Toastmasters Leadership Institute

Waking up at 8 am is not something I would do during the weekend, but today I have a special mission to accomplish: join the Toastmasters Leadership Institute! This conference is made up of the following sessions.

Characteristics of Effective Leaders 

          "Leadership is ultimately about creating ways for other people to make extraordinary things happen."
Personality Qualities:

• Emotionally mature: no negative emotions because it will influence the whole team
• Independent: be confident enough to say your ideas; don't always rely on the team
• Strong-willed: don't fluctuate when someone else say something; have your own set of ideas; be focused 
• Courageous: feel the fear and do what you want to do anyway; have the courage to make mistakes
• Ambitious: ambition is the driving force that gives you motivation
• Resilient: keep going even run into problems
• Charismatic: influence team members, inspire them

 As a leader you need to know

1. Yourself: know your core values; you don't want to do something against your own core values; integrity  
2. Your team: know them well enough to inspire them
3. Environment: work environment, economic environment...

Working in the Team Environment

Strategies and tips to:

1. Develop Team Relations: in order to build team relationships, you have to know them and see the master in them. The way you can accomplish that is through communication. Have social events, such as luncheon. Remember don't ever think that you are too big for someone. A good company leader knows every single person in the company! 
2. Encourage Commitment: get people involve and give them a chance to grow
3. Provide Structure: reward accomplishment 
4. Build Trust: listen, share, and be honest with them. Whatever you do, keep it consistent. Otherwise, people will have doubts in you. If you make mistakes, apologize genuinely.    
5. Resolve Conflict: conflicts can bring positive effects to the team if it is well resolved. Conflicts is caused by unfulfilled needs and expectations.  

Goal Setting and Planning

Don't set up any goals but S.M.A.R.T. goals! (Specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and time-bounded) For example: instead of setting up a goal as writing a book, let's put it as "finish writing a 200 pages book before the end of 2013 by writing 5 pages per week".


Success Tips

• Write out your goals: put it in a place that you'll see everyday. Remind yourself of the goal. 
• Communicate your goals: tell your friends and family about your goals so that they can help you achieve it.
• Celebrate milestones: whenever you make an achievement, celebrate it! Rewarding yourself before you go on to the next level is important, it makes you feel worth the while and it motivates you to go on.

"He who fails to plan, plans to fail."     

Unlocking the Toastmaster Secret 

I think the secret of Toastmaster is members help each other out. Not only do them want themselves to grow, they also want to see others succeed. The constructive feedback or evaluation of each speaker is truly the reason why members grow. They accept the feedback and continue to work their way out.


This conference truly is a valuable experience for me. I got to hear not only from the speakers but some of the audience's ideas and thoughts. If they ever hold an event like this, I will definitely go again, and I recommend you to go and see for yourself!