Serving as an “Area Governor”,
Division N, District 82, Toastmasters International during 2012-2013 was the
best thing that could happen to me. I learnt more about People Handling &
Leadership skills in this one year than in my 6 years of corporate experience
and my MBA times. Here I am penning down few leadership lessons I learnt much
of which makes sense when I look back today.
1.
Embrace New members into
your team
As a leader, I always
wanted my “CLOSE FRIENDS” in my team so as to accomplish my tasks easily J. I thought I could
Leverage each one’s Strengths to full effect in short time. However early into
my term, I learnt one of the profound lessons in Leadership i.e. “As a
Leader one has to embrace new people who exhibit complementary skill sets into
their team”. Having new members into the team not only excites them but
it also helps us to sharpen our leadership skills.
2.
Getting rid of Layers of
Communication
I tried to bring in a
formal layer of communication to interact with the club members of my Area. The
main idea was to transcend the information without bypassing the layers in
between. However I soon realized that if I had to bring in Initiatives &
Innovations within the short period of one year, this formal layer is not going
to do any good. “As a Leader one has communicate directly with the members so as to
understand their needs & wants”
3.
Let the EGO Go
Everyone has the urge to be
best. In the pursuit of being the best, leaders become obsessive about what
they do. These are the times when leader’s Ego takes precedence. It is no
longer about performing but PROVING TO THE WORLD that “I” am superior. Thanks
to my mentors, members and well wishers who guided me and helped me from
falling into this trap. I learnt that “As a leader one should let go of their EGO
as along as team’s performance takes precedence”
4.
Find opportunities to
appreciate people
Charles Schwab, legendary
CEO of Bethlehem Steel was paid $ 1 Million as Salary during early 1900’s. It
was a mind boggling compensation then (Infact for me
even today ;) ) His mandate was to help the steel
company recoup the losses and turn profitable. How did Charles do it? He travelled
around the factories motivating people, appreciating them for their work. He
turned the company profitable through appreciating people though he knew
nothing technical about steel production. Appreciating people is a powerful
tool in the hands of a leader. It takes big heart to appreciate others. I
learnt from Charles Schwab that “As a leader, it is important to find
opportunities to appreciate people. When you do this sincerely, you will see
magic happen in your team”
5.
Back the Appreciation with
Statistics
This is an extension of the
earlier point about appreciating people. Appreciating people in a group also
has its own disadvantages. While individual/group may be happy about being
recognized for their work, others in the team may feel let down for not being
recognized for their work.
Consider this: Club A has
80 members, having average attendance of 25 for a club meeting in the last 1
year. Club B has 50 members, having average attendance of 40.
If you were to institute an
award for High attendance ratio, which club will you choose? Club B, Right?
When you put forth the statistics to the audience it will cause less heartburn
among the members/clubs/Areas.
“As a leader, any
recognition should be backed by Statistics to cause less heartburn among
members/clubs/Areas without any bias”
6.
Focus on the problem not person
“When the going gets tough,
the leader gets tough with people :)”
When things go haywire,
human beings gets wild with others. He/She tries to
fix the person responsible, accuse them, make he/she
feel guilty. But does this solve the problem?. Nope.
The way a leader reacts to haywire situations brings out the real person in
him. It also talks volumes about his/her maturity levels. Instead of accusing
others, it will be wiser to understand the root cause, fix the issue first to
avoid further crisis and at leisure help the volunteer understand the gravity
of the issue, explain how it could have been done better & coach them to perform
better. “As a leader, I learnt that during a crisis, it is wise to focus on the
problem not person”
7.
Avoid Decision that will
make you lose sleep
You are bound to make
decisions as leader. It doesn’t matter whether your decisions turn out to be Good (or) Bad. That is irrelevant. Toastmasters
is a place where you can “Fail Safetly”. You
don’t have to feel bad if decisions go bad. But you need to be cautious that
you don’t take decisions with prejudice. Many members ask me how to make
decisions without prejudice. I would like to give this simple tip I learnt from
a Stalwart in the Industry. “As a leader, I learnt that any decision
that makes you to lose sleep is a biased decision”. If you can go to
bed happily and wake up the next morning without any guilt of making a biased decision,
you are on the right path.
8.
Prepare the team for Long
term
A famous saying goes like, “Managers
work for today, Leaders work for tomorrow”. The main objective of every Area
Governor is to ensure his/her club achieve the “President’s Distinguished
Status”, highest recognition given to any Area by Toastmasters International
for Superior Performance during their tenure. While working towards this goal,
an Area Governor should also work towards making the clubs in their area
self-sustaining by nurturing leadership amongst members both within the clubs
& Area. This requires constant communication with members, share the best
practices, coach them, show them the opportunities available and most
importantly make them believe that they can make wonders for their club. When
you infuse the confidence in them you inspire them to perform better. “As a
leader, I learnt that while short term goals are important, one should also work
towards long term sustenance of the club”
This list is not exhaustive, I will
keep penning down my thoughts as & when I connect the dots pertaining to my
Area Governor term.
If you get a chance to serve as any
club officer, Area Officer, Division Officer or District officer, I would urge
you to take it and serve the movement that has given you a lot. Don’t have
doubts about your leadership skills. You may not start great but you will definitely
end Great. That is the MAGIC of TOASTMASTER J
