Reviving Your Organization Through ABC

I wrote an article recently to the Toastmasters District 51 Newsletters which is publish in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. But how would that be relevant to you if you are not a Toastmasters. The point is the same ideas and concepts shared here would be equally useful in our day-to-day life. Here is the article:

Empowering Member's Inner Force Using A-B-C
(The simple and proven ABC ideas to make more progress in your Club's DCP goals in less time)

Introduction
Just slightly over a year and 9 months ago, our membership fell below charter strength and we were on the brink of deciding whether to return this Club to its former glory or let it crush into oblivion .....

Once the decision was made by members to revive the Club, we scrapped through 9 months, breaking the vicious cycle of low members' turnout. We achieved more in just one year, than we had in the past 7 years since our Club was chartered!!

Our Club accomplished 10/10 DCP goals, attaining the President's Distinguish Club status for the very 1st time in our Club's history.

How does a Club which was in such severe recession swing itself upwards to such great heights in just a short period of one year? A Chinese proverb goes like this "Success is when opportunity meets preparation"

We analyzed and discovered certain strategies that were in place that contributed to the boom of our Club. We summarized and simply named it A-B-C ideas. These are no more than simple, practical, easy to follow tools, which aim to aid members, Clubs, Divisions or Districts to succeed in achieving their Goals.

1. Aim For The Stars

Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now - ALLAN LAKEIN

At the very beginning of the term, we set a precise goal and developed a comprehensive action plan. Our goal back then was to achieve 10/10 DCP goals by 30 June 2008.

We thought then it was already an impressive goal until our Area Governor, ACS Dennis Wee, called, "Hey, what if your Club could achieve 10/10 DCP goals by 31 December 2007 and be the 1st Club in District 51 to achieve it!?!?".

That idea blew our minds OFF and it got us all excited and we set to achieve our goals by 31 December 2007. That is the starting point that empowered the members to such miraculous results today.

We also did something different that we announced our Club goals loud and clear in our Installation Dinner to all members and guests. Psychologically, this helps to held the EXCO members accountable to the goals.

Then to keep the momentum, we must first lead by example. A Leader Walks his Talk. A leader can't motivate the members to progress if the leader themselves did not progress. Action speaks louder than words. Therefore, to live up to the standard we set, few of the "hardcore" members (Meyyappa, Derek, Kheng Chuan and myself) to achieved their goals in the first 6 months. Their relentless efforts have unconsciously set the momentum of the Club!!

Here are the elements we think are essential to formulate a Club Goal:

a) Excitement Drive
b) Well announced
c) Time buffer
d) Lead by Example

2. Barter Trade Concepts

The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably, thought and act - ORISON SWETT MARDEN

Prior to the use of currencies as we all know, in the past goods were exchanged on a one-on-one basis with the intent that the value was of relative equal hence the birth of Barter Trade.

One of our main challenge was to get the members to progress on their Basic Communication Manual. To overcome this we simply barter traded with them!!

I remembered when one of my fellow members asked me before I went on a vacation, "Can you send me a postcard for my personal collection during your vacation overseas?".

I responded, "Certainly, but..... can you do a speech on either Jan 9 or Jan 23?" Whichever options she chose, she committed herself to a speech slot.

I've also barter traded in these for speech slots:

1. A drive home after TM meeting
2. Time spent on mentoring a mentee
3. An opportunity to attend semi annual TLI training
4. Helping a member to take up a pre-assigned role play (eg. Substituting as TME, Ah Counter etc)
5. Information or news sent to members

Currently, only few members in our Club discover this powerful concept and it had already brought us astonishing results. What if ALL MEMBERS acquire this as a habit? The effect would probably spiral up to other clubs, divisions and even districts.

Other crucial factors when encouraging members to do their speeches are:

i. Timing Ask at the correct time
We encourage member to take up a speech slot usually after our TM meeting, Club Visits, Contests or after the members completed their speeches, as these are the times when they are "H-O-T, High on Toastmasters".

ii. Put them on a ferries wheels
Schedule members for speeches early (a month in advance), to minimise the "last minute pulled-out syndrome". The key is to communicate with mentor to do the follow up and remind the member again 2 weeks before the schedule date. In that case, the Club will get its speech slots filled continuously

3. Coaching and Connections

True success comes only when every generation continues to develop the next generation - JOHN C. MAXWELL

Mentor-mentee system was established in our Club to provide coaching for members. Our motto all members are keen to present their speeches until proven otherwise. All they need is guidance, like a toddler learning how to walk.

If members are prepared, they are more confident, and when they are confident, they are more willing to present their speeches, and this massively increases the likelihood of giving a speech.

But....... Will mentor be regarded as "pushy" if he keeps asking the mentee to do speeches again and again, one after another?

Possibly, and as such, we sourced and spread the mentor's responsibility to others. For example, instead of encouraging the mentee directly, the mentor could indirectly encourage the mentee by asking the AG, Assistant AG, President, VPE or even ask TMs from other Clubs to invite mentee to do speeches in or outside of the Club!!

This may come as a surprise to you, but we found that many members are much more inspired and motivated when invited by TMs from other Club!! This also opens up the networking door for our members to flourish outside our home ground.

Conclusion

On its surface, the A-B-C ideas shared here may appear simple and provide a mere subtle effects, but if these ideas were put into practice it will yield astounding results as they did for us. Through the A-B-C ideas, we recruited 13 new members, achieved 6 CC's, 2 AC's, 2 CL's and crowned President Distinguished Club, the very first since this Club was charted in Sep 2001, 7 years ago.

On behalf of the Club, I wish to express our gratitude to my Exco's and all the amazing individuals that have contributed to this success namely Sue Ding, Dennis Wee, Meyya, Stephen Fernando, Vincent Hor, Bill Sim, Parames, Daniel Teh, Sheila Wong, Dominic Joseph, Ramdas Nayar and Ron Lau.

Alas.. I'm proud to say I belong to a President' Distinguished Club

Ken Tan,
President of Deloitte KassimChan Toastmasters Club 2007/2008

PS: If you like the article, please feel free to leave any comment here as I read all my comment personnally. Share with us your ideas and thoughts on how you could use this in your day-to-day life and benefit from it. Thanks!!

Your Network Is Your Net Worth

I first heard this phrase from Robert Kiyosaki in his book "Rich Dad Poor Dad". Then, many people.... start using the phrase again and again, as if it was a phrase from the Bible.

But I though for a while, is it true? Does the extension of your network, simple reflected in your net worth? Or does the quality of your network determine your net worth?

I was curious. So, I ventured out to find the elusive answer through books, friends and eventually I stumpled upon a workshop. A workshop conducted by DU Advanced Toastmasters Club. Here is what I understand from the Singaporean trainer.

(1) What is networking?

Networking can be anybody. For example, the toilet cleaner, your child's friends or your friend's mother, or even the waitress serving you could be your network. They may be the next one, who introduce you to the CEO, General Manager or Head Of Department ("HOD") of a company. If this is true, then in short, networking can be built by anyone, at anytime, to anybody. This simply means you got to be nice to everybody.... huh.. (smiling)

Networking also means sharing your competence with your alliances.

Network refers to someone, who knows someone,... who knows someone,... who knows someone....... who knows someone (They may not do the job for you, but that someone may open doors for opportunity to you when you're in need)

Networking is about being professional, it is about being connected, being involved and being interested in people.

(2) So, why should people even network with you?

There are only 3 reasons, why your friends network with you, now.

(a) Your POSITION,

Just imagine this. If you are the CFO of a company, i bet you, that bankers, lawyers, partners of audit firm and all the HOD will be begging to be in your network. For a simply reason, you have the authority to deposit money into their bank, to appoint/engage them for certain service and also to approve their budgets. But the risk is, what if you no longer working as the CFO of the company? You have to think about it... because nothing is evergreen.

(b) The INFORMATION you can provide them

The second reason why people network with you is because you have certain special knowledge, skill or experience that they don't have. If you know all the gossip at your workplace, I bet, you'll have more friends. Because, whenever your collegues want some update in the office, they will go to you.

Let says if you have always known to be a person, who poses high problem solving skills among your friends. And the next time your friends, have a problem, do you think it is more likely that they will look for you or someone else on the street? Do you think they will want to keep you in their network over someone who have nothing to share. Think about it....

If you know the best place for food, or you know the cheapest car repair workshop or even the best deals for online purchases..... you'll definitely have an edge over your other friends.

(c) The CONNECTIONS you have

You knows everyone in the town, or you know all the bankers..... rather than investing hours and hours networking with hundreds of people, your friend could simply tap on the vast network you already have. The just need to know you and they'll have the key to hundreds of your friends. Likewise, it will be the same for you too.... this is call 'leveraging'.

So, most important question is, which one of the above do you poses? Position, Information or Connection? If you have all 3, well done.... your network should be extensive by now. If you have none of that, your network should be limited.

But no worries. Because, now you already know the three reasons why people network with you and guess what many of your friends, don't even realised it yet.

If you already have a huge extensive network then, well done. But if you have limited network or you would like to expand your network further, here are something you could do:

(i) make the most of your existing connections (re-connect with them thru e-mails, social community)
(ii) build your social capital (e.g. find out the best eatery place in town, the cheapest flight tickets around, the happening events in your area, the best lawyer, the most trustworthy contractors, the most reliably insurance agent, etc) and
(iii) creating new connection

A common networking session that I've been to, often happens in this manner.

First, introducing yourself to strangers, then talking with them, asking them questions, knowing them, having drinks and then...... eventually forgetting about them. Usually the last line is.... "We shall catch up again someday". But the truth is, they never catch up. Maybe at the end of the conversation, they even forget about the person name.

Most people spend time SOCIALISING, but they thought they are NETWORKING... Networking... is about maintaining closed contact thru offering and sharing with other people your social capital, so that both can connect.

Here comes my thought… expansion of network is crucial. But the quality of your network is even more important than the quantity. The simple fact is, if you lie down with dogs you come up with fleas. If you network with positive and like minded people, you'll be positive minded as well. If you network with negative people, you'll turn negative.

It's really not that difficult to figure this out, isn't it??

If you read this article and finid that it is useful, I would appreciate if you could leave me a comment. I read all my comment personally. You could even add me into your facebook to expand your network or simply subscribed to the Sunday Series's Newsletters

, so that I could update you whenever I've any valueable information to share.

Thanks,

Ken Tan