Editor’s Note
On the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River of the North Central United States, two coaches would form a partnership with each other and between two clubs. This is the story of how Jean Lakner and Janice Minder shared their strengths and harnessed the talents of the Capital City Toastmasters to rebuild the River City Toastmasters. The coaches used the effective strategies found in the High Performance Leadership program to transform the River City Toastmasters into a place where members could achieve their goals. The High Performance Leadership program offers training, insight and feedback that can greatly enhance the coaching experience. It provides a coherent blueprint that any coach can adapt to their unique situation. It delineates different forms of leadership and defines the rules of servant leadership. It calls for a guidance committee who can coach the coaches. If you would like to learn how the HPL program can help your coaching experience read this story.
Initiating the High Performance Leadership Project
The River City Toastmasters was chartered in October of 1982. They meet every Tuesday, at 12:10PM in the Board Room of the Lutheran Memorial Church in Pierre, South Dakota. This community club is open to the public. The club had struggled for at least the past six years. The club averaged 11 members and less than one communication or leadership award per year. River City while chartering in 1982 had lost most of their charter members over the years and had a majority of new members. In 2010, we were working toward our Distinguished Toastmaster Award. To fulfill the Advanced Leader Silver requirement, we could serve as a club coach and complete the High Performance Leadership program. We decided to approach the nearby River City Toastmasters and offer to coach them as our High Performance Leadership project. We had discussions with the Area Governor and the long-term charter member of the club to identify if there was a desire to have club coaches. The answer was yes. After that discussion, we started attending as guests to make a preliminary assessment of the club. Ms. Minder reviewed and used the Club Coach Troubleshooting Guide found in How to Rebuild a Toastmasters Club, to make an informal assessment. This guide also assisted in the later development of our goals because it offered corrective actions for each perceived problem.
A High Performance Leadership committee member, and member of the Capital City Toastmasters, conducted the Moments of Truth module from the Successful Club Series. This provided a more of a formal assessment by the club. Moreover, this was an early indication that the club’s members were eager to ‘buy in’ or participate in the rebuilding process. Briefly, the main results of the assessment were: the members appeared complacent, they didn’t fully prepare or participate in the Toastmasters program, and they had a history of low membership.
Creation of a High Performance Plan
The High Performance Leadership program played an important role in the planning, implementation and ultimate success of our coaching appointment. This five-project program offers instruction and practice in vital leadership skills and activities such as the development of a mission and vision, goal-setting and planning, the creation of values and team building. A guidance committee was created to provide feedback, especially to discuss plans and to meet and measure the outcomes of the plan.
We compiled the results of Ms. Minder’s preliminary assessment and the items identified in the Moments of Truth presentation. Based on this information, we had a series of productive meetings which assisted in becoming distinguished. First, we spoke with the Area Governor. We proposed a partnership with the Capital City Toastmasters, a nearby, healthy club. A flexible plan was created so that as goals were met continued goals were addressed and added as applicable. Second, we presented our plan to the High Performance Leadership guidance committee. We refined our plan based on our discussions with the guidance committee Thereafter, the guidance committee was updated typically via electronic medium or by a speech provided at the regularly scheduled Toastmasters meeting. Third, we presented our plan: it’s vision, mission and values, so that the Capital City Toastmasters would agree to partner with River City. Our vision was to support the growth and development of the River City Toastmasters. To accomplish this, our main objective was to work as a team in leading/ facilitating effective meetings that had manual speech presentations.
Once the goals were discussed and approved by the Area Governor, guidance committee and Capital City Toastmasters, Ms. Minder explained the proposal to the River City Toastmasters. Her speech addressed two important objectives: to align the club so that they would commit toward the pursuit of Toastmaster International goals and that they would share the approach outlined by the High Performance Leadership program used by the prospective coaches. Here are the specific goals of our proposal: create a team, establish a partnership, encourage buy in, increase value, recruit members, improve club culture and give praise.
Winning the Prize
The River City Toastmasters won the Select Distinguished Club Award and we became successful club coaches (and DTMs). The implementation of our plan, using the tools from the High Performance Leadership program, was crucial for everyone’s success.
Here is what we did:
- Created a team. This included the Area Governor, core members from Capitol City Club and the River City Toastmasters.
- Formed a partnership. We invited speakers from the Capital City Toastmasters to attend and present modules from the Better Speaker Series. These experienced Toastmasters were a welcome addition to our team. We identified the following speeches from the Successful Club Series as critical to facilitate Toastmaster structure: Toastmasters Educational Program, How to be a Distinguished Club, Setting the Stage for Success, Going Beyond our Club, and Moments of Truth. Five key Toastmasters from Capitol City Toastmasters Club were identified and asked to present to the River City Toastmasters Club.
- Encouraged Buy In. We worked with the club to ensure that the leadership team was onboard. This was done with a carefully crafted speech that explain the basics of club coaching and what we could do for the club. We also explained what the members needed to do to make this partnership work. Throughout the coaching experience, we took advantage of every opportunity to enroll the members in our vision.
- Increased value. We modeled the habits of effective Toastmasters. We were present at every meeting, used books when conducting speeches, brought guests, and followed structure. For the inactive members, we reached out to them with a mentoring program with the hopes of returning them to the club. In short, we made sure that everyone benefited from Toastmaster’s proven program of self-development.
- Recruited members. We taught the members how to organize and implement a membership drive. This was the biggest challenge. It was essential to have a growth of five members. The club had lost one member during the year which meant that six new members had to be recruited. It was so inspiring to watch all of the members strive to gain new members. The Club President also committed to presenting the Successful Club speech: Finding New Members for Your Club.
- Improved club culture. We worked with the club to change the culture from the current state to a program marked by enthusiastic engagement in the Toastmaster program. This included identifying the goals toward the Distinguished Club Award. Members were identified as working toward a goal in the distinguished plan (i.e., Competent Communicator, Advanced Communicator, Competent Leader, Advanced Leader, etc.) and were scheduled so they could achieve that award. The River City Toastmasters were very successful in communication via electronic mail. This made a big difference because information was readily shared. One of our members took charge of putting out meeting assignments every week so that it was consistent. When members knew we were planning on them being there to perform their role, they begin to attend and participate more. Another challenge was to increase use of Toastmasters communication and leadership manuals during presentations. The club had grown into a culture of presenting but without materials provided by Toastmasters International. The best tool for correcting this was helping the club understand how critical those manuals are to assisting new and long-term members in better speaking and leadership skills.
- Gave praise. We rewarded and gave encouragement for successes. When members committed to facing challenges (and overcoming them) we gave praise. For example, Ms. Lakner gave a speech on “commit mint” and used a variety of candy mints as a visual. Members would offer what they might commit to and Ms. Lakner threw back a mint to recognize the commitment of that member. This is one example of the fun tactics used to liven up the members and/or meetings. In addition, when one of the members volunteered to enter the speech contest, we recognized and encouraged by discussing at one of the meetings and praising the Toastmaster. Following the contest, the Toastmasters picture was placed in the local newspaper with an article. Using the press as a source of praise was and continues to be a motivator. Evaluations (either by the Master Evaluator or the Evaluator) often praised the use of a book speech, preparation of the speaker, guests attend- ance, etc. Evaluations of the club’s progress kept an open awareness of the goals. Finally, a celebration was planned as incentive for River City Club when they were awarded with a Select Distinguished Club Award as well as the coaches being successful. This celebration is scheduled for August 23 and we are all looking forward to it.
Lessons Learned
We partnered as a team to help make this coaching a success. It was essential to embark with a partner in the process. Since it is a volunteer organization it is important to understand in the beginning that making every meeting may not be possible and thereby working together can encourage each other. In addition, identifying partners with different strengths can aid in transforming a culture. Ms. Lakner had the skills of team building where Ms. Minder had the skills of organization. Together, this facilitated building up the club members.
Being a successfully coached club is a commitment for both the coaches and the club. It is critical to obtain ‘buy in’ by all parties to work toward success. The coaches obtained ‘buy in’ by asking for the member’s help. Ms. Lakner’s initial speech was critical because it asked for the members to commit to the rebuilding process. Once we had agreement, we were ready to proceed as a team. Member ‘buy in’ was demonstrated several times. The Club President helped facilitate the membership drive by presenting Finding New Members for Your Club. Each member bought into the improvement effort by simply bringing their manuals. Here’s the key advice: to obtain ‘buy in’ you have to ask for it.
By: Jean Lakner and Janice Minder, Successful Club Coaches of the River City Toastmasters Club #4018 District 72
A Letter of Praise
Janice and Jean took on the task of coaching our club and did an excellent job. Our members were complacent, to the point of just showing up at the Toastmasters meeting with little or no preparation for any assignments. I had been encouraging them to do the manual speeches and be more prepared with their assignments, but after several years of hearing me say the same old thing and probably with very little enthusiasm, it just was not working. It had been about three years since we had a new member. Janice and Jean joined our club and brought a new enthusiasm to the club. They presented a new voice with new reasons to put more time and effort into every individual’s preparation. They were very good at making it easy for people to do manual speeches. One member had belonged to our club for over four years and never gave a manual speech until Janice showed him how easy it was. They brought new members to the club who also got everyone excited about attending the meeting and doing a really good job. They also brought guest speakers from the Capitol City club who demonstrated new ideas and new ways of making presentations. River City Toastmasters is a vibrant club that has a great future. We now have 16 members with a goal of getting to 20 members in the next year. By: Don Zeller