Editor’s Note
The recruitment of past members is an untapped opportunity for many low-membership clubs. Toastmasters leave because the people they deal with are indifferent to their needs. If the club corrects this flaw, then members might be willing to return. Sree Ramisetty, coach of the ICC ArtICCulators, worked with her club to make improvements. Although she didn’t make dramatic overtures to the past members, she let them know that the club was improving. Several past members heard the news, rejoined the club and made an immediate positive impact. Let’s learn from Sree – past members are simply inactive members waiting to return.
Assessment
ICC ArtICCulators is a community club formed within the India Community Center, Milpitas, CA. The club had enjoyed the glory of being President’s Distinguished for 6 years in a row since its inception. Just as with the changes in organization that develop through the evolution cycle, the club did hit the phase of its low point. At the time I was assigned to act as the club coach, the club had suffered a long demise and dwindled down to a couple of visiting members with the official six members retaining as ‘on paper’ members only.
The prior 8 months can be described as the dark ages through a period of economic hardship and lack of leadership support for the club. In an effort to raise additional funds, ICC Management demanded that Toastmasters would no longer be a ‘free for all’ and that members must become ICC Members with a hefty membership fee structure. With some of the members losing their jobs and some of the original members moving on to other phases in their lives, the club lost its core strength. As the people dispersed, so did the assets of the club without a proper storage space allocated within ICC.
Planning and Implementation
I must say that the first 6 months as Area Governor of Area F1 (District 4 Toastmasters), I focused a lot of my energy on restoring ICC to its glory days. It certainly helped to have that authority to reach out 360 degrees. I negotiated with the ICC Management and bought some more time for the club to regain its membership strength and I had a challenging deadline to meet or get out of ICC. With the couple of active members on hand, we tried hard to do some PR/Marketing to attract people to the club and thus fuel the growth. But try as I might, it felt like I was running on a treadmill with no results. I reached a point where I was at a dead end and as the area governor, I considered closing the club down to maintain TM standards. Something was missing!
Results
And then the miracle happened! The remaining active member from the original set and top leadership reached out to the club founders and conveyed that there was a real threat to the club getting closed down. That was enough to rekindle the passion and dedication that these folks had for the club and they came back with full force to support and revive it. Even then, four months seemed too short and some were in doubt and disbelief about getting to Distinguished Status until I showed them how we could get there with some focused efforts. I became one amongst them, took snacks to meetings and they became my extended family. I was very proud when the club was represented by veterans at the Area Contest, making the other contestants a bit nervous about some serious competition! We were fortunate to have some very enthusiastic new members and with the foundation strong set by the original leadership team and some good sense of humor, the club was right on target for the Distinguished Award. I am delighted to pass on the $100 I received from the Successful Club Coach Award back to ICC! Their target they have set for this year, of course, is President’s Distinguished! My hearty best Wishes to ICC ArtICCulators! I delivered the promised cake after we reached Distinguished and I will be there to celebrate again when they reach President’s Distinguished!
Lessons Learned
In summary, here are five key pointers (for all club coaches):
- Associate, identify and lead from within. Set the goals and milestones, assign the responsibility and allow them to take ownership of their club success with your support. Success becomes a win-win once you endear yourself to the club.
- Learn and share best practices from other successful clubs/coaches and analyze what can and cannot work for your club. You don’t have to be the Know-All or the Authority figure but smart enough to figure out how to get help to fill the gaps.
- Leverage the leadership and seasoned Toastmasters around you -gather support for your cause from the Area Governor, Division Governor, District Governor and Top 5 District Leaders. Remember to dig the well before you are thirsty. It is important to build the relationship before you ask a favor.
- Celebrate interim goals and motivate through fun prizes.
- Continue to excel in your leadership and club support even after goals are reached.
A Letter of Praise
Dear Ms. Ramisetty, As one of the original founders of ICC ArtICCulators Toastmaster’s club and its current president, I would like to compliment your tremendous efforts to help revive our club early this year. As the Area F1 Governor then, you leveraged resources skillfully and convinced ICC (Indian Community Center) to let the club live in use of their premises until the club gained strength. After some original founders and other new enthusiastic members got the club revived, you were generous with your time, money and efforts to be the club coach for ICC ArtICCulators. You showed the club a way to get to distinguished status when none of the members were even thinking about that status. I was really impressed when you personally celebrated with the club its revival with a cake. I sincerely thank your donation to the club the prize money of $100 you received from the Successful Club Coach Award. On behalf all the members of ICC ArtICCulators, I salute your leadership, persistence and generosity as the Area F1 Governor and Club Coach.
Thank You,
Sunil Tomar
President,
ICC ArtICCulators