household and that can often mean pausing career goals. If you are a woman with a career, you often find there are periods of time in your life when you can prioritize one set of goals versus another. I recommend women start by being clear on what their North Star is, devising a plan to get there, and moving through it at the pace that works best for them given their current priorities, support system etc. The most important thing is to not lose sight of that North Star and give yourself grace. 

Any other advice on going through big career transitions?

Going through a transition is often more challenging than anticipated. Oftentimes, managers are not as experienced in this matter and unable to guide an employee through such a transition. As a result, onboarding is not designed to prepare the employee and set them up for success. If you are going through a transition, try taking matters into your own hands. Do your own research, look for information, and seek out my resources. I recognize this is a common challenge and therefore I design a lot of tools to help professionals better plan their careers and lives, envision their future and turn ideas into actions.

How did you come up with the idea for Virtual Winter Wonderland Village? 

It was a pandemic idea! I was thinking about visiting a real winter village where there's hot cocoa, fun activities, and lots of Christmas ornaments. Also, I plan a lot of events for family and friends, and I'm always thinking about it with a theme in mind. I wanted to recreate that feeling in Miro to help people enjoy the holidays despite the pandemic. In my winter wonderland template, you’re literally moving through a village and engaging in different team activities. Miro was the perfect tool to use because with the live cursor feature, you can see everybody “moving” around the village. It feels very real. I discuss how to create these types of experiences in this blog post.

Advice for people who are just starting out in Miro?

Start where you are. You're gonna see people who create super complicated boards but they have a lot of years of experience. Start with some basic boards and then hone in on one skill that would improve your board / facilitation. Then another, then another.  

Additionally, make sure you are always solving a challenge. Even though some of the templates that I have are fun, it's still about solving challenges like recreating connections, helping people come back together, collaborating better, streamlining processes etc. 

Lastly, always start on paper. I love technology, but once you're in an app, sometimes you feel limited by it. So the best thing to do is to step back and think about what you're trying to create, what you're trying to solve and sketch it out. Once you’ve thought that through, THEN get into Miro and create.