Experiencing Toastmasters Competent Leadership Manual

If you first became a Toastmaster within the last couple of years, that means you received two manuals. Both manuals are equally important in your Toastmasters career. But the Competent Leader Manual takes longer to complete. So I encourage you, and if there's a way to force you to I would, to bring your Competent Leadership Manual EVERY MEETING. So you can get credited for every role you play. And also so you can perform your role better.

I can't force you to start working on your Leaderhip Manual, but I hope that Jean Hogle's article will inspire you to do so.


Experiencing the Competent Leadership Manual
from: http://www.toastmasters.org/ToastmastersMagazine/ToastmasterArchive/2007/December/Articles/CLManual.aspx


"Since starting to use the manual as intended, I have found that not only am I doing a better job in each role, my speeches are better."

By Jean G. Hogle, DTM


Why is the Competent Leadership manual important? Why should we use it?

In January 2006, a new member joined my club. Of course, this meant he received two manuals: Competent Communication and Competent Leadership. The new member came to me, the president, and asked how to use the Competent Leadership manual. As the advanced, experienced Toastmaster I am, I gave him the highly articulate answer of “Huh? Duh, ah, well, gee, I don’t know. But I hear it’s only 10 projects.”

Wanting to be a good leader, I immediately ordered the manual and studied the projects. When I saw that each project consists of doing multiple roles, I panicked. How is anyone supposed to complete this? However, I began bringing the manual to each meeting and asking for an evaluator to fill in my required assignments. It was a slow process, but the roles started to gather checkmarks.

The First Ever BnT Toastmasters Club Awards

Speech Project: Advance Speech No. 4
from the Speeches for Special Occasion Manual
Speech Title: Cheeseburger!
Speaker: Gege Sugue

Good evening Toasties! Tonight is a special occasion not only because we are celebrating Christmas but because we will have the first ever Butter N Toast Toastmasters Club Awards Night. And it's about time, isn't it?

In the past years I've been a Toastmaster here in this club, I have been witness to so much talent, personal development, innovation, and genius. In the past six months that I have been President of the club, I have found myself dwelling on how this club has been true to its vision, mission, and values, how we have been providing a fun and motivational environment for continuous learning. And it's about time, the club and its members and officers are honored. So Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the first BnT Cheeseburger Award!

Why Cheeseburger? Well, because we're Butter n Toast. Okay, aside from that absurd reason, there is also this line or slogan popularized by a fast food chain. Most of you know this. It's a line that is uttered to somebody who has achieved something, won something, or has done something particularly well. Friends, what is this line?

Pa-cheeseburger ka naman is a way of congratulating somebody for a job well done.

And our first awardee has indeed done well in his job. He occupies a job that is not considered a critical post here at Toastmasters. It's not as critical as let's say, the President's job, or that of the Vice President for Education, who spearheads the efforts at achieving our DCP goals. It's a post that's easy to take for granted or even forget. But our awardee did not take his job for granted. He knew he had to contribute to building up the club. So he thought out of the box and looked at a promotional tool that we have but we have allowed to stagnate -- our blog site. He invested time, effort, creativity, and painstaking attention to detail to revamp the club and make it an effective tool to increase hits, and bring in potential members. But more than the numbers it makes, the site has provided a venue for our community to meet and interact beyond the usual twice a month meetings. The blog became a home for sharing ideas with each other and with the rest of the world. It has served to bond and build us. So, let me just say to our first awardee, "Well done!" To go down in history as the first ever BnT Cheeseburger awardee is Vice President for PR, Advance Communicator Bronze, Ed Ebreo! A warm round of applause, please. Join me in saying, "Ed, pa-cheeseburger ka naman!"

Our next award is called the Fresh Fries Award. No, I did not mispronounce that. I really meant fresh fries. Because this award goes to freshly minted Toastmasters; in other words, new members. It was tough to choose the best new member because I'm particularly proud of our new recruits. Most of them found us on the Internet. That means that they were not convinced or coerced by current members. They came here on their own volition believing that becoming a good communicator would help them in their personal and professional lives. The person I chose to be top among the club's fresh fries is somebody who impressed me with his drive. Driven in his career. And driven as a Toastmaster, delivering at least one speech a month. Excellent speeches at that. He also went beyond the comfort zones of MSE and showcased his talents in the recent Rookie speech contests. It gives me great pleasure to present the Fresh Fries Award to Toastmaster Ton Villanueva! Ton, pa-cheeseburger ka naman!

The third award of the evening is the Big Mac Award. This goes to the person who takes his job as a mentor seriously. He finds the time to coach, counsel, coerce his protege to deliver great speeches frequently. So inspiring is this mentor, that he was able to convince his protege to join a contest even as a newbie. Furthermore, he brought his mentoring skills outside BnT by sharing the love and skill of public speaking to other organizations. He spearheaded our Speechcraft project at Moldex. By now you know who I'm talking about. Competent Communicator, Division B Triathlon Champion, Boom San Agustin! Boom, pa-cheeseburger ka naman!

And finally, our last award for the evening. The Happy Meal Award. You know what a happy meal is. It's a complete meal package with an extra goodie, like a toy. Our next awardee goes the extra mile. She does her duties. And does other people's duties as well. Sometimes she takes on the role of VP for Membership as she promptly answers emailed queries from potential members. She also helps the other officers, for example, helping out in the production of the meeting programs. When there's an emergency situation, when there's something that needs to be done, I can count on her to pitch in the best she can. She makes my job as President easier. She makes me happy. So she deserves the Happy Meal Award. Join me in congratulating our Treasurer, Competent Communicator, Competent Leader Sheila dela Cruz. Sheila, pa-cheeseburger ka naman.

There you have it -- the first ever BnT Cheeseburger awardees. I truly wish to give out more awards to more people who deserve them, but I read recently that to award all is to award no one at all. So, I picked those who I thought went beyond expectation to deliver jobs well done. These 4 awardees exemplify our values. I hope that they inspire you to do more, be more, achieve more, and to make the most of Butter N Toast!

Teaching a Horse How to Fly

I felt it was a Christmas gift intended for me! – to have taken the role of "Table Topics Master" in the last regular meeting of Butter N’ Toast for 2008. It may not be something that other members would consider a great achievement, but for me, it was a major breakthrough.

I’ve always been afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone. Come to think of it, I feel that I haven’t even defined my comfort zone yet as a member of Toastmasters. The roles of Toastmaster of the Evening and Table Topics Master are two roles I couldn’t imagine myself doing. And right after screwing up with my last two speeches? “No, I don’t think I can do it.”

I was a bundle of nerves when I agreed with my mentor Alvin Tan, to do the Table Topics Master. Actually, I didn’t remember agreeing with him! Aha, he coerced me, he volunteered me without my consent and left me with no other choice. “Kasubuan na”. I didn’t exactly know what he was up to, but maybe he had that gut feel that only a mentor would know.

To console me and show his support, he announced to take the role of the Toastmaster of the Evening, only to tell me later that he won't be able to attend the meeting for some reason. As the thoughtful guy that he is, he didn’t leave me in the lurch. He sent me some tips condensed from an article about Table Topics he got from the TM website. I learned later that he spoke to Boom, who, took over the role of “TM of the PM.” Boom’s reply to my email when I told him I was going to be late: “If you come late, we’ll do Table Topics after the Prepared Speeches. Alvin said that you need it.” Alvin was really insistent to put me in that role.

And so it was. Last Thursday was one of the rare evenings when Table Topics came after the prepared speeches because I was late. I felt relieved, that at least, I would only have a few more minutes left to sulk in embarrassment if I mess up again. It was also a rare night when my prophecy of failing was not fulfilled. Instead of being messed up, it was probably my best speaking performance as a Toastmaster. I had the usual grammatical lapses, few awkward actions, but those were easily shrouded by some humorous lines.

I passed a new milestone in my Toastmaster career. I proved to myself that I can handle the role of a Table Topics Master and that I can make my audience laugh. Immediate Past District 75 Governor, Gina Mapua, who served as the General Evaluator that night, also made me realize I can get my message across, when she commented that my explanation about Table Topics and its importance was one of the best explanations she’s heard so far. I was in an overwhelming natural high after the meeting that I missed to congratulate the other speakers for the great speeches they delivered. I couldn’t believe I didn’t mess up, and that I actually did well. It was the happiest, most glorious night for me at the Old Makati Stock Exchange as we rode our way down in the elevator and to Starbucks.

It was exactly a year ago when I first attended Butter N’ Toast. It was also their last regular meeting for 2007. I had second thoughts of not joining because I was really intimidated when I saw how good these people were. I couldn’t see how a jargon-filled, stiff, and aloof individual like me would fit in.

Well, let me say this now -- joining Butter N’ Toast Toastmasters Club was probably the best decision I made last year, and it was all worth it. It was worth the time I spent preparing for my speeches and rehearsing them, worth the money I paid for the membership, fuel, toll fee, parking and coffee, worth driving from Bulacan to Manila only to find out that I am one week early for the meeting, worth sacrificing meetings and going out with friends. Toastmasters is a school worth attending, a school where we learn lessons, face challenges, learn to lead, achieve goals, receive rewards, sometimes bullied (that's if either Ed or Boom is around.. hehe.. peace Bros) and more importantly, make friends.

In the world of public speaking, it’s hard to teach a horse how to fly, but if there are people who can teach you how, they are in Butter N’ Toast. I haven’t flown yet, but with a mentor like Alvin to stretch my limits, the support of intelligent but down to earth club officers, and the camaraderie exuded by old and new members alike, its only a matter of time before the horse that I am sprout wings and fly! – Thank you, Alvin, and thank you Guys! See you at the Christmas party!
:owenbraveheart

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