Bill SituClub President Teresa Lau (middle) was recently the recipient of the five-member sponsor pin. Teresa Lau, our VP membership, recently received the five-member sponsor pin for the 2019-2020 year. A huge congratulations to her on her achievement! This award is part of Toastmasters International's Membership Building Program for Individuals. Toastmasters who sponsor five members during a Toastmasters year receive a blue pin. Sponsoring 10 members will earn a Toastmaster a burgundy pin. Those who sponsor 15 members receive a 25% discount off their next Toastmasters Online Store purchase. Teresa was one of the nine Toastmasters in District 21 to receive recognition in this program. Individual sponsor report for 2019-2020 Two Years of Dedication and CountingCoincidentally, this month also marks Teresa's second anniversary as a Toastmaster. She joined Richmond Friendly in August 2018 and has been a dedicated club member ever since. Teresa's first club officer appointment was in the beginning of 2019 as the treasurer. She served two terms as club treasurer until the end of the year before becoming VP membership at the start of this year. Last month, Teresa was successfully elected to serve a second term in this position. The sponsor pin isn't Teresa's only award this year. In fact, 2020 has been a year of achievement for her. Back in February, she successfully competed in the Toastmasters international speech contest. Although it was her first time competing, Teresa successfully advanced as far as the division level after a first-place finish at the club and area levels. She also successfully finished level 3 of Motivational Strategies shortly after the contest. Teresa at this year's area-level contest "A ship docking on different shores"Teresa's also got some interesting ways to describe her VP Membership role. Let's hear what she has to say :) How does it feel to have received this recognition? I was amazed to receive this recognition. I did not realize there was a membership-building program in the first instance. My goal of increasing members was to assist our club in attaining the Distinguished Club award by the end of June 2020. All my focus and efforts were put into how to turn guests to members before the deadline. Some skills that I had learnt from various club officer training meetings helped a lot. Nevertheless, the most important thing was that I got many helping hands. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the Past Division Director Jiadong Kang, Area Director Ana Geldres, club mentors Andy Vuong and Yulin Peng, President Bill Situ, VP Public Relations Ke Xu, Treasurer Shoko Ueno, and welcome teammate Allen Tang. This recognition is for all of you. What made you decide to take on the VP Membership role at the club? I was the club Treasurer for an entire year. I thought that it was time to move on taking another leader role at the club. The close relationship between the VP Membership and the Treasurer made me decide to take this role. By the way, the role would enhance my communication skills with others. What has the experience been like to bring new members on board?
The experience of bringing new members on board has been like docking a ship on different shores. When the ship (Toastmasters) is near the shores (guests), the crew (VP Membership & teammates) throw ropes (information about benefits of Toastmasters) to be tied to the moors (guests' needs). Once the ship is fixed to the shores, passengers (new members) can easily get on board. For yourself personally, what has been the biggest benefit that you’ve gained from being a Toastmaster? The biggest benefit that I have gained from being a Toastmaster is overcoming my stage fright. Since passing my board examination to become a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, I have been invited to present nutritional talks to different groups of people. At the beginning, I was nervous and trembled when standing and speaking in front of audiences. I did not know how to use eye contact nor engage and interact with them. After joining Toastmasters, the fright was gradually removed due to a weekly chance to learn and practice at Toastmasters meetings.
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Bill SituClub President Last meeting, we had to say a fond farewell to our club treasurer, Shoko. She recently relocated to New Brunswick to begin a new job. Shoko joined Richmond Friendly Toastmasters back in January of this year. Only a few weeks into her membership with the club, she took over the vital treasurer position. The treasurer at the time had to leave the club due to health-related concerns. Shoko has been an incredible asset to Richmond Friendly since the very beginning. On top of managing the club's finances, she has also done a conscientious job in taking on the various meeting roles every week. Back in May, Shoko also successfully completed level 1 of Presentation Mastery. All in all, she's been a positive example of a Toastmaster through her enthusiasm and dedication. Shoko Ueno, outgoing club treasurer Thoughts from Shoko HerselfAs she began to part ways with the club, Shoko happily took a moment to share her experience. What was it like when you took on the treasurer role for the first time, especially considering how long you had been a Toastmaster at the time? It was around a month after I became a member of this club. When one of the members called my name during the election, I was excited and glad that members saw me as trustworthy, as a treasurer manages club finances. How does it feel to now have to part ways with the club? To be honest, I am still looking for a way to attend this club even as a guest, as long as a virtual meetings continue. Attending a meeting every Tuesday has become a part of my life, so I am sure I’ll miss it. What will you remember most about Richmond Friendly? Definitely the atmosphere of this club. This is why I decided to be a member. Members are so welcoming, receptive, co-operative, and encouraging. Richmond Friendly has been my gas station to charge my energy. I really enjoy seeing members smiling and chatting over zoom. What has been the most valuable experience you’ve gotten out of Toastmasters during your time with us? Zoom meetings! I learned a lots during the process. After knowing we weren't able to have meetings in-person due to the pandemic, we made a huge effort to keep the meetings going. Everything was new for us, such as indicating time by turning back ground colours or delivering a speech, but we did it. We also had met guests and other TI members from the world over Zoom. I am thankful that I have such receptive and cooperative friends, otherwise I would not have had these wonderful experiences. Also, I appreciate the plentiful support from our club coaches and directors. Do you plan on continuing your Toastmasters journey? Yes, I sure do. I have gained a lot of confidence to speak English with someone, which was the most frightening thing to do for me. Since I started this journey, I have conquered my fear. I got a band 8 in IELTS speaking thanks to this special English environment. I feel I should continue till I get comfortable with English. Long way to go!! We sincerely thank Shoko for her dedication and effort over the past several months. We will miss her tremendously and wish her the best in her future endeavours.
Bill SituClub President "Hey Bill, I'm doing my Ice Breaker speech next week. How much should I plan for it?" This is a fairly common question that I get from new members at the club. Chances are, you may have wondered about this yourself or had someone ask you this before. Let me cut straight to my answer, and that is, it really depends. "Really Depends?"Speech outline worksheet for the Ice Breaker project, the first project for every path in the Pathways program I know this response might seem a little disappointing. You were probably looking for something more definitive. Still, think of it this way: If the answer were that clear-cut, then there wouldn't really be a point of me writing an entire post on this. I'll start off by saying that some form of preparation is entirely necessary for any prepared speech. After all, a prepared speech isn't called a "prepared speech" for nothing! In the previous post, I talked about how writing is, if not the best, at least a highly effective way to coherently organize thoughts. Every prepared speech project in Pathways comes with a speech outline, and that's for your benefit. In other words, writing things down on paper is a step that I would certainly never skip. The question thus remains as to how much planning is needed for you to effectively deliver your speech. This is where preferences may be different for every person. Find What's Right for YouSome people may find that it necessary to write out a complete and detailed script for a speech. Others may find it more helpful to only write down the key points. Either way, both methods have their unique and distinct advantages.
Writing out a speech in its entirely can be helpful in that you can prepare more fully. This way, once you hit the stage, you would know more exactly what to say at every moment and articulate it correctly. Supposedly, this is helpful if you're delivering a speech in a language that you don't speak very fluently. This may also be a good practice if you're going to speak on content that you're not particularly familiar with. However, I personally have found that a fully scripted speech can actually impede my flow of delivery. I have noticed that whenever I present on a speech that I've written out verbatim, I am more likely to lose my train of thought. This is because I find myself constantly trying to recall what I specifically need to say next. Simply put, the fewer things I have to remember, the fewer the things I will forget. As such, I personally prefer to prepare just a few key points and then focus on covering them during the speech. Yet again, you might beg to differ on this, and that's completely okay! If all of this comes down to one piece of advice, then it would be to see for yourself what works best. There's really no one-size-fits-all method when it comes to planning speeches. What are your personal preferences for preparing speeches? What has worked best for you? Comment down below! Bill SituClub President Public speaking is the skill that most people flock to Toastmasters to learn. As such, we're launching this new series on Friendlies' Corner titled #friendliesspeak! Here, we'll offer speaking advice to help you hone in on this skill. Welcome to the first instalment! Why I BlogIf you've been following this blog thus far, you'll probably know that I majored in English. Not surprisingly, I've had a love affair with writing for a long time <3 During university, writing essays was the bread and butter of my academic life. Outside of my coursework, I also wrote for the school newspaper and for various websites. Currently, I teach English, and therefore spend a fair amount of time teaching students how to write. This blog, since its creation, has given me a public outlet to share ideas about topics related to Toastmasters. However, there is another important reason as to why I blog. Namely, it is to help me better organize ideas that I might just use in future speeches. Writing, like speaking, serves the essential purpose of communicating ideas. Written and spoken communication each has its own distinct advantages. Still, there is one way in which the former is particularly useful for improving the latter. Verbal communication is spontaneous in nature, which doesn't allow for much forethought or revision. As such, incoherence is often characteristic of spoken communication. On the other hand, with writing, you have the chance to revise your ideas as much as necessary until you are satisfied. This then enables you to better communicate your ideas in spoken form when the time comes. Preparing for Impromptu SpeakingA table topics session at an open-house event last Thanksgiving It goes without saying that writing ideas down is an essential step for prepared speeches. However, writing is also especially helpful for impromptu speaking.
Impromptu speaking happens at every Toastmasters meeting in the form of a table topics session. In this section, a table topics master asks questions related to the meeting theme, to which members and guests step up to the stage and deliver a speech to answer. Table topics may be designed for impromptu speaking, but it doesn't actually have to be. There have been times in the past where I was fully prepared to speak on a specific table topics question. The most recent one was just this past meeting. The question that the table topics master asked was "What was your best/worst movie you've ever seen?" Having previously written on the topic of how unrealistic martial arts movies are, I decided to speak about this. In real-life, an important time when impromptu speaking skills come into play is during job interviews. Surely, you'll never be able to know the questions in advance. Still, there are some fairly standard questions that employers often ask. In my experience, taking the time to write out responses to such questions has proven particularly helpful for me when preparing for an upcoming interview. In fact, you would have had a chance to organize your responses on paper when you wrote your CV and cover letter to the employer! To be clear, I'm not trying to say that writing frequently by itself will make you an immaculate impromptu speaker. Still, it will help! Hopefully, I've managed to convince you to take up writing as a means to improve speaking :) If you found this post helpful, then stayed tuned for the next instalment of #richmondfriendlyspeakers! We'll be covering how to best draft a speech! Bill SituClub President At the beginning of this month, our club welcomed aboard a new executive team. Some of the officers were re-elected, but a few were brand new to their elected positions. This means that we've had to do succession planning. As I like to call it, we've had to keep our campfire going. You'll see in a bit what I mean exactly :) Campfires and LeadershipWow, summer's now in full swing! Normally, this would be an excellent time to go camping. Sadly, the current situation might not make it feasible :( However, I hope I can still get you into the camping spirit with a (virtual) campfire story :) The first recorded use of fires by humans was about 300,000 years ago. Since then, fire has been an integral part of human survival. In the wilderness, a fire serves a number of vital functions. We use it for cooking food, keeping out harmful animals, and creating warmth. It also provides us with a source of light and can help us signal to rescue personnel if, God forbid, a situation necessitates it. In an organization, leadership is as necessary as a fire is in the wilderness. There is another striking similarity between leadership and campfires. Without people actively maintaining them, they will die out over time. Once a campfire dies out, it becomes very difficult to rekindle. The same goes for leadership in a team. Speaking of campfires, the YouTube channel, Crazy Russian Hacker, has many awesome videos on this topic. Check them out! Maintaining Successful LeadershipKeeping a campfire going requires a few things. First, we need to regularly add fuel, that is, firewood, to it. We also need to fan the fire and arrange the pieces of firewood so that they stack on top of each other. Sorry, I know this sounds nerdy! I've been on too many field training exercises in both cadets and now, the Canadian Forces, haha! Maintaining successful leadership in an organization also requires initiative. This initiative is what we commonly call succession planning. Succession planning simply means preparing our successors to take on our current role(s). I have done two terms as VP Education to date. Both times, upon finishing my term, I trained the incoming VP Ed in taking on my role. Having just been a Sergeant-at-Arms this past term, I'm now working to get the current S@A up to speed. This way, he can learn his role and be able to properly perform his job in the months ahead. Succession planning does involve plenty of coaching, which I talked about at length in a previous post. Leaders Can't Last Forever, but Leadership MustThis statement may sound paradoxical, but let me get things straight for you :) The word "leader" here means the person who heads an organization. Leadership refers to the quality of being a leader.
Surely, no leader can last forever. Here in Canada, general elections must take place every four years. This applies to the federal, provincial, and municipal-level governments. At UBC, my alma mater, student government elections happen annually. In Toastmasters, a president can serve for no longer than 12 months consecutively (this means I must step down by next January). Even so, quality leadership must persist even with different leaders in place. Planning for succession does take time, energy, and effort. Nevertheless, it is the only way to ensure that successful leadership can continue. A team may have a really brilliant leader at one point in time. However, if that leader doesn't plan for succession, the team might just fall into ruins in the end. This is certainly the last thing I would want to do! What else do you do to plan for succession? Post down below! If not, you can also share tips about fires if you're an outdoors expert! Let's have a lovely fireside chat :) Bill SituClub President It's safe to say that COVID-19 has caught everyone off guard in some way. Our club, and by extension, the Toastmasters organization is no exception. A few months ago, we never foresaw that the pandemic situation would require us to hold meetings virtually. In fact, there's still no say at this point as to when we can hold in-person meetings again. I had always thought that online meetings weren't ever going to be great. However, the past few months have proven otherwise. Not Looking Forward at FirstI really was never a fan of virtual meetings before the public health emergency. Many virtual meetings that I'd in the past were simply not great. I can still remember several times on Skype or Google Hangouts where there were technical problems of all sorts. Often, they had to do with audio quality or Internet connection. I, like many other people, started experiencing wonky Internet connection at the start of the pandemic. This has been a huge bugbear for me over the past few months. Given this, I really wasn't looking forward to online club meetings at the beginning. Still, our club figured that holding club meetings virtually was at least better than putting off on them entirely. As such, we went ahead with them. Getting AccustomedDivision E International Contest on Zoom The first online meeting that our club did back in March was actually through Skype. I didn't know about Zoom's existence then, let alone how it even worked. Going into the meeting, I was seriously thinking that it was going to suck. However, the meeting proceeded one agenda item after another. By the end, it turned out much better than I had anticipated! We didn't have any major issues, which was a miracle! Before the next meeting, one of our club coaches advised us that Zoom was the platform to use for Toastmasters meetings. This meant that our first step was to figure out how Zoom worked. As the club president, I took the lead on this. I actually don't enjoy playing around with technology much, but Zoom seemed more straightforward than I had imagined. I also saw for myself why Zoom is more preferable for club meetings. From that point on, we've been doing online meetings weekly. Over the past few months, we've practically gone from being beginners at Zoom to now becoming experts at it! Benefits Where I Least Expected ThemToastmasters is very much international after all! I did mention that I initially didn't expect to enjoy online club meetings. However, my thoughts on this have since evolved, and in many unexpected ways too.
For one, there's no commute required to get to meetings. Online meetings means I can participate from wherever I may be (which has for the most part been home). I'm happy to say that I've saved on some gas for my car! Sure, fuel prices have been uncharacteristically inexpensive in the past few months. Still, it's definitely less time spent on the road! What's been even more amazing is that we've gotten plenty of visitors, including those from around the world! I was actually expecting at first that fewer guests would show up to meetings. However, we've had guests from places like Kingston (Ontario), the United Kingdom, and even India! I certainly never saw this coming! Wow, Toastmasters International sure is living up to its name :) By this point, I'm definitely holding back on my initial thoughts. This may sound cliché, but our recent experience with online meetings has shown that life requires us to be adaptive. It's often a challenge at the beginning, but settling in will always follow suit. I'm happy and thankful for the club members for having been willing to adapt to the circumstances and make things work. What has your experience with online meetings been like? Post in the comments to let us know :) Bill SituClub President The path that I am currently working on is Effective Coaching (EC). A couple of weeks ago, I completed the level 4 capstone project of this path. This project, titled "Improvement Through Positive Coaching", required me to deliver a speech about my experience coaching someone, who can be a person in or outside of Toastmasters. For the purpose of this post, I'll cover a few key points that I talked about in my said speech. I've always been a strong believer in the value of coaching. As the well-known Chinese proverb goes, "Give a person fish, you feed them for a day. Teach a person to fish, you feed them for a lifetime." Now I do have to admit — I actually know very little about fishing :( Luckily, fishing here is a metaphor for skills coaching, and this is something I do extensively :) In Toastmasters, I've helped many members learn about the Pathways program. Outside of Toastmasters, I also tutor students and train cadets. Coaching, if done properly, can be hugely impactful. It can greatly enable an individual to successfully master a particular skill. Personally, I have a list of different principles on how to effectively coach. Begin With Proper Knowledge and StrategyI've written a post before on why knowledge is so essential for successful leadership. The first step in coaching involves being knowledgeable about the skill itself and the person you're coaching. The latter allows you to customize your strategy and technique accordingly. Strategy is vital in that it serves as a road map both for you and the person you coach. An effective strategy needs to be both coherent and systematic. In teaching, there is a curriculum planning process called backwards design. This involves starting with a definite end goal. From there, you would create mini-goals along the way. This way, student progress becomes both measurable and achievable. I've always made it a practice to understand my students' specific needs from the beginning. This way, I can determine the proper goals for them. From here, I can also select the right materials and focus on the specific areas that the student needs work on. Provide Consistent GuidanceMe teaching a student at the tutoring centre The beginning stages of learning and mastering any particular skill is always the most challenging. As a coach, this is where you need to step in and play a proactive role. Still, it is also a mistake for coaches to be doing too much of the work. I myself have done this in the past. The end goal of coaching someone is so that that person has full mastery of the skill. By the end, the person you coach should be competent enough to independently perform the skill you are instructing them. The way to enable this is to guide. Whomever you're coaching needs to be doing the actual work involved. Without it, they'll simply never get the grasp of the skill. There is a way to properly provide guidance. As a two-time VP Education, I have familiarized other people in the duties of this position. I do this by providing specific, detailed instructions, but I leave it to whomever I'm instructing to do the actual duties. Still, I regularly check to see how well that person is handling the job. As the person I'm coaching begins to handle the role more proficiently, I gradually step back. Offer Praise and Suggestions for Improvement as NeededPositive and critical feedback are both necessary, as this Toastmasters International video explains. This is something to do in the process of providing guidance. Anybody who receives coaching will be looking for validation on how they're doing. Praising will offer reassurance and motivation to keep up performance. At the same time, suggestions for improvement will help steer that person in the proper direction.
At the start of this year, we brought on board two club coaches — Yulin and Andy. Both have been phenomenal to say the very least. Through their knowledge and eagerness to help, I and other club members have been able to learn the proper practices of growing the club. Just a few days ago, we successfully qualified for President's Distinguished! I'll give a fuller story about this in an upcoming post, so stay tuned :) In closing, what personal suggestions do you have on effective coaching? Comment down below and maybe share with us some of the coaching work that you do :) Bill SituClub President You probably remember me referring to this book in previous posts. Truth is, I absolutely love this book. Leaders exist in all areas of our life. As such, there is no shortage of books on the topic of leadership. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin is, hands down, one of the best books that I've read on this subject. If you're learning about leadership in any way (you are if you're a Toastmaster), then this is a book that you need to get your hands on. About the BookThe full title of this book is Extreme Ownership — How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win. True to its title, the authors, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin are retired United States Navy SEAL officers. The SEALs are a decorated special forces unit that has been involved in numerous US military operations since the Vietnam War. In 2011, they were famously known for taking out Osama bin Laden. Jocko and Leif both served in Iraq and were recipients of high military honours, including the Bronze and Silver Stars. After military service, these decorated combat veterans founded Echelon Front. This consulting agency helps organizations of all kinds build high performance teams. Jocko, Leif, and their team use their experiences and expertise in combat leadership to provide their consulting services. Extreme Ownership is based on Jocko and Leif's experiences in the SEAL teams and the work they have done for Echelon Front. The book outlines various key principles of leadership and includes examples of how they work in practice. Each chapter in the book covers a different principle, beginning with an anecdote about an experience in the SEAL teams. From there, Jocko and Leif explain the leadership principle and how it applies to business. To illustrate this, they provide anecdotes about consultations they have done with past clients. The various principles in the book all boil down to one central idea — effective leaders always take ownership of their teams. This means at all times, in all areas, and in all situations. #1 New York Times BestsellerHome page of Echelon Front Extreme Ownership was a #1 New York Times bestseller, and it's not difficult to see why it had gotten such acclaim. The strength of the book really lies in the message that it conveys. It does an amazing job articulating how leaders need to take responsibility for their teams in the fullest sense. The stories that Jocko and Leif provide paint a very clear picture of this idea. The book does outline many different principles, but the authors consistently reinforce the essential message throughout the book. You simply won't ever lose sight of it! Being a current officer in the Canadian Forces myself, I do find especially clear resonance in many of the book's ideas. The authors may have a military background, but they do a fantastic job explaining how principles of leadership in combat can translate into broader applications. I would say that many of these principles work well in Toastmasters too! All in all, the content of Extreme Ownership is very relatable, practical, and down-to-the-earth — what you'd expect of a quality self-help book. This book has a lot of what you're looking for if you're trying to learn and master leadership skills. Key Quotations from Extreme OwnershipI don't want to spoil the book, but here are some key quotes to give you the idea:
"On any team, in any organization, all responsibility for success and failure rests with the leader. The leader must own everything in his or her world. There is no one else to blame. The leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures, take ownership of them, and develop a plan to win." "Extreme Ownership requires leaders to look at an organization’s problems through the objective lens of reality, without emotional attachments to agendas or plans." "Leadership is the single greatest factor in any team’s performance. Whether a team succeeds or fails is all up to the leader." Extreme Ownership is a book that I wholeheartedly recommend to Toastmasters, and everyone in general. What other books on leadership do you recommend? Comment and I'll have a read through them (and maybe do a review on it)! Bill SituClub President Wow, I managed two alliterations in one title! Looks like my skills as an English major are coming to good use :) Now onto the topic of this post, which is all about the art of praise. The act of praising has an immensely powerful effect. I'm not in any way exaggerating here by using the word "immensely". In fact, as I see it, all leaders need to praise followers and know how to do it. Why should leaders praise followers?Think about the last time that somebody genuinely praised you in some way. How did that make you feel? Take a moment to recall. Awarding VP Public Relations (and soon-to-be VP Education) Ke Xu with his certificate of level one completion It goes without saying that whenever someone genuinely praises you, you feel very happy about it. Now imagine a team where the leader routinely praises the team members. What effect will this have? You probably guessed it. Morale will be high and everybody will be motivated to perform. As a leader, this is exactly the kind of team that you want to have. One of the ways that you nurture this is by praising. "FAST-P" AcronymPraising isn't rocket science, but it certainly does involve technique to be effective. This instructional video from the Canadian Cadet Organizations (which I work for) explains very thoroughly the various techniques of praising: FAST-P is an acronym that I created to conceptualize the various techniques of praise. The five letters in this acronym stand for frequent, authentic, specific, timely, and public. Frequent Yes, praise needs to be frequent to be effective. Frequent praise helps reinforce desired behaviours. As a leader, you should praise all actions of team members that are conducive to your team accomplishing its goal. Never save your praise until the very end. Team members always want to know if they're doing a good job. Authentic This one is self-explanatory. You need to be sincere with your praise. Otherwise, it won't have its intended effect, and might even have an opposite effect. Specific Statements like "good job" or "well done" are definitely forms of praise. However, praise is more meaningful when you're more specific. An example of this might be: "You've done a phenomenal job at welcoming our guests and converting them into members. Thanks to you, we've surpassed our goal of having 20 club members. Keep up the amazing work!" Being specific with your praise will reinforce the desired behaviour that you're after as a leader. Timely Praise needs to be delivered as soon as you notice praiseworthy action or behaviour. The longer you hold off on giving praise, the more your praising will lose its effect. Public Praise should always have publicity. Giving public recognition to team members serves an essential function. It showcases the efforts of a particular team member and makes an example out of them. This way, the other team members have a positive example that they can look up to. It also shows that you value work ethic as a leader. I LOVE it when I get to praiseI myself have done two terms as VP-Ed and two as president. In both of these positions, I have had the distinct privilege of getting to praise specific club members.
As VP-Education, I was the one who kept track of members' progress in the Toastmasters education program. Whenever a member completed a specific level, I would present a certificate of completion for that member during a club meeting. This helped motivate everybody to progress with their Toastmasters education. In previous posts, I spoke extensively about why this is so essential to a club's success. As a president, I got even more opportunity to praise club members. At our club, it is a practice that the president delivers closing remarks at the end of every meeting. A practice that I have as a club president is giving out Gold Stars during this section. Gold Stars are essentially recognitions that I give to specific members who are deserving of them. This is, for a fact, my favourite part of being a president. I'm proud to have awarded a gold star to almost member currently active in our club. To end off, here's something for you to think about: When was the last time you praised somebody? How many of the above techniques did it involve? What praiseworthy actions do you notice from your team members right now? Praise them at the next chance you get! Bill SituClub President You've probably experienced at some point in time in the past. You ask a question, and the person responding to you tells you (either explicitly or implicitly), that the question you had just asked was stupid. I've had this experience before. Regardless of how other people respond to your questions, let me assure you that there is no such thing as a stupid question. In fact, asking a question is both an intelligent move and one that shows leadership. Nobody Can Fully Read Others' MindsYou are the person who knows the best about what's on your own mind. Nobody else can better understand your thoughts. When you ask a question, you make it known to whomever you're asking that you don't understand. This way, you can get the information that you need. If you never ask questions, nobody will be aware that you don't know something but want to know! All of us have questions about something. In fact, in certain professions, asking questions is the bread and butter of the work you do. These include human resources, journalism, academia, among others. In these professions, you simply can't get away with asking questions! The reason behind why we ask questions is seemingly very common sense, yet some people choose to avoid asking. One important reason is that people are afraid of others' judgments like how I mentioned at the beginning. Still, I can assure you that you need not ever be afraid. Asking a question is always a smart and correct move. Nobody should ever think of your question as "ridiculous", "stupid", etc. Such a way of thinking only shows ignorance on their part. Asking questions is leadership!Yes, you read the subtitle correctly — asking questions is indeed an act of leadership.
Just this past meeting, we elected our new slate of club officers for the coming term. At the end of the meeting, many of the newly elected club officers asked me questions related to their specific job duties as club officers. I am resuming my role as president in July, and from a president's point of view, this was wonderful to see. Recall from one of my previous posts that everyone has a role to play in a team setting. Do your part correctly, and you do a favour for the team. However, do your part incorrectly, and you could let your team down. I think it's quite obvious which one you'd prefer. When you ask for help when you need it, you're more likely to do what is right for the team. You need not even be a club officer to understand this. Let's suppose that there's a new role that you have to take on at an upcoming meeting. You've never done that role before and aren't sure what it entails. This is perfectly acceptable. Nobody expects you to be an expert when you do something for the first time. Still, if you care to do well, you'll make the effort to learn. Asking Toastmasters who are familiar with the role is a good first step. I myself have personally instructed numerous Toastmasters on how to take on different meeting roles. I can positively say that those who actively approach me for guidance tend to be the ones who will more likely have a strong start. They are also the ones who make the meetings successful in the end. These Toastmasters are the example for you to follow. Actively asking questions is a form of leadership because you are showing initiative. You're making the effort to do what is in the best interest of your team. It also show that you value learning. Trust me — your team members will appreciate this at the end of the day. |
AuthorSBill Situ Archives
August 2020
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