Editor’s Note
Edith Baraniecki is the successful club coach of the TM4PM Toastmasters club. Her strategy was simple – lead by example. Her approach to club coaching was effective – serve as the club’s Vice President of Education. In this story, she describes how she led by example by serving as the club’s VPE. Most notable are her efforts to be creative, offer guidance, provide instruction and demonstrate leadership. To be sure, it is difficult to enjoy success without a dedicated VPE. Moreover, the VPE can overcome many of the challenges caused by low membership. When members aren’t achieving their personal goals, the VPE can ask them to speak. The VPE can also adjust the meeting format to accommodate a handful of participants. As the club grows, the VPE ensures that new members are quickly integrated into the club. Six months after the completion of Edith’s coaching assignment, the TM4PM Toastmasters club continues to grow making it one of the best examples of club coaching in the 2009-2010 Toastmaster year.
Assessment
TM4PM Toastmasters Club is a relatively new club (May 2007), which was started as a Toastmasters club for project managers, thus its name. The club is located in Edmonton Alberta Canada as part of District 42. The club meets Tuesday evenings at 6:10 – 7:30 PM, downtown to allow active project managers the opportunity to achieve their goals of enhancing their communications skills while keeping up their certification in the Project Management Profession.
When the club started, it had strong mentors and supportive sponsors. Its corporate sponsor, CGI, still offers free accommodation to the club. The name CGI is the French acronym for Conseillers en gestion et informatique, which means information systems and management consultants. In English, the acronym stands for Consultants to Government and Industry. The other sponsor, PMI NAC (Project Management Institute Northern Alberta Chapter), promotes the club on its website. By attending and participating in TM4PM Toastmasters meetings, members with project management designations earn professional development units (PDUs) to maintain their credentials. With the decline in the economy, many of the original members moved on to take project management positions outside of the downtown area, the city or province. CGI, itself, being a consultant to Government and Industry also decreased its staff; thus, the club was left in 2009 with only 4-5 active members
and about 4-5 inactive members.
The club was at the point of collapse as there were not enough active members to fill meeting roles or even executive positions and the members that remained felt the burden of carrying dual roles within the club. What the club needed was members/guests to take on the larger roles like Toastmaster, Table Topics Master and General Evaluator. It also needed fun and laughter. I am not sure if being a project management club, the thought was, this is serious business but that was what the club was -very serious and troubled.
My first exposure to the club was during my first visit as Area Governor. The few active club members cried “Help – we need a coach”. Since more and more clubs were experiencing the same concerns, there were very few coaches available so I took up the challenge. I needed the club as much as they needed me. I was working on achieving my Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM) designation so I needed to coach a club as well.
Planning and Implementation
Following the motto of think big, start small, build momentum quickly, I became the Area Governor to the rescue. Also with being an area governor for the second year in a row, it had given me enough exposure to other clubs and other programs to know what works well and what does not. I found with my own club, the biggest and by far the best,, executive position was VP Education so I offered to take over that role, which was being filled in an acting capacity. That is a good role in which to be creative, guide, teach and lead, much of which coaching is all about. Being a VP of Education goes hand in hand with being “creative”, thus I was able to introduce new themes, ways of conducting meetings such as on occasion a backwards meeting, new ways of doing table topics – more visual than just asking questions, giving out ribbons for best table topics etc. Guidance was offered in provide examples for agendas, forms and speech contest programs, which I gained from other clubs or through exploring the websites/newsletters of other clubs. Being a speech contest judge was an added bonus in guiding members with doing speeches and even entering speech contests. Teaching played a big part through describing the greater Toastmasters program, where the club fit in, how the distinguished club program works and through giving educational modules.
My leadership style is by setting an example, pitching in; thus, I not only joined the club but became a very active member. Being seasoned (old), I had the knowledge and confidence to rebuild the club and was comfortable in filling any or several roles in a meeting, demonstrating the role or mentoring someone else when fulfilling the role. So with a few keen members, we started with a big goal of resurrecting the club and increasing its small membership.
The strength of the club is its cultural diversity. Many of the members have English as a second language so we built upon that, sharing each other’s backgrounds in what better way than through speeches. Members now had that opportunity; they could give speeches rather than just trying to fill meeting roles.
Results
Slowly members started to give speeches and receive encouraging evaluations despite some English downfalls. Members brought friends and co-workers as guests and as well the PMI NC continued to provide a venue for guest and member contacts and supports the club by giving PDU credits for attending and participating in meetings.
The club is fortunate enough to have a large financial reserve thanks to free accommodation so award ribbons and a banner were bought, and guest nights and achievement events were held with food. Soon membership grew; members gave speeches, achieved designations, experienced speech contests, enjoyed conferences and explored other clubs and further Toastmaster and leadership educational events. They also laughed and had fun.
Today, our problem is that there are times when it is difficult to get a time slot to give a speech or to fit around the table as we have nearly 30 active members. The club achieved President’s Distinguished Award in its third year of existence and just one year after wanting to disband.
Lessons Learned
What has the club learned? From a coach, it matters a lot more in what you do than what you say. By diligently pitching in, offering help where needed, never complaining, and encouraging others to implement creative ideas, the club has been blessed.— The Past President
What did I learn? With any successful sports team, the coach does not make the team; it takes the coach and members working together to make a team, which is the same with a Toastmasters club or in accomplishing any project. It also takes a good foundation to build a house or a castle, so it does in building a toastmasters club. The role of VP Education, Area Governor, and/or speech contest judge gives a good background or foundation to coach and help build a club. Last but not least, laughter, having fun, and celebrating our accomplishments are important components to any Toastmasters club.
A Letter of Praise
Edith is a great coach and member, and leads by example. Unless she is sick or out of town, she always comes to the meetings to guide us, mentor us, and fill in meeting roles. We can rely on her all the time. When we had our first speech contest last year, she happened to be out of town. She provided us with all the sample forms, explained the process, and gave us advice in advance. With all her help, we had a successful contest. She often provides help and guidance to members and executives without being asked. We joke that she is psychic, since she always knows our needs. Her educational sessions always focus on our needs and are very helpful. When new members had trouble choosing speech topics, she gave us a How to Chose a Topic session; when we didn’t know how the educational awards work she provided us with an education on the educational program. We are always amazed by her diligence and cheerfulness, and her new themes and ideas to make meetings very interesting. She helps create an encouraging, truthful and fun environment. Not only do we learn, but we also have fun and have a sense of accomplishment at the same time. Under Edith’s coaching, our club achieved President’s Distinguished Award last year. With her continued help, our club has been doing very well this year. Thanks Edith! Sharon