“Knowing yourself,” Aristotle said, “is the beginning of all wisdom.” Toastmasters founder Ralph Smedley envisioned using speaking and leadership training as tools for self-discovery, which leads to self-improvement and advancement. This model has helped many, including myself, to learn and grow.
Now that my leadership journey has reached the level of serving as Club Growth Director (CGD) 2024-25 for District 101, I find myself reflecting back. “What have I discovered about myself, what new strengths have I acquired, what old habits have I cast off? And how can my experience help others with their journey?”
Serving as CGD compelled me to change my mindset from “task-driven” to “people-driven”.
A leader must adopt a “people first” mindset and balance between team building and task performance.
When past District Director Pavan Datla called to encourage me to run for CGD, I was excited but unsure. “How?” I asked. Pavan replied, “all you need is a team”.
Is it really that simple?
To help the district grow in membership and build new clubs, I needed a team of leaders that would each build his/her own team to support core functions such as club coaching, membership renewal/growth, as well as marketing, chartering, and mentoring new clubs. The challenge was finding volunteers who were willing to commit personal time to serve. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fill the heavy-lifting role of building new clubs–a role that requires both experience and commitment.
July quickly turned into August. District meetings, presentations, incentive program planning, and club officer training (COT) kept me occupied. Before I knew it, September renewal was around the corner.
Over Labor Day weekend, I was in a hotel in Warsaw, jetlagged, and working feverishly on new incentives to drum up membership renewal. Buried knee-deep, I had set aside recruiting. In my typical Tarzan fashion, I thought, “I will do it myself!”. However, it takes time to build new clubs and I was running out of time. In hindsight, I should have spent more time connecting with people and building a team instead of checking off individual tasks. Why did I give up so easily? If I can solve hard rocket problems, I could surely have found Toastmaster volunteers!
The key lies in the mindset–it silently directs our focus and actions. Lessons learned through experience have the power to change our mindset.
Serving as CGD helped me discover my hidden strengths–the courage and confidence to reach out and connect with people.
Just as things couldn’t get worse, I learned the chair of my most successful-running program wanted to resign, citing pressures of a new job. My stomach dropped and I simply accepted her resignation. Why didn’t I reach out? Could it have been pride? Yes. Lack of confidence? Yes. The barriers of pride and fear would soon be smashed away.
The turning point was at a January district leadership training. Immersed amongst fellow CGDs sharing our challenges and tips with each other, I saw a common pattern. We all faced challenges finding volunteers and realized the key was reaching out and connecting with members, one at a time.
With revived spirit, I opened up to my existing team and shared that I was overwhelmed and needed their support. We met altogether and after seeing their friendly faces and hearing their genuine voices, I knew I was not alone. That simple connection soon resulted in lively discussions on what makes a club grow. We spent the next five months working together on membership renewal and the more enduring campaign of membership growth.
Looking back, I should not have given up so easily on the chairperson that stepped down. Instead, I should have expressed how much I valued her impact and discussed ways to help ease her workload. Perhaps that connection would have convinced her to remain on the team.
Serving as CGD allowed me to combine people skills with problem-solving skills to troubleshoot, develop, and advocate strategies and solutions for organizational challenges.
In our district, a third of our clubs had fewer than 12 members. Their growth became my #1 focus throughout the year. We tried traditional approaches such as conducting Moments of Truth, but few were interested. Then we advocated planning meetings ahead with an agenda and speakers. It helped, but not always. What’s at the root of the problem?
Armed by my newfound confidence and people-centric mindset, I decided to visit clubs and make first-hand observations. Officers warmly embraced my initiative. A few even invited me to officer meetings, opening a window to connect and witness the passion and persistence of our dedicated club officers.
As I sat in club meetings as an observer and a participant, I had a number of “a ha” moments. With Covid and an exodus of experienced members, some of our best practices such as performing functional roles had been lost, especially amongst new members. The meeting experience was sub-optimal. To verify my hypothesis, I plotted membership renewal data and observed new members’ attrition rates were alarmingly high. I realized that we must train our new members if we are to sustain growth. We needed to get back to basics!
Working with district leaders and experienced trainers such as Declan Shalvey, we launched the “Growth Seminar”, a 6-session workshop aimed to help new members build foundational speaking skills. Together, we were spellbound as Declan Shalvey, a master trainer, inculcated and entertained us. We all came away inspired.
It takes a village to come up with and implement ideas to keep our members engaged. While attendance was small, the workshop series was exciting and a small step in the right direction.
Final thoughts
I learned a lot during my one year service as CGD, but the most powerful lessons were those that changed my mindset, helped me discover hidden strengths, and showed me the power and potential when we combine people and problem-solving skills.
Leadership skills cannot be cultivated through reading books or taking classes—they are acquired through experience. The fastest way to becoming an effective leader is to take on a leadership role and learn. I encourage each and every one of you to take the plunge into service, to experience, learn, grow, and transform!
Written by Wendy Fan, Immediate Past Club Growth Director, District 101