Tips To Train Toastmasters And The Reason Why How do you train someone to be a leader, or better yet, why should you? Here’s four tips to help you train them, and the imperative reason to do it. What is a toastmaster you ask? Well it’s exactly what it sounds like, the person making the toasts at a banquet and introduces the speakers. The first person everyone looks to when the room falls silent: the alpha dog, the leader.
Manager Tips: 4 Tips To Train Toastmasters And The Reason Why
The author of this article, Carl Moeller , is a project manager and electrical engineer that is dedicated to the study and advancement of entrepreneurship and management practices. Please visit his blog for more insight in the world of entrepreneurship and management.
What is a toastmaster you ask? Well it’s exactly what it sounds like, the person making the toasts at a banquet and introduces the speakers. The first person everyone looks to when the room falls silent: the alpha dog, the leader.
How do you train someone to be a leader, or better yet, why should you? Here’s four tips to help you train them, and the imperative reason to do it.
1. Are they running on empty?
First you must gauge whether you think someone will make a good leader. You, as the manager or team leader have the sole discretion of the advancement of a team member. Do you realize how powerful that is? You could hold someone’s career back for years if you do the wrong thing, either pushing too fast or never giving them a chance. This is a very difficult task for you as the manager or team leader. So how do you gauge the leadership potential of someone? Great leaders have at least a few of several characteristics: the ability to create and or follow a vision, the love of a challenge, someone who isn’t locked in the status quo, willingness to take responsibility, mental toughness, peer respect, command of peoples attention, and high completion factor. There are others, but I fear I could write an entire book 
on the qualities of leadership to look for in potential candidates.
2. Everyone Starts With Training Wheels
Especially if the capacity in which someone is placed is far beyond that which they have ever been, start them off slow. Sure, you may think throwing them into the fire to test them right away is a great idea, and if proper selection based on potential leadership is adhered to the results may be surprisingly positive, but the odds of that happening are incredibly low even for the best potential leaders. I shouldn’t have to mention the possible negative effects of this action should there be a negative outcome. Not just for the company mind you, but think of the broken psyche of the individual should they fail. Start them off slow. Don’t put someone on a bike that has never been, and start them at the top of a hill, it’s asking for a bad experience.
3. Practice Practice Practice
Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it does make better. After successful completion of the smaller leadership activities, work it up a bit. The same task does not always yield the same obstacles…any project manager can tell you that. You must let and indeed coerce if necessary, the practice they require to gain confidence in their leadership ability. I stress THEIR leadership ability, for at this point you most likely already have confidence in them. They have successfully accomplished several small leadership tasks, and you can most likely trust them with more complicated and critical endeavors, however at this stage they must continue to practice what repertoire you have already given them. And when they are done practicing, drill them again.
4. Let Them Lead!!!
It’s graduation day parents. I’ve written an article not to long ago about adult supervision that is management, and unfortunately it’s time to let your little ones fly. It’s hard to let go, hard to promote, hard to see them move on and up to better things. Let them lead. It’s what you’ve trained them so hard for; it’d be a shame to hold them back any further. When do you know they are ready to move on? That is a subjective question, but I plead with you to ask your peers, others at your level who have seen your pupil work as to the capacity they can aspire to. Some of their answers may startle you. If you find your peers having much higher judgments than you, you know it’s time to let them loose. Let them lead. Truly lead. Fifteen minutes of leadership is better than fifteen hours of leadership training.
Reason: Growth, and a thriving company
Ever notice most companies try to promote from within? Ever wonder why? Top companies that have leadership programs far outperform those that do not. But why not just go out and hire those with the leadership know-how already? Easy, they’re hard to find because the company that helped train them already owns their allegiance. There’s a lot more to job satisfaction these days than money; they want the training to be the toastmaster. I’m living proof of that.