b'LEADING IN THE VIRTUAL WORLDThe American Seed Trade Associations outgoing chair talks about challenges and successes during the organizations most challenging time in recent memory.Marc ZienkiewiczWAYNE GALEhas been listening to his favourite audio- a meeting over the internet where you need input from bookNever Split the Difference by Chris Voss everyone. COVID has changed the rules of the game.because he wants to brush up on his skills in theIn the beginning, he was up against several barriers negotiation department. put in place by the world of virtual meetings. I wish Id found it 10 years ago, its the best bookThe first was learning how to chair an organization on negotiation, says Gale, who wrapped up his time asin a virtual environment and making sure all members American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) chair in June. Inare getting the information they need without the typical the book, the authora former FBI hostage negotiatorin-person annual meetings. At all levelsstaff, boardoutlines the different ways to use human psychologyand executivethe communications must continue, and in order to do better deals that in the end help you geteveryone needs to be heard, he says.what you really want. Ensuring everyone has a voice in the virtual space can Lets say you offer to sell something for $10, and yourbe easier said than done, he notes.customer only wants to pay $7. Naturally theyll offerIf youre not conscious of it, the phone and computer you $5 so you eventually end up accepting the $7. Sure,tend to result in a one-way discussion, whereas with an youll still make a profit, but maybe if you had betterin-person meeting there are more voices and visual cues negotiating skills, you could have negotiated a better deal.that people use which prompt them to speak up. Its not Meeting in the middle usually isnt good for business,as dynamic and the flow isnt as free over a platform like says Gale, owner of vegetable and flower seed companyZoom.Stokes Seeds based in Ontario, Canada.Still, he successfully saw the board through a diffi-Despite not seeing himself as the worlds best nego- cult number of months and will stay on as past chair for tiator, Gale helped the ASTA board persevere throughanother three years. Prior to serving as chair he spent a what could be viewed as the most challenging time inyear as second chair followed by a year as first chair. the organizations history. In March, Gale found himselfIts a six-year commitment, really. I think I accom-having to lead a board of directors that could no longerplished what I set out to which was to bring ASTA closer meet in the flesh. to the Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA).Almost half my term as chair got derailed by theHe helped do that by encouraging the CSTA to adopt pandemic. Even before the pandemic I thought it crucialthe Better Seed, Better Life promotional program origi-to make sure the meetings were as time efficient as pos- nally started by ASTA.sible and that there was a real focus on governance of theThere has been good cross pollination in terms of association. I think I did that well, which was especiallyideas with me serving as that conduit between the two challenging in the virtual space. It was difficult to do inboards.the world of COVID, he says. Of course, with success comes challenges, and Gale Gale soon found himself chairing ASTAs first virtualsees some coming in the future. With Canada embark-executive session held via web conference. ing on an effort to merge five of its seed associations to Its always difficult to get people to step up and speakcreate one single National Seed Organization (NSO), he with that sort of technology. Its different trying to runsays there will be hard work ahead to ensure the rela-10GERMINATION.CAJULY 2020'