Leadership Excellence at Capitol Toastmasters

By Timothy B. Owens and Leigh Waite

Toastmasters is an international communication and leadership organization that assists individuals in developing and expanding on leadership and communication skills. Each member has the opportunity to work both programs or focus on one track. There are many levels of achievement for the member to reach. Additionally, there is club incentive for encouraging members to achieve personal goals.

The following is an interview with a member who is working his way through the Advanced Leader Bronze designation by conducting two programs from the “Leadership Excellence series” from Toastmasters International.

Leigh: As part of the Toastmasters International Leadership Track, you recently presented some information to the Capitol Club (#365) outlining leadership goals in the Advanced Leadership Manual. Would you overview the presentation?

Tim: Probably the most important things to get out of the presentation are these points: Values come from interacting with all of the people you have had contact with throughout your life – from your parents, to friends and coworkers. These values determine who you are, where you work, the friends you keep and the decisions you make. Once established, these values are slow to change.

A leader wants to have values that are consistent with their organization – that’s obvious. But the leader also wants members of the team to have values that are consistent with their values. Here’s why: We make decisions based on our values. Those decisions become actions. If everyone’s values are inconsistent, then so are their actions. In other words, the actions of one team member will undo the actions of another for example. So not a lot is going to get done and the conflict will cause stress in team members. It would be an unpleasant and unproductive environment if values are not consistent throughout. If values are consistent though, we have synergy where the total contribution is greater than the sum of the individual contributions since with similar values, team members are more likely to interact and come up with new ideas.

Also important is that if a leader who says they believe one thing but act in a way that is contrary to what they say, they may lose credibility. Most people will look to what the leader actually does rather than what they say in judging what the leader will do according the Toastmasters material on leadership.

On the other hand, let’s not foolishly follow a plan when the circumstances have changed. If changes must be made in spite of what was said earlier, the leader should say that due to recent circumstances our plans will need to be adjusted.

These are Toastmasters values: Integrity, Service to the Member, Dedication to Excellence and Respect for the Individual.

This is what Toastmasters provides:

• A learning laboratory – most effective where you learn by doing and which is reinforced by effective feedback.
• A chance to experience leadership as well as communications skills by “doing them” without risk
• A Member focused program
• The most cost-effective method of reinventing yourself for the position you want according to a speaker from a Toastmasters Officer training conference.

This is the effect Toastmasters has on you:

• More confident speaker - you get this from going through the many speech manuals and table topics
  
• Personal growth through interaction with members in various activities
  
• Leadership Skills through “doing”

This is the impact on your life

• You'll be better able to take advantage of life’s opportunities
  
• Happiness and success can be achieved from Self-Confidence and accomplishing more

Leigh: What have you learned from conducting this program in the Advanced Leadership manual?

Tim: Before this program, I placed more emphasis on the actions that I saw of others rather than what they said in anticipating what they would do. So what the program says about actions versus words seems reasonable. This program though forced me to think about my own actions and to what extent they were consistent with the things that I’ve said. An exception of course - and it wasn’t in the program - has to do with plans. It’s foolish to stay with plans, just to be consistent when things have changed. For example, they added amendments to the original constitution of the United States to address new experiences. They make changes in the scope of our projects here at ADOT based on new environmental information. These changes though are well thought out and go through a formal change process to ensure that the reason for making them is sound. This is the same for ones announcement of plans as well I believe. If you deviate drastically from what you say you will do, you should have a reason for it and communicate that reason.

Leigh: How have you decided to handle those things that you realize have been or are perceived as being inconsistent?

Tim: As a leader, if I say I am going to do something but do not do it, it’s either because it has not occurred to me that I am doing something that is inconsistent with what I’ve said or there is good reason for acting differently. If it is a case where actions have not occurred to me then I will change my actions to reflect my words or promise. In this case, I appreciate someone letting me know so that I can do the right thing. If it is a case where circumstances have changed which require my actions to also change, then it is important for me to communicate the reason for changing my actions. In either case, feedback is always appreciated so that the right thing can be done.

Leigh: What does the leadership track do for the individual?

Tim: The leadership track at Toastmasters provides a laboratory where one can try things in leadership and can get supportive feedback in a risk-free environment. Experience I believe is the best way to try things out with respect to leadership. It’s one thing to read about leadership but another to actually do it and see the ramifications of what you do. If you were to experiment with leadership in the workplace and something did not work out as expected, there may be repercussions. At Toastmasters, there is just constructive supportive feedback. They will tell you what worked well and what didn’t. They’ll give you specific examples of what they liked and suggestions of what you may want to try if things did not work as well as anticipated. Those who have worked their way through the program before – mentors - are also helpful in steering you in the right direction. As the introductions manuals in the “Leadership Excellence Series” begin with, “Leadership abilities are not inherited…they are learned and honed through experience.” So what does all this do for the individual? The skills learned through Toastmasters leadership track will allow members to better take advantage of life’s opportunities and more prepared to accomplish our goals leading to personal success and happiness.

Leigh: How does the leadership track work for the club?

Tim: According to the “Leadership Excellence Series”, “the difference between a successful club and an unsuccessful club is the quality of its leadership.” So if the leaders are astute and work through the leadership track to become better leaders, the club will be more successful. The success of the club depends on the abilities of the leaders. Those abilities are learned and honed through the Toastmasters Leadership Track.

Leigh: What is next on your leadership horizon?

Tim: Next on the leadership horizon for me is to conduct my final program from the “Leadership Excellence Series” to complete my advanced leader bronze (ALB) designation. Although there are many programs to choose from such as this one on values and leadership, the next one will be on the Visionary Leader. Vision is the ability to see possibilities for a Toastmasters club for example at some point in the future. It gives a club a destination to shoot for whether the vision be to have all its members (that desire it) become DTMs (Distinguished Toastmasters, the ultimate in Toastmasters achievement) or to have an atmosphere where you can go to practice communications and/or leadership. My next speech on Leadership, at the end of April, will hopefully encourage all of the members of Capitol Toastmasters to draft a Vision Statement so that we can become one of the best clubs in the state.

Leigh: Thank you, Tim. I look forward to the next step in meeting your leadership goals.

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