An Audience in Southern British Columbia & Vancouver Island

On June 8, 2023, I presented online to District 21 Toastmasters. The audience was comprised of Toastmasters members from southern British Columbia and Victoria Island.  Later I watched the video recording of the one-hour session.  I will provide a link to the video below. 

Each of us can learn from watching recorded performances. In reviewing my performance before this audience, I am pleased with my conversational approach and my management of timing and the material. This was scheduled as a 40-minute presentation with 15 minutes of Q&A.  The event started at 7:00 p.m. Pacific and 11:00 p.m. my time.  As I rewatch the video, I can hear tiredness and less precision in my voice. Approaching midnight is not my best time of day, so I need to be sure to be well-rested before similar events.

The material covered included the practicality of the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership model of delegation and the leadership lessons contained in this amazing article on leadership from Zenger-Folkman in Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2012/12/why-do-we-wait-so-long-to-trai. 

Also, I spent some time calling attention to a McKinsey paper on the future world of work and the skills citizens will need to prosper.  This material helps make an audience of Toastmasters better aware of the valuable, transferable skills we require them to exercise during their weekly meetings. The McKinsey material is available here  https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/defining-the-skills-citizens-will-need-in-the-future-world-of-work

Should you wish to view the one-hour presentation please visit this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df3Jj_uICj4

This was an enjoyable virtual visit with this audience in British Columbia, and based on comments received the audience did receive value. I’ve only in-person visited Vancouver in the province of British Columbia, although I hope to explore the province more fully someday. 

Pursue Greater Personal Significance

 

On July 1^st and again on July 8^th, I present virtual keynotes to groups based in Toronto and in Singapore. One speech is 20 minutes long and the other is 15 minutes long. One session includes a 10-minute Q&A.

The theme of these talks will be Pursuing Greater Significance.  My objective is to encourage attendees to commit and achieve the goals assigned to their teams, while helping them to recognize that the skills and behaviors they will need to exhibit in achieving the team goals will serve each of them very well as they pursue other personal goals. If I am successful in helping the attendees define what greater significance means to each of them, and helping them see the link to team performance, then I will be successful. What would greater personal significance mean to you?

Pat Riley: The Winner Within

During the speech, I refer to a book from basketball executive, former player, and former coach Pat Riley.  Riley coached the NBA Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, and Miami Heat. I recently read his 1994 book The Winner Within: A Life Plan for Team Players.

Riley has some tremendous stories to tell and amazing experiences. However, I found the book difficult to follow, because during long passages continuity was lost as the text veered from game 7 in the NBA finals, to a speech the author gave to some business executives, to thoughts on the Japanese car industry, to a touching story about a Vietnam veteran.  All of the content is good, but the abrupt switches made it difficult for me as a reader to organize and process the messages. Structure matters.

Team Goals

However, late in the book, on page 211 of the 272 pages in the copy I was reading, Riley offers a quote from a friend of his and I thought the quote was gold. I’ll use it in my speech.  The friend is identified as Dr. Lew Richardson.  He doesn’t seem to have a book, but if he did I would find it. The Richardson quote reads as;

“Teams break when they don’t have a goal, or the goals aren’t clearly defined by the leaders. Goals have to be firmly entrenched, otherwise, people begin to operate as independent entrepreneurs in a system that really needs cooperative work.”

Gold. This applies to basketball, and to any team sport.  It applies to any work team.  I note that this does not exclude individuality and individual achievement, but does assert that team goals need to be clear and team members need to direct energy and attention to accomplishing them. I will add that the goals, progress, and helpful behaviors require frequent reminders with the team.

Personal Significance

Within the speech, I will speak to my pursuit of significance in various roles including some in Toastmasters International, my past volunteer work with L’Arche, and my current mentorship work with newcomers to Saint John.

I plan to connect each attendee’s personal ambitions and search for significance, to the work and skills required for my audiences to meet their defined team goals.

If successful, I can further develop this new material and theme.

Lost In Thought: Empowering Personal Development

 

Sometimes I’m asked why I continue to attend Toastmaster meetings after so many years as a member. There are many reasons, most notably because I recognize that public speaking is a skill and any skill requires practice. Each week at a Toastmaster meeting, I practice skills such as thinking on my feet and spontaneously crafting short speeches. I have sufficient knowledge about the craft, but I need regular practice and feedback from audience members to understand if my messages are effective.

Another reason I continue to attend is to see people develop in our supportive Toastmasters environment. It is an absolute joy to see people make progress. The supportive Toastmasters club environment was important to my development back in the 80s, and still today. It continues to nurture new attendees.

A Recent Example

I witnessed another example of this nurturing environment a few weeks ago.  A university student joined our Toastmasters club because she had a severe fear of public speaking.  In her initial attempts at impromptu speaking, she could only manage a few short sentences when she would stop, lost in her thoughts, and unsure how to proceed.

Over the past couple of months, she has learned to better manage her thoughts, and had some successes. Her confidence and skills are developing. When someone has a deep fear of public speaking, I’ve observed that they seem to move through a pattern of believing they can’t perform, to having some modest success, then better success, and ultimately should they persist they arrive to a point where they know they can perform, and they then learn to manage their way through various speaking engagements.  Some even reach the point where they enjoy public speaking.

Who Gets Lost In Their Thoughts?

You may know someone who gets lost in her thoughts when she speaks to an audience. You likely know someone who is reluctant to speak to any size audience and this is inhibiting his development.  If this is the case, I hope you invite, and perhaps accompany, that person to a Toastmasters meeting. There is no commitment to join, and most clubs are very open to guests and welcome their attendance (Some clubs are resident within companies making it difficult or impossible for people outside the organization to visit).

You can find a club via the Find A Club link at www.toastmasters.org

Every day I receive a Google alert with links to news and items related to Toastmasters.  Here is a good one about a reporters experience with Toastmasters in Australia

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/feb/01/the-devotion-the-positivity-the-awkwardness-what-i-learned-from-joining-toastmasters

Comfort Zone – How Writing Helps Speaking, How Speaking Helps Writing

In May 2023, I published the book Write Like A Leader on Amazon sites worldwide. Later this year, I will place some paperbacks at some local bookstores. This involves visiting local stores, signing a simple consignment contract, and committing to re-stock when necessary.  A national distribution arrangement would be nice, but I’m not prepared to put energy into this task. I wrote this book, and others, to assert a point of view, to assist readers, and to enable more paid speaking opportunities, which has occurred.

Write Like A Leader deals with planning, reflecting, and using the written word as one method to connect with teams.  It’s drawn from my personal experience. From September 2015 until August 2016, I was required to deliver a monthly Viewpoint column while serving as Toastmasters International President. In the book, I describe my process for capturing ideas well in advance, and later developing the written content.

A little planning goes a long way with a task such as this. The requirement to write a column helped me clarify my thinking about the organization and the role I occupied for twelve months.

Writing Helps Speaking, Speaking Helps Writing

Planning and writing on these topics improved my speaking.  Speaking on these topics improved my writing. The content of these columns became core material for other work.

Should you be interested in Viewpoint columns in The Toastmaster magazine and past issues of the magazine, please visit https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/issues

Should you be interested in the book please visit amazon.com/author/jimkokocki