Why Club Building Matters

I am a proud member of Toastmasters, the world's leading communication and leadership program. We pride ourselves on being the only organization in the world solely dedicated to the individual.

We are 12,500 clubs organized across 113 countries. Yet, every year, Toastmasters International holds every club and district in the world to the same standards of attracting new members, starting new clubs and making sure members are hitting their individual goals. With so many clubs out there already, why does club building matter?

Club building is essential for three reasons:

1) Clubs that all already healthy will grow faster by multiplying. While ironic, it tends to happen pretty consistently in Toastmasters, church plants and other volunteer heavy endeavors. When new clubs form, it gives members the opportunity to get in on the ground floor, and shape something new together. Additionally, it can be valuable for the unlimited variations a club can take (themed, advanced, corporate, open, third shifters, etc.).

2) Sometimes, the load is being shouldered to heavily by a small handful of people, or even a single one. When clubs are constantly forming, new energy creates new leaders, more people are given the opportunity to grow and step up, and equally importantly giving existing the leaders the opportunity (or in some cases the impetus) to step aside.

3) While Toastmasters is definitely more well known for public speaking, the leadership program is critical. The best way I've found to understand every mechanical thing about an organization is to start one from scratch. With TM, it's a win-win because so much of the material is standardized with set expectations and tons of support around. You have an opportunity to cast vision before all kinds of community and business leaders about what life might look like with a world- or maybe just a department- full of better communicators.

I built two corporate clubs this year from scratch. I got to connect with people in other departments, talk to them about meetings that ran on time where people were prepared, and capable of making concise, interesting presentations even on short notice. The company took notice. They gave us a room, and a budget. They told senior leaders to push from the top down.

There are parts of our business I never think about, like how email on a remote server gets stuck in firewalls, and how different departments (particularly legal) might want to be involved with whatever I am putting online. With this experience, I not only found an opportunity to learn about and make friends in these departments, I found a hundred reasons to make people look good in front of their boss. Or their boss's boss. Or the head of the entire department.

I didn't join TM to get promoted or look good in front of Corporate or make a name for myself. I simply built a club because it was a message that needed to be spread. And I hope my club inspires other leaders to spread their own message. I look forward to helping them!