One of the characteristics of a successful club is that the club retains many of the members who join. A dynamic mentoring program for club members is one of the keys to success.
The Vice President Education (VPE) is responsible for ensuring that club members make progress toward their speaking and leadership goals. A club mentor coordinator can partner with the VPE by serving on the education committee and match up mentors with mentees.
W
hen a new member joins the club, a mentor should be assigned right away. Regular communication between the parties helps get everyone off to a good start and continues the momentum. The mentor will find out the particular goals of the mentee and discuss strategies to achieve them.
Individuals working on the Advanced Communicator Gold (AGC) award will likely be looking for someone to mentor for the first three speeches. The relationship may continue past that time.
Three different mentoring opportunities are available to members working on completing a Competent Leader (CL) award in Project #9. You can mentor a new member, an existing member or serve on the guidance committee for a member working on a High Performance Leadership (HPL) project. Toastmasters who have completed more than one CL award often like to continue to challenge themselves by choosing a different mentoring project each time they work in a new manual.
Some members have more than one official or unofficial mentor. A member may seek the advice of an experienced Toastmaster who has earned a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award if earning a DTM is one of their goals. At the June Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI), Program Quality Director (PQD) Manny Reyes, ACG, ALB, emphasized how it is “important to have a road map of where you are going to achieve your goals.”
Members may reach out to past contest winners for advice if they are looking to challenge themselves and compete in the upcoming Tall Tales and Table Topics contests. The District finals are on Saturday, November 18, 2017 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Somerset, NJ, so reach out to your mentor and start planning now.
Mentor/mentee duos may also help each other and switch roles based on areas of expertise. A mentee helps me with sales techniques in one of my advanced communication manuals and I help him along the road to his DTM.
The term Club Mentor also applies to one or two individuals who agree to work with members of a newly chartered club to help get the club off to a good start and strive to complete Distinguished Club Program (DCP) points. Toastmasters who are interested in serving as a Club Mentor should contact Club Quality Chair Anne Gilson, DTM, PDG, for an assignment if they need to fill a role toward their Advanced Leader Silver (ALS) award. It is very rewarding to serve as a Club Mentor and help the club earn President’s Distinguished Status in its inaugural year. Club Mentors serve for a minimum of six months in their role, attending as many meetings as their schedule allows, providing a little bit of advice at each meeting so the club members do not become overwhelmed with too much to do all at once.
Now is a great time to set up a mentoring program with your club and check in with the members to see if their needs have changed as our District embraces a year filled with New Beginnings.