Editor’s Note
Astronaut movies have immortalized the pre-flight checklist of a Mission Control Officer. The room is usually full of computers and anxious support personnel running about the floor. The Mission Control Officer addresses the flight controllers with a dialogue like this: “All right people, give me a go or no go. Attitude control? “Go!” Propulsion? “Go!” Life support? “Go!”” It could just as easily be a club coach saying all right people give me a go or no go. Meeting quality – go! Public relations – go! Leadership training – go! Lists make life easier. Hans and Jesper created and tested a seven-step action list while rebuilding the Gothenburg Toastmasters Club. The list was beneficial because it divided the potentially difficult task of club coaching into small, achievable pieces. If a list can put astronauts on the moon, it can help you rebuild a Toastmasters club.
Assessment
The Gothenburg Toastmasters club was chartered in December of 1997. We are a community club located on the Southwest coast of Sweden. Our club has many Swedish members and a few members of other nationalities. We speak English at our meetings. However, participants don’t have to be native speakers.
In the beginning, Hans and I allocated the resources of the club. We asked, “What does the club already have?” This step is critical to enhance the power within the club. When a club is bleeding, it is so common to focus on what’s missing and that doesn’t exactly create a positive environment. The Gothenburg Toastmasters was a very strong club for many years. They had a history of President’s Distinguished status and averaged 30 members. Two years ago some key members moved abroad. The club dropped to 18, then 11 members. Since a few of the leaders remained in the club, our job was quite easy. In other words, the club already had some great skills; our coaching efforts built upon that platform of great skills.
Planning and Implementation
After our assessment, we defined our goals. We spent an hour or two with the board to define the goals for the upcoming year. Then we clarified this goal into one sentence: We shall have 25 long-term, passionate, paying, members before June 30th 2010. Hans and I wanted a positive club atmosphere because it’s important that people feel comfortable enough to share their thoughts. To accomplish our goal, we created a checklist to measure progress. This list unified the club in a common vision of success and provided some motivation as the club progressed toward its goal.
Results
At the end of the year, we celebrated our results. We had added 13 new members, earned nine Successful Club points and ended the year as a President’s Distinguished club. Although we were five members short of our original goal, the members were passionate and looked forward to an exciting future.
Lessons Learned
Hans and I created an action list to be a successful club coach. This list will help you achieve success in any endeavor.
- Allocate the resources! What does the club or organization still / already have?
- Create a clear, measurable, powerful and exciting goal setting for the club! Schedule some time and conclude your session with a one sentence goal statement.
- Brainstorm actions that make the goal become reality! Think of every possible idea, from every possible angle – include everything.
- Take Massive Action! In almost every goal setting I’ve done, I’ve found that some actions don’t work. That is why it’s important to stay in action. If you’re aware that not everything will work, you don’t get disappointed when some actions fail or do not fully reach the expected result.
- Measure the results! Plan in advance how often you measure the checkpoints. With a few checkpoints during the year, we have evaluated the results. If your plan fails, move to the next step.
- Change your approach until you are getting the results you want! Here’s where many people and organizations failed. They stick to the original plan even if the results are poor. Sometimes we stick because we are uncertain. You know what you have but you don’t know what you’re getting if you change. Sometimes it happens because of prestige or weaknesses in the leadership. For either reason , in my opinion, it’s stupid to stick to a plan that is proven to be wrong. That’s why it’s so important to be passionate about the changing process. Be curious about what happens if you change things. How many times can you change the plan? – Until you’re getting the results you want!
- Celebrate the results! We’ll leave you with a Swedish saying: klaga inte över för litet vind – lär dig istället att segla! In English, don’t complain over too little wind – learn instead how to sail!
A Letter of Praise
I would like to take the opportunity to thank our club coaches Jesper Caron and Hans Wern. I’m the immediate past president (2009-2010) of Gothenburg Toastmasters Club. Jesper and Hans began by attending our first Board meeting for the fall to help us start the process of how to get our club back on track. Several members had moved out of town and left the club during the last year. However ,we still had a handful of committed and devoted board members in the club. Both Jesper and Hans work as professional coaches and their skills in motivating, cheering and analyzing were very valuable. They helped us stretch the strengths we already had and they encouraged us to set written goals. I mentioned progress toward our goals at board meetings and I also shared them with all of our members during the year. To conclude, our ambition for the year was to improve the quality of our meetings and to have some special guest events. Both of these were measures to attract new members. We should participate in an exhibition, have a guest night event, and most importantly, commit to have 25 long-term, passionate and paying members before June 30th, 2010. The goals were nearly achieved and we reached 21 members. The improved quality of our meets was appreciated by our members and guests. One of our coaches’ great suggestions was to include everyone, including guests, in the introduction segment of our meetings. This made everyone feel like they were part of the group. We are really grateful for all of the support and assistance from our club coaches and how they helped us become a proud President’s Distinguished Club. We were four members short from our original goal. Yet all members are passionate and committed. It has really been a great pleasure working with Jesper and Hans and I’m grateful to them and to Toastmasters for making it possible.
Kind regards,
Lena Fredriksson
Immediate-Past President
Gothenburg Toastmasters Club No. 7748