The fifth project in the Competent Leadership manual from Toastmaster's International is titled Planning and Implementation. This project outlines what planning is and how planning assists leadership; the project also quizzes you on how well you plan, and provides good advice on how to plan, and how to implement a plan. 

Attended a great seminar last night, led by my friend in Toastmasters, CP. He gave us a talk on six steps we can take to better achieve our goals. His work is based on the ideas of Napoleon Hill's seminary book - Think & Grow Rich.

Continuing the Toastmaster's Competent Leadership (CL) Manual, the next project is Project 3: Giving Feedback. This project outlines the importance of, and ways in which we can give constructive performance feedback to the teams we are managing:

Team members need to know what they are doing well, what they are not doing well, and how they can improve. Giving performance feedback is a necessary leadership function. When done properly, feedback can relieve stress, improve interpersonal relationships, and promote trust and respect for leaders and team members (Toastmasters International, CL)

The fourth project in the Toastmaster's competent communication series concerns word choice and arrangement of those words in your speech; it specifically focuses on language.

Words are powerful. They convey your message and influence the audience and its perception of you. Word choice and arrangement need just as much attention as speech organization and purpose. Select clear, accurate, descriptive, and short words that best communicate your ideas and arrange them effectively and correctly. Every word should add value, meaning and punch to the speech (Competent Communication, Toastmasters International)

Every speech must have a general and specific purpose. A general purpose is to inform, to persuade, to entertain or to inspire. A specific purpose is what you want the audience to do after listening to your speech. Once you have established your general and specific purposes, you'll find it easy to organize your speech. (Competent Communication, Toastmasters International)

Toastmasters Competent Communication Manual (CC) progressively outlines and builds essential speech-making and speech delivery skills. The second project is about organizing your speech.

Good speech organization is essential if your audience is to follow and understand your presentation. You must take the time to put your ideas together in an orderly manner... The opening should catch the audience's attention, the body must support the idea you want to convey, and the conclusion should reinforce your ideas and be memorable. Transitions between thoughts should be smooth (TI - Competent Communication)

Toastmasters Competent Leadership Manual (CL Manual) details various skills which are essential for developing great leadership skills. The second project talks about critical thinking as a leadership skill:

A successful leader gathers information, then carefully analyzes, interprets, and understands it before acting. This process is called critical thinking. Critical thinking is about how to approach problems, questions, and issues (Toastmasters International - CL).

The CL manual then highlights essential skills of critical thinkers, and offers tips on how to think critically...

Toastmasters Competent Leadership Manual (CL Manual) details various skills which are essential for developing great leadership skills. The first project talks about listening as a leadership skill:

Listening is an important leadership skill that enables you to acquire information, identify and clarify issues, make decisions, and resolve conflict. Listening skills also play a major role in team building. (Toastmasters International, CL)

 The project also gives pointers on how to listen better...

Just watching 강호동 again on the teli(sp.?) with the wife, you know the show about the guy and his buddies going camping and eating all around the Korean countryside? And... it got me to thinking. Would a show like this even be possible (let alone successful) in Canada (or US)? It seems like it wouldn't for a few reasons which I've just been thinking about...

Here's how to prepare and deliver that next speech effectively (from Harvard Business Review's guide to persuasive presentations) in a series of 8 easy steps. Read on to find out the steps...

Hi Everyone,

I've just finished the 3rd round of evaluations, and here's the team standings so far (this is the total scores since January to today). It's very close for the first and second positions...

This article summarizes the key points from the Harvard PON Special Reports I distributed earlier this year on facilitation... read on for some tips about facilitation!

Earlier this year, I sent on an article about Cross-Culture Communication Skills from the Harvard-PON website, which we subscribe to. Read on for a summary of that article...