Susan Rayner, Author at Toastmasters UK South - District 91 Members

Making your Area Directorship a High Performance Leadership experience

7th October 20207th February 2016 by Susan Rayner

From Alan McMahon, Area 61 Governor 2014-15

The ‘Best’ Plan

I know that you won’t believe this, or maybe you will, but when I was in my teens and early twenties I was young enough and arrogant enough to really think that I knew everything, I knew the best way of doing things, it had to be Plan A or in other words it had to be Plan Alan . It was all about meeeeeeeee!

A few hard knocks from life, and entering the world of real work, and I soon came to learn that to achieve your goals you must instead always go with Plan B, which was of course the BEST plan. And that BEST plan was very often found and made to happen when other people were involved, in other words when you had have a team working at and making the plan a reality.

Knowing that I decided that when it came to being the Area 61 Governor last Toastmaster year it was not going to be based on a single person …. The vision was that the Governorship was to be a team effort. The hope was that this approach would continue in the year ahead with the renamed role of Area Director.

How did we start?

The first step of in this was to be have two Area Governors which happened with, Steve Brewer, who had the formal title Assistant Area Governor but who was in reality a joint Governor.

The vision continued with the idea that the Area Governorship was to be a Team of people and much bigger than the two of us. We wanted huge support and input from as many of the Area members as we could get.

The previous year’s Governor Coralie Francis joined the Area Team ( Council), and along with her many of the Club Officers and Members from our five Area clubs including Gill Orstein, David Phelops, Mike Freedman, Peter Jacques, Indra Sikdar, Rob Edlin, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc ……joined the Team.

All of this focus on teamwork was very deliberate and gelled exactly with making my Area Governorship year the focus of Toastmasters High Performance Leadership Program (HPL).

High Performance Leadership – Challenging yourself to make a difference

7th February 20167th February 2016 by Susan Rayner

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.

High Performance Leadership – HPL Community Case Study

7th February 20167th February 2016 by Susan Rayner

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.

The Revitalized Education Programme (REP)

7th October 20201st February 2016 by Susan Rayner

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.

The 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.

Have you considered starting a new club?

5th February 20161st February 2016 by Susan Rayner

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?

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.