High Performance Leadership – Challenging yourself to make a difference

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From Steve Brewer, Area 61 Director 2015/16

My time as assistant Area Governor and Area 61 Director has encouraged me to think wider and deeper about the Toastmasters education program: what it means for me and others as even I move closer to the DTM award.

My biggest fear was that my Toastmasters journey would become a succession of tick boxes – different speeches that I gained with minimal inconvenience as the memories of the fear and excitement felt in my icebreaker speech melted away.

I asked myself whether I was staying at Toastmasters only to be a better Toastmaster or did I have an opportunity to do something different? Could I use my communication skills to make a change and makes things better? Fortunately there was a hidden gem in the long grass of the requirements for the Advanced Leader Silver award.

This gem was the High Performance Leadership Project (HPL). This can be done and banked at whatever stage of the TM program you are at. The HPL has reignited my aims of improving with every speech and continually learning from the journey.

What is High Performance Leadership (HPL)?

It is an “action-learning” program that will help you to develop your leadership skills. It uses a 3 part learning process – study, action, and feedback.

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High Performance Leadership – HPL Community Case Study

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Overview of  Steve Brewer’s HPL Community Case Study

Grassroots football is typically a term used to describe amateur football. Junior clubs that support children of all abilities tend to be described as grassroots football clubs, rather than professional football clubs. In order to compete in affiliated leagues clubs need to be affiliated to the Football Association or FA through their local county FA.

Many clubs are run primarily by overstretched coaches who are doing all the admin roles as well. Communication is typically poor leaving a less than optimal experience for many of the stakeholders. These stakeholders include the coaches, parents and not least the young players, the very people we are hoping to inspire.

A key reason for doing my HPL project was to make a difference and improve on the status quo. My project was to take a club that was effectively failing and transform it into a one that regained it FA Standard Charter Status.

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The Revitalized Education Programme (REP)

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From Sandra Lawes DT, D91 REP Chief Ambassador

The biggest & most exciting change in the history of Toastmasters

What is the Revitalized Education Programme (REP)?

 

In 2010, the Board of Toastmasters International took a massive decision – to revitalize the education programme. A dictionary definition of revitalization is ‘to restore vitality or animation’ – literally to give new life to something.

Why revitalize the education programThe current programme is good, but it is complicated and hard for new members and those outside Toastmasters to understand. If you need convincing, take a look at this diagram showing our current education awards!! And far too many members leave Toastmasters without gaining awards – so there’s certainly room for improvement!

Since the Toastmasters Board took that radical decision in 2010, a great deal of work has been done to identify the best elements within our current programme and bring them right up to date.

Club meetings will continue to be the core of the REP, and based on the organisation’s four guiding principles – experiential learning, self-paced learning, peer evaluation and mentoring – it will offer a mix of compulsory and elective projects, all using modern technology to give members the best possible learning experience.

When is the REP being introduced?

Development, testing and piloting will continue through 2016. Full details about the REP are not available yet, but we have already received very positive feedback from the 79 Districts that are piloting some of the content.

Once World HQ is confident that everything is ready, the REP will be rolled out with 10 Districts coming on line each month. We don’t know exactly when our District will ‘go-live’ with the REP, but if we are one of the first, by the start of 2017 we could be using the REP here in District 91.

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Have you considered starting a new club?

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From Jill Segal, D91 Club Extension Chair

Embrace the joy and challenge of starting a new club

Are you looking for ways to have fun and meet new people? Are you considering improving your marketing and promotional skills? Would you like to actively fulfill your Toastmaster promise by encouraging new members to join? And how about helping them transform their speaking and leadership skills? You can do this at the same time as making progress on your own TM journey. The perfect way to achieve this is by starting a new club!

How can you get started?

Step 1 Get clear on your vision for your new club

Consider what kind of new club you would like. Are you drawn towards starting a community club? Perhaps you’d like a club at work or in your professional or trade association. Maybe you’d like to create a club with a special focus such as debate, evaluation, other languages, or storytelling. (There are examples of clubs like these in our district and around the world). Get clear on your vision for the club. Who will the members be? How will the club serve them?

Starting New Clubs Visual
Step 2 Gather support

Projects work best when there is an enthusiastic team to get them started.

Find a small group of friends or colleagues who share you vision and are ready to play a part in getting the club started.

For a company club it’s a good idea to talk to the key stake-holders in HR or in your management team as soon as possible. Genuine support from within your organisation will help your club get going quickly.

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Successful Speech Contest

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From Andy O’Sullivan, D91 Chief Judge

How You Can Have a Successful Speech Contest

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to organise a speech contest, you’ll appreciate there’s a lot to arrange with many roles to fill.

These few simple steps will avoid any problems and ensure it’s a success.

Contestant Eligibility

Do Toastmasters International records show that every contestant is a fully paid up member?

If a contestant’s membership isn’t registered with Toastmasters International, they can’t compete.  

Fees may have been given to the club, but unless they’ve been paid and recorded with Toastmasters, the member isn’t eligible to compete in any contest.

Every contest season, members excited to have won a contest, are disappointed to discover their membership fees haven’t been paid to Toastmasters International, so they’re disqualified.

It’s not a phone call you’ll want to make, so always check before the contests by emailing the constestants details to  speechcontests@toastmasters.org . 

International Speech Contest
Contestants: 

Must have completed at least speech 6 to be eligible to enter the contest.

Judges:  

At Area and above, members need to have completed speech 6 to be eligible to judge the contest. 

Evaluation Contest

All members are encouraged to compete in the Evaluation contest as there are no eligibility criteria.

Resources

Your one stop for all the resources for a contest (forms, step-by-step guides, even training videos) can be found here.

Contests are a wonderful way to stretch your skills while supporting our Toastmasters colleagues. 

Have fun!