Toastmaster Mentors , Our Mission is to Encourage

When you join Butter N Toast Toastmasters Club, you are expected to live by our mission as Toastmasters, and that is to encourage members to continuously improve their communication and leadership skills.

When new members join the club, they are both excited and afraid; some more afraid than others. Without the technical and moral support of a mentor, they may be overwhelmed by fear and fail to deliver. This is not what we want. What we want is for new members to gather enough strength and skills to deliver their speeches the soonest, and recoup their investment.

In order for this to happen, Butter N Toast Mentors must become effective "encouragers". What does it take to be one?

1.Believe in the abilities of their protégés - It's difficult to encourage someone when you don't believe in her ability to succeed. A good mentor believes that with the right amount of coaching and encouraging, success is achievable. A mentor looks at the protégé and sees a diamond in the rough. A mentor works to have the protégé see that with some polishing, her diamond will shine.
2.Be enthusiastic about the protégé’s prospect of success. True blue mentors, don't see mentoring as a chore but as an exciting adventure towards helping another person discover his full potential. He is excited by it. That's why he is concerned when a protégé misses opportunities to deliver a speech or play a role in club meetings. When the protégé becomes remiss in his Toastmasters duties, the mentor seeks him out and encourages him to get back on track.
3. Be Interested in producing new mentors. John Maxwell in his 5 Levels of leadership model talked about Level 4 leaders - leaders who produce new leaders. I believe the same is true with good mentors. They produce new mentors by showing new members the way and modelling the right mentoring behaviors. Like a Jedi master to a pad wan who eventually becomes a Jedi Master himself.

As BNT grows and new members come in, we need more mentors who are capable not only to teach but most of all, to encourage new members to get started and work their way towards becoming successful. We encourage everyone to take this role and take it to new heights. We can do it because we have what it takes to be mentors and encouragers.