Toastmasters International is a worldwide nonprofit educational organization that helps people conquer the fear of public speaking. Just passing the 95th anniversary, it now has over 357k members in more than 16,600 clubs and 143 countries. Its two signature programs, Pathways speaking program and Officers volunteer program, provide members tremendous opportunities to practice public speaking, and by extension, improve leadership skills.
My life had no Toastmasters meeting until the spring of 2019. After one year and a half, the membership at three clubs, and over 30 prepared speeches, I am seeing the growth in myself. I may never become a great speaker. But it doesn’t haunt me much. It’s like a bodybuilder doesn’t have to envy a runner for the stamina — he has his own power zone. Self-growth is the key. I am always mesmerized feeling the fear of public speaking in me retreat bit by bit every second I stand behind the lectern. The interaction between speaker and audience in a TM meeting is magical.
TM is making striking notions in its mission statements where it says it helps members “have the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills.” Communication is one of my interesting fields. So I have been looking into the dynamics between speaking, communication, and leadership in TM meetings. The more meetings I have, the less relevance I am seeing between public speaking and leadership.
Along with the membership, I am also the officer of three TM clubs. TM meetings and officer works have largely helped me understand the cycle of the three concepts. I have been able to make a chart to illustrate it.
In the communication circle — for sure there are many other circles leading to leadership, public speaking is a basic element. A good public speaker is definitely one step closer to a good leader. But drawing an equation between public speaking and leadership could be ultimately misleading — Walmart is essential for the quality of life but not a guarantee. Clearly, speaking is mostly one-way traffic, while communication is two ways. As for leadership, there are many more qualities beyond the communication circle. To name some, intelligence, insight, responsibility, vision, and perseverance. They are all beyond this article.
I have seen educational officers in the TM community that stayed up many nights preparing a speech but didn’t bother to send a meeting agenda (a basic duty). I have seen members who are so eloquent behind the lectern but have zero communication out of meetings. I am not spreading negative messages about TM. I am trying to figure out where we are across the three positions. Great if one finds him/herself in all the three, but nothing is wrong being in a single position. This would help us find our power zone in TM and guide our learning efforts. I have seen some great speakers that are not necessarily great leaders. Some are even not active communicators off the stage. Many great leaders in the reality that are not necessarily great speakers, though highly likely they are good communicators.
I go further to make three circles. The intersection between good speakers and good leaders, maybe surprising to many, is pretty small. And there is a dynamic factor, the communication, in the mix. I can see all different kinds of people, in and out of Toastmasters, in each circled section. A great leader is more likely, from a quantitative perspective, to be a good communicator than a good speaker. This should guide the focus of my learning curve in TM.
The fallacy of speaking — it believes that a good public speaker is in possession of leadership mindset and skills.
· Generates a false sense of achievement
· Encourages the pursuit of on-stage skills not off-stage communication
· Doesn’t build dynamic thinking.
In the business world idea is cheap, execution is valuable. I would add that, in leadership, public speaking is cheap, communication is vital. This might be my biased defense as, in comparison, I am a better communicator vs. public speaker. But it wouldn’t discourage me from pursuing speaking skills in TM clubs, nor would it have me give up the communication efforts.
These findings help me a lot to take some weight off Toastmasters. It’s not a leadership school. For me it’s a mental workout to fight against the fear of public speaking. Its speaker-audience design is super helpful. Its “supportive and positive learning environment” is unparalleled. It will be my life-long workout.
