The following are some thoughts on
club growth. This is based solely on a
years’ worth of club visiting, and speaking to members of clubs all over
Singapore, both club officials and otherwise, and my preliminary observations
as Area Director for A2.
Toastmasters clubs in Singapore
generally fall under three categories: school, community centre and
corporate. There is not much to be said
of school clubs, since they have their limitations based around the needs of
academic performance. As such, for members,
they are a means to network, and grow personally. Unless it is an alumni club, which functions
more like an inclusive corporate club, the students leave after they
graduate. Thus, turnover is naturally
high, and there is little scope for long-term strategic planning.
One of the problems I have noticed
is this tendency to charter clubs with little concern over their long-term
sustainability. The focus of the
incumbent is upon growth to achieve immediate milestones. The problem then falls upon the successor to
address the inherent weakness of such clubs.
I would propose that we adopt some sort of tracking for new clubs, with
an emphasis on rewarding clubs that surpass the three-year mark. We are not in a position to implement the
finance industry’s guidelines on persistency, since the district officers change
every year. This naturally limits
accountability.
Community Clubs
Community clubs are inclusive clubs,
with a catchment that is geographically focused on the immediate
neighbourhood. As such, clubs tend to be
diverse in make-up, vibrancy and sustainability. The problem we have here is that clubs in
proximity are cannibalising each other’s membership. This helps no one.
For example, it is relatively common
for people to help their friends by joining multiple clubs to fulfill the
charter member numbers. This creates
zombie clubs, and is unsustainable. The
real fear is that people will become jaded and leave Toastmasters
altogether. There is far too much focus
on recruitment, and not enough on retention.
What we need is for an area or
division to work together to come up
with a coherent marketing and branding strategy. We need to raise awareness and credibility of
Toastmasters clubs. The idea is to raise
membership relative to the population by one percentage point. Toastmasters must be seen as prestigious, a
form of corporate training that equips people for career mobility. Currently, we only talk about it. If we are able to integrate this into the
community club programmes for skills retraining, this opens up an avenue to get
funding for these clubs through work skills programmes.
Corporate Clubs
Corporate clubs have distinct
challenges from community clubs. In
summary, they are at the mercy of management, and the market. Too many vibrant clubs die when the
executives of the company see no worth in the programme. We must do more to address this, by speaking
to the management itself, on behalf of the club, and get a buy in.
For example, AIA Toastmasters has
management support to the extent that the CEO is himself a member, along with
many members of the executive team. This
is because the successive Executive Committees of the club made presentations
to them on the need to communicate effectively to advance corporate goals. A such, management see Toastmasters as an
integral part of internal training and allocate budget and support
accordingly. We need to explore how to
replicate this in other clubs.
Management & Leadership Training
Whilst the tag line is “Where
leaders are made”, there is actually no meaningful leadership or management
training. This is such a shame
considering the number of people we have in the membership who are actually
qualified and capable in this area.
I would propose that we show more
initiative in programmes other than mere speeches. We can consider panel discussions, which are
already part of the level 5 project for Pathway. For example, last term, I had two discussions
to test out the format.
The first was about the ethics of
judging contests, and how we can make it better. I had past winners, chief judges, and
relevant people on the panel, and tested the reaction of the crowd. This was just after the contest season.
I had a second panel, of a more
general nature, with the subject about having a vision for the
club. Based on the feedback, I realise
that we have not been successful in translating what Toastmasters is about into
actual measurable success in a member’s real-world application. We need to look deeper into this and consider
how we can be better.
Blue Ocean Club Growth
Toastmasters, as a programme, is
ideal for one specific category of people: those who want to speak publicly for
the express purpose of gaining recognition in work. There is one category of organisations that
are full of these people, and with the catchment and budget to sustain clubs:
Volunteer Welfare Organisations.
People do not join Toastmasters
simply because they want to speak well in public. They want to be good speakers for specific
personal agendas. It can be as base as wanting
to speak to someone they have a romantic interest in. It can be as mundane as wanting to get ahead
in their career. People in VWOs want to
impress enough people to run for public office.
This is the catchment of parliamentary hopefuls.
I have some ideas on which
organisations we could speak to, and who to approach within these
organisations. I served on the board of
one such organisation for 14 years, up to Vice-President. Serving on the board grants people access to
ministers and ministerial staff. For
them, public speaking is a need. They
have debate clubs, but they do not have clubs that teach actual rhetoric.
Conclusion
My belief is that we succeed
together. We must foster a culture of growth
and idea sharing. I am setting that
example here, and opening myself to legitimate criticism so that these ideas
can be refined.
