Swapping the Torch

As my time as club president for one of my TM clubs draws to a close and I get ready to transition to being an area governor (I hope), I'm happy to see new and excited leadership at two of them.

I'm not sure why, but being "the boss" has always appealed to me. Maybe it's because my dad was always one at the family construction company (and at home). Maybe it's a product of my schooling. In any event, it led me to be president of two Toastmasters clubs (sometimes in parallel) for a time, but this is coming to a close. Sort of.

The two clubs I've worked with have almost perfectly opposed climates. HP tends to be a very organized, get things done, go-go-go type group. If a problem comes up that needs immediate attention, it usually gets solved. (Okay, sure, it took me months to get my AC-S and ALB pin, but, like I said, 'immediate attention'.) Everyone knows their roles and generally shows up on time. In comparison, Cy-Fair is...rather laid back. To the point where many roles go unfilled until the last moment. I did many speeches for a second CC just because no one wanted to speak that evening.

With HP, it was a challenge getting all the special events we wanted to do going and out the door. This included a 21st birthday party, award banquets, and the usual contests and officer training. It's also been a challenge getting the new CL manual into the consciousness of folks and I met with only limited success in getting that going (I made it a point to mention it at the beginning of meetings, but was still met with the sound of crickets most of the time). However, it was generally not too hard to find people to be on committees and such; at least one person would volunteer. With Cy-Fair, they need lots of constant pushing for a month in advance for an event, and even then it sometimes felt like not enough lead time. Finding contest chairs and such, nevermind replacement officers, was not easy, and most did not want to do their job (or just had no idea of their expectations).

I'm not going to imply or pretend that I know all about leadership; I don't. I learned a few of my deficiencies quite quickly. First and foremost, a president needs to direct and delegate. I'm more one to just step up and do the required work instead of asking those who should take it up to do it. Mostly this is due to impatience -- I've got that "tech nerd" background that expects things to be done without referring to others, and if I can do something with a minimum of fuss, I do it. I tried to get better at this, and did to some degree. One other thing that I need to work on is an insecurity that no one listens to me. Unfortunately, it's all too easy to let the "inner naysayer" out when I ask for something to be done and it isn't. Lastly, spending a bit more time on the direction of the club, especially at the opening of the term (maybe making a scorecard of sorts to help keep track of things, too).

One key thing I learned from both: plan (a month) in advance for the big things. There's always some inertia to overcome (especially with a volunteer group), sometimes a huge amount.

Some disappointments though: officers that are just that in name only, and don't much care for the role. I should have been more active about getting them to either do their job or find someone else to fill the role, yes.

Anyway, I am happy that at HP (where I haven't been president for a term) there was an actual election for the office of president between two people. Also, I'm glad there's someone taking over at CF that I think will do well. But I didn't title this "swapping the torch" for that reason. I'm set to be the next area governor (I've been told I'm on the 'short list'), so I'm thinking about what I need to do for that role (the new division governor hasn't contacted me, so I'm getting a bit worried. Hm). Should also start talking to some of the past AGs too. I'm sure I'll get it done.

We'll see how the next year or so goes. Should be fun.