What defines a coach?

When we work with a club, we make certain assumptions and address these in several different ways:

• The mechanic
• The dictator
• The teacher
• The psychologist
• The coach

Because all the clubs we help are low-member clubs, we assume that something is “wrong” and we have to go in and “fix it.” That would make us mechanics. The problem will remain “fixed” when we leave. We also have nothing to lose if the club isn’t fixed. We just conclude that they don’t want to be successful and let things go.

But we’re NOT Mechanics.

We might think that they’re low-member because they don’t know how to do what needs to be done. We take over. We send out the flyers. We organize the open houses. We set up the Speech Crafts. We assign duties (and of course, if no one steps up we do all the jobs.) We twist arms. We bring in members because they will do anything for us. SUCCESS! Then the next year they need another coach.

But we are NOT Dictators.

We might think they don’t have enough information to be successful. So we have little vignettes every week explaining how we can improve our processes while they dutifully take notes. Then we assign them projects to get them on the right track. They seem apathetic. Many of the low-member clubs have members that have been in Toastmasters since Smedley. They’ve heard all this before.

But we are NOT Teachers.

“Oh, DEAR. Their morale is so low. No wonder they have so few members!” We spend a lot of time cheerleading and building up their self-esteem. We have parties and recognition. We write newsletters to the corporate site (contribute to the company bulletin board) or we put things on Facebook and in the newspaper. And when we leave, the numbers drop again.

But we are NOT Psychologists.

Since we are Coaches, we must assume that they aren’t broken. They do know how to lead. They do understand the concepts behind the Toastmasters organization and how its educational programs work. The morale of the group is based on the morale of each member, and that is something they decide for themselves.

What does a Coach do? The goal is to raise the awareness of the members. They need to be conscious of their place in the group, their contributions, their personal goals, and their willingness to work together to have a successful club. You cannot tell them these things. They already know. The coach’s job, therefore, is to ask questions until the group’s awareness kicks in so they can answer the questions and discover the real stumbling blocks they need to quit stumbling over!!!

What kind of questions should we, as coaches, ask?

1. What does your club consider success?
2. What do you consider personal success regarding Toastmasters?
3. Do you suppose there might be others that share your views of success?
4. Have you done a SWOT analysis either personally or as a club? (See the downloads for a sample form you can copy and let the members take notes and make suggestions on.)
5. What is your idea of a great meeting?
6. What would have to change to make the meetings better?

1. When you brought out your Club Success Plan, did it seem foreign to you?

2. In what areas are you complete or near-complete? Congratulations!

3. In what areas does your club need more work? Those need to be prioritized.

4. Who is in charge of the Club Success Plan? How can this person present the progress to the rest of the membership?

5. Can the less experienced club members get help from their mentors and the club leadership to accomplish their goals? Scheduling out to the end of the year to finish the requirements for their paths, coaching them for contests, training them or having them shadow current officers? Remember we’re trying to help the members reach their goals.

6. What are the biggest challenges standing between your members and their goals, and the club and its goals?

When you market your club, what is your message?

“Come to our meeting?” “Where Leaders are made?” “Come to our open house?”

Your message must be compelling and address a problem that your prospective visitors need solving.

So, of course you need to know what your market is. I can tell you what it isn’t. It is NOT, “Fog this mirror, we can help you do whatever you need to do.” Refer to our Club Avatar workbook.

Once you have your avatar, you have to craft a message that gets their attention. “Are your briefings brief?” “Do you put your clients to sleep with your presentations?” “How can you improve your bedside manner?” “What’s the best way to evaluate your employees?”

Then you must choose a medium to distribute your message. But if all you do is Facebook, you may not be reaching your target market! Social media is a powerful tool! There’s no doubt about it. But it is not the ONLY tool. It’s like having a toolbox with just a hammer in it. How do you get access to people’s contact information? How do you follow up? Do flyers do the trick? Do speech craft sessions? Open houses? Hand-written letters? Phone calls?

The trick here is to figure out WHERE YOUR AVATARS WOULD GO TO SEE OR HEAR YOUR INFORMATION! As a friend of mine would say, “You don’t sell milk in a hardware store.” Ever go into a Menards? They sell milk. Why? Their target market is contractors and DIY hobbyists. While they’re browsing around the nuts and bolts, they pass the milk and think, “Hmmm, if I bring milk home my spouse will think I’m considerate!” I would imagine they don’t see a lot of turn-over in the dairy aisle. Would you go to Menard’s because they have milk? No. Would you do all of your milk shopping there? No. Is it just an amenity that makes shopping at Menard’s more convenient and pleasant? Possibly.

If you were the milk producer, would your first choice of market be the hardware store? No. Your target is basically families with children. That most likely corresponds with Wal-Mart.

If you are marketing your Toastmasters Club, you have to put your information where you see gatherings of people interested in getting the solutions to their problems that you can provide.

So you must consider 3 things:

Market—to whom are you reaching out?

Message—what problem can you solve?

Medium—where and how does your target market get their information?

For a more in-depth exploration, Marian Gramlich will be giving her unique approach to Toastmasters Club Marketing.

When you join a club or an organization, do you only learn when you are doing your part?

That’s a trick question. What, exactly, IS your part?

Starting with the basics:

Timer: What kind of Speaking Skills or Leadership skills do you improve as a timer?

Grammarian: How can being a grammarian be used to further your skills and help you reach your goals?

Evaluators: What kind of awareness can you build in observing evaluations? How do you use those observations to help you give better evaluations? How do evaluations impact your speaking and leading abilities?

Table Topics: How many skills do you employ to be a good table topics master? What kind of skills are you improving as a table topics speaker?

General Evaluator: When would you use this particular role outside of Toastmasters? How many skills does it involve?

Toastmaster: How can you make use of the toastmaster skillset outside of Toastmasters? Can you use these skills when you are NOT in charge of a meeting? Can you lead from the audience?

Speaker: Which role would you consider the best training for a new speaker? How would you improve your speaking skills using the roles of evaluator, timer, and grammarian?

The WHOLE MEETING teaches you what you want to learn, not just your small part in it. There are no throwaway roles in a meeting, just as there are no throwaway offices in the club.

In your first impressions, how do you assess the emotional health of the club?

1. Who’s the first person into the meeting? Do most of them show up as the second hand hits the starting time? Do they come in early and socialize? How are they greeted?
2. Are the roles all filled or are they scrambling every meeting? Do they usually have prepared speakers ready? Do the other people understand their roles and are capable and prepared?
3. How do the members relate to each other? Are they respectful? Do they have “inside jokes?” How welcoming are they to guests?
4. Can you discern who’s mentoring whom? Do all the members seem willing to help each other? Does it appear that everyone feels comfortable in the meeting?
5. How do the evaluations make the speakers feel? Do they recommend a laundry list of things that need to be fixed? Are the evaluations one-on-one or round robin? Does it seem that the comments are simple changes that the speakers can apply immediately?
6. How are the business meetings organized? Do they Have exec meetings separate from the regular meetings? How do they address the health of the club? Are the officers of the club hopeful or hopeless?