One of the best ways to actively contribute is by learning how to chair, which means stepping up to lead, facilitate, or organize a meeting, committee, or project task.
Chairing is not about showing off authority or acting like you have all the answers. It’s about creating structure so a group can reach its goals. When you lead a discussion, you manage time, keep everyone on track, and make sure everyone gets a chance to speak. This demonstrates important professional skills such as teamwork, communication, and leadership. By guiding a conversation, you show your team you care about the group’s success, not just your own tasks.
Don’t hold yourself back because of fear. You might think, “I’m new to the team, no one will listen to me,” or worry that leading a meeting will make you seem bossy. This kind of thinking keeps you from being noticed. Waiting until you feel completely ready is a trap—confidence grows when you take action. If you step up to manage a project update or help organize a small volunteer committee, you start to build a reputation as someone who delivers solutions, not just follows orders.
To get started with chairing, look for small, low-pressure chances to practice. You don’t have to lead a big company presentation right away. Try offering to run the next team check-in, organize a brainstorming session, or manage the schedule for a small committee. Bring a simple agenda, start and end on time, and send out clear action items afterward. When you take charge of the room, you also take charge of your career journey.
Articulate your work style.
Let’s look at practical ways to describe your work style during interviews and while networking. Practice speaking about the ways you’ve worked in the past, in the present, and in the future.
You don’t need to be the expert—you just need to be organized.
SITUATION: Your team holds a daily 15-minute meeting that regularly runs over time because conversations derail.
TASK: Volunteer to keep the team on schedule.
ACTION: Create a visual dashboard template where each team member shares a 60-second update. I monitored the clock using constructive phrases like, “That’s a great point, let’s schedule that for a separate deep-dive so we can respect everyone’s time.”
RESULT EXAMPLE: Reduce the meeting time, save the team collective hours over the month, and demonstrate my leadership skills for my manager to consider me for more opportunities.
Leading is about coordination, not hierarchy.
SITUATION: The department needs to coordinate a charitable community event, but senior staff lack the time to plan it.
TASK: Step forward to chair the volunteer planning committee consisting of peers and senior leaders from other departments.
ACTION: Send a clear kick-off brief, assign explicit action items to committee members based on their strengths, and establish bi-weekly milestone check-ins.
RESULT EXAMPLE: Execute the event with high staff participation and build direct working relationships with directors outside of the immediate department.
Keep the focus on processes rather than personalities to keep the energy positive and earn the trust of experienced team members.
SITUATION: A marketing campaign wrapped up, but there was no formal plan to review what worked and what failed.
TASK: Facilitate a retrospective meeting to gather constructive feedback.
ACTION: Distribute a pre-meeting survey to collect anonymous feedback, structure the meeting around three questions (Stop, Start, Continue), and manage friction when team members disagree on a specific bottleneck.
RESULT EXAMPLE: Compile an operational checklist that eliminates three major production errors on the subsequent campaign.
Facilitate with silent brainstorming to level the playing field and make space for quiet teammates.
SITUATION: The team needs fresh ideas for a client proposal, but brainstorming sessions often turn into chaotic debates with no clear decisions.
TASK: Facilitate a structured brainstorming session to extract actionable creative concepts.
ACTION: Implement a “silent brainstorming” phase using digital sticky notes so quieter voices aren’t drowned out, group ideas into thematic buckets, and hold a democratic vote on the top three concepts.
RESULT EXAMPLE: Generate the winning campaign pitch concept for the client and ensure 100% team alignment on the next steps.
Do the pre-work and align your internal team first.
SITUATION: A new client was being onboarded, and the account manager needs support in guiding them through the technical setup steps.
TASK: Chair the kickoff onboarding session to walk the client through the technical project roadmap.
ACTION: Prepare a detailed slide deck, rehearse potential roadblocks with the team beforehand, host the live video call, and field-test client questions smoothly.
RESULT EXAMPLE: Decrease client onboarding time from the standard four weeks down to two weeks, receiving a direct commendation from the account director.
Think about one weekly meeting or small project task you have right now. Where could you offer to step up and lead the conversation?
Integrate these professional strategies into your workflow—whether you’re refining your own work or coaching your team or clients.