Benefits of Coaching
Many Toastmasters ask me “why do you want to coach? It’s hard work, and there’s no guarantee of success (you must coach the club to Distinguished or better to get credit at TI).” My answer is simple. In life you have no guarantee of success. Changing people, changing organizations to be successful is the sign of good stewardship to organization man. It is THE MOST critical success factors (CSF) in leadership. Such skills put me in great demand and increase my chances of success in the greatest game of all – life!
A Vision of the Club’s Success
To begin, it’s important that you have a vision of the club’s success. Coaching is NOT about you; it is about the club. It is assumed a club coach knows what it takes to be a successful club and has experience in developing and maintaining a strong club. The club’s plan (not YOUR PLAN!) is based on the Distinguished Club Program (DCP). The successful club conducts quality meetings that fulfill the needs of its members. Members learn and participate in each meeting role. All speeches are given from manuals and the evaluations are positive, encouraging and constructive. Because of the solid meeting fundamentals, members are able to vary the format and try special meetings. The club has a continuous membership campaign. Members treat guests as if they are the most important people in the room. The club’s officers understand the process of turning guests into members. For example, the Treasurer promptly submits the membership payment, the President inducts the new member, and the Vice President of Education gives a new member orientation. Mentors help the new member learn the Toastmaster program and assist with the first three speeches. The club’s officers also meet regularly to ensure efficient operation of the club. Ultimately, the club coach becomes successful when the club earns five (or more) of the 10 points in the Distinguished Club Plan.
Keys to Success
1. Your attitude and the role are the most important aspects of your job! From your first contact with the club to the last effort you make as a coach, you are being watched. Enthusiasm is absolutely critical. When you go into a club that needs coaching, you should expect low morale. You are the cheerleader, the one who encourages, and the one who says, like the “Little Engine That Could,” enthusiasm is contagious. Other key points here: You are flexible. You offer more than one way to do things. You allow the club to decide. Even if they choose not to have a grammarian, for example, accept it. You can demonstrate the value when opportunity presents itself.
You realize that not all clubs are able to be saved. Doctors lose patients. That’s life. It’s the same with Toastmaster clubs. Patients that don’t want to fight, give up and die. If the patient wants to live, and is willing to try, the doctor has a fighting chance. Likewise, if the club doesn’t want to live (at least some members want it to succeed), AND take action, the club will die. It’s not your fault – if you tried.
2. Don’t join the club. Your ability to facilitate is diminished; almost impossible. You begin to vote like a member and express your opinion. That is not a facilitator’s job! You are better able to resolve conflict as a third party. Have you seen a fight in the schoolyard? You’re the Principal! You stop focusing on the job of coaching. Say you are an usher in a church. You can’t sit down and listen to the sermon. You’ll miss a guest. So you added one member to the club! Whoopee. Are you interested in long-term results, or are you interested in making the numbers for your TI credit as a coach?
3. You work in a team. It is very difficult to be a single coach in a challenging club. Even with two people, it’s tough. You need two people because you can’t always make the meetings (believe me, I know!), you can complement each other and coaches train coaches! Match a seasoned coach with a first time coach. Don’t send an inexperienced (or worse, untrained) coach into a club by himself. Seek help from district leaders: Get area governors, division governors and the top district leadership involved in the program. Publish stories (particularly success stories) and give credit to coaches where earned. Involve the club’s Executive Committee: Work with the existing leadership of the club. Use your brief time together to provide on-the-job training. When properly motivated and trained, the club’s officers will continue to improve their club long after you’re gone.
4. Train before you coach. In District 33, a prerequisite to club coach assignment is completion of club coach training.
5. You are involved in each meeting. Yes, you should fill a role at each meeting of the club. You work with the Toastmaster to really focus on a specific theme for the meeting. You play different roles in meetings: Toastmaster, Table Topics Master. General Evaluator, Evaluator, Timer, etc. You are the role model. Show how it’s done. You consider one of the planned, targeted sessions at the club mentioned below. Of course, you must sell the idea to the membership. Do it when involved in one of your roles in the club. Involve the area governor, division governor and other outside people, if possible. Also, invite yourself to the Club Executive Committee meeting (mainly as an observer).
6. You work with the club and determine the clubs strengths and weaknesses. One of several ways to get club involvement is the Club Assessment Tool. This form is from TI [www.toastmasters.org/Members/OfficerResources/DistrictLeaderResources/DistrictTraining/SponsorMentorCoach/Troubleshooting.aspx]. I recommend when you hand it out, you ask members not to put their name on it. However, I suggest you have a way to identify answers from club officers versus club members. (For clubs with small membership, almost all of the members are officers, unfortunately).
WARNING! It is good that you and your partner coach determine club issues, before the club does. But don’t express your opinions to the club. That is not your role. Opportunities arise where you can demonstrate where an issue lies so it becomes transparently clear to the membership.
You perform a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, but prepare for this in advance, and prepare the club in advance. This is detailed in the Playbook on pages 25-33. It’s critical, but don’t rush it. The club must be ready.
You insist that the club take ownership of the process.
Critical to the success of your club coach assignment is a buy-in by the club. Without that, your efforts will be futile. We learned early on that in order to be successful, the club needs to want help and be involved in the assessment and improvement processes.
7. You give tools, training, and guidance so the club can complete the DCP. To use the tools of a club coach, you must first understand the philosophy of a club coach. Coaches intervene in a failing organization. The purpose of this intervention is to empower the club so they may take responsibility for themselves, develop a strategic plan and implement this plan.
One powerful tool is the Facilitation And Support Team (FAST) and the modules that they present. I developed the FAST program to support club specialists (the precursors to club coaches). The concept was a simple one. A group of experienced Toastmasters would travel to a Toastmaster club that was having difficulties and perform one from a variety of preplanned sessions with that club. The purpose of the group was to encourage club improvement, add zest and vitality to the meeting and prepare club leaders for working on their distinguished club programs.
Prior to the engagement, the team would meet either in person or by phone with the club leaders to determine the atmosphere and issues relevant to that club. After that meeting, the team would choose appropriate team members to prepare and give this preprogrammed meeting at the club afterwards and propose the session to the club officers. The possible “sessions” or modules included: Leadership, Marketing and New Member Member Retention , Club Operations, Motivation and Recognition, Evaluation , and Dealing with Personalities. Other modules were to be added as the need arose. Each module attempted to address a particular issue that was an issue with the particular club being targeted.
One such module I am particularly fond of, is the evaluation module. Poor evaluations lead to losing membership. You have two coaches. Here’s the way it goes. There are actually at least three different ways to do it. Find a speech you want evaluated. It could be one brave soul from the club to give a speech (in advance, of course!), Have a video-taped speech of a GREAT speaker (We used Martin Luther King’s speech, “I have a Dream”. Be imaginative.). One of the coaches speaks. To get even more impact, you might pick a subject related to, or from the Better Club Series, Better Speaker Series, or a topic important to the club being coached.
Part 1 – Intro: Coach 1 introduces the topic (Giving evaluations). You can use one of the TI canned speeches, such as Evaluate to Motivate . Use a brain- storming approach. Coach 2 is the scribe. Part 2- Speech: (Any of the three methods listed above.) Time is given. Part 3 – Evaluation by Club Member: Time is given. Part 4: – Evaluate the Evaluator: Coach not doing part 1 or 2. You ARE being watched! DO it well! You are the model. Time is given. Part 5 – Evaluation by Coach: not doing part 4. Time is given. Part 6 – Evaluate the Evaluator by a Club member: Time is given. Part 7: Wrap-up – conclusions: One of the Coaches, or team.
As an added benefit, this particular exercise also prepares the club for the evaluation contest. The approach of having two coaches allows for interplay between the two of them, as in this example, and demonstrates the value of teamwork, critical for a successful club. Although the FAST program probably doesn’t exist in your district, you can use the same approach. You can improve your club by presenting a module that tar- gets a specific needed skill set.
8. You seek additional training
The Club Coach Playbook offers a comprehensive training program that will help you complete your assignment. The Playbook tells you what to do and what to say in order to become a successful coach. It includes effective facilitation, organization and analysis skills, negotiation, the development and implementation of an action plan and how to convince your club that they are responsible for long-term growth.
Conclusion
The club coach has an extraordinary opportunity to help others achieve their dreams. You’ll challenge your leadership and communication skills with several tasks that simply don’t exist in your home club. So by reaching beyond your comfort zone, you’ll learn, grow and achieve. Isn’t that why you joined Toastmasters in the first place?
About the Author
Bill Jacky, DTM, has a long history of working with struggling clubs and developing the teams, programs and manuals to help those clubs take control of their future. The common theme for all Bill’s work is that Toastmasters facilitate, not direct, the recovery of struggling clubs.
Bill joined Toastmasters in District 50 (Dallas, Texas), and then immigrated to District 23 (New Mexico and El Paso County, Texas). While there, he worked with a dedicated group of Toastmasters to develop the Facilitation and Support Team (FAST). The Team traveled to Toastmasters clubs and presented modules that addressed specific club shortcomings. The team also developed a coaching program that predated the official Toastmasters International club coach program. The advent of the official club coach program in 2003 caused the FAST instructors to write the Club Coach Playbook. This Playbook blends the facilitated approach of the FAST program with the requirements of the club coach program. It remains to this day, the best reference for effective club coaching.
Acknowledging his pioneering work, District 33 asked Bill to serve as their first Club Coach Chair for the 2003-2004 Toastmaster year. To implement the coaching program, Bill recruited a club coach team and tasked them with the development of a six-hour workshop to train coaches. This workshop provided instruction in several fundamental areas such as facilitation, mentoring, team dynamics, diagnostics, and consensus-building skills. Interestingly, many of these skills are essential in today’s business world. Because this training was so valuable, it was required for all Club Coaches before they began their assignment.
The club coach team of 2003-2004 was very busy and very successful. They trained 32 club coaches in District 33 and several club coaches from the surrounding districts in RegionII. Their efforts contributed, at least in part, to the success of District 33. This district was a Distinguished District for the first time in five years!