Leadership Lessons from the Real World
How to advance your skills with a High Performance Leadership project.
By Dave Zielinski
现实世界的领导力训练
如何通过“高绩效领导力”项目提高技能。
——Dave Zielinski
The best way to build leadership skills isn’t to read leadership books, attend training classes or watch instructional videos. While those methods can be helpful and necessary, the best way to develop as a leader is to test and grow your skills in the trenches—in the crucible of real-world leadership scenarios.
That’s the essence of Toastmasters’ High Performance Leadership (HPL) program, in which you take on a practical project that enables you to hone leadership skills in areas like developing a vision, goal-setting, conflict management and teambuilding. Working in the High Performance Leadership manual guides you through the steps you need to succeed. One of the first steps is assembling a guidance committee to advise you through your project.
Completing the HPL program is required to earn a DTM. In the Toastmasters Pathways learning experience, the new education program launching next year, the HPL will continue to be a big part of the program; however, it won’t be required to earn a DTM.
(Read more about the Pathways HPL in the accompanying sidebar.)
The following members have completed their HPL projects either through events orchestrated outside the Toastmasters environment, such as organizing a TEDx event, or with in-club projects such as creating a structured mentorship program. They offer advice on how to choose the right project and extract the most value from leadership lessons learned along the way.
PRIYANKA KOMALA, DTM
Washington, D.C.
Project: Organizing a speech contest
When Priyanka Komala was just 5 years old and living in India, she stepped onstage and gave an impromptu speech. It was a harbinger of future success: She went on to become an accomplished Toastmaster serving as a division governor and club coach.
Komala is a technology director at The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in Washington, D.C., as well as a member of the National Academies Toastmasters club. She chose to organize an area speech contest for her HPL project. More than 30 members attended. Komala says she chose the project because she knew it wouldn’t be easy. Lessons she learned:
Reach out. When Komala began planning her project, no one in her club had experience with the process. She asked others, including some area governors, for input on how to choose the best project. The process of reaching out taught her the value of asking for help.
“It’s okay to be vulnerable as a leader,” she says, “and let others know you don’t have knowledge in certain areas. The only way to learn is to acknowledge that you might not have all the answers.”
She also points out that not everyone has time to help. “You have to be okay with hearing no from people.” That gave Komala the opportunity, for example, to ask if they knew others who might have advice to offer. She received suggestions that turned into valuable contacts.
Influence without authority. Delegating tasks to those assisting her didn’t always come naturally to Komala. “I had to delegate more than I was used to,” she says, “but empowering and trusting those on my team was key to getting the job done. Taking on more of an influential, rather than authoritative, role was enlightening to me and often created better team dynamics.”
培养领导能力的最佳方法不是阅读领导书籍，参加培训课程或观看教学视频。虽然这些方法可能是有用和必要的，但发展成为领导者的最佳方法是在现实世界中的领导才能场景中测试和发展自己的能力。
这就是Toastmasters的高性能领导力（HPL）计划的本质，在该计划中，您将进行一个实际的项目，使您能够在制定愿景，设定目标，冲突管理和团队建设等方面磨练领导技能。 《高效能领导力》手册中的工作将指导您完成成功所需的步骤。第一步是组建一个指导委员会，以在整个项目中为您提供建议。
必须完成HPL程序才能获得DTM。在Toastmasters Pathways的学习经验中，明年将启动新的教育计划，HPL将继续成为该计划的重要组成部分；但是，不需要获得DTM。
（在附带的侧栏中阅读有关Pathways HPL的更多信息。）
以下成员已经通过Toastmasters环境之外组织的活动（例如组织TEDx活动）或俱乐部内的项目（例如创建结构化的指导计划）完成了HPL项目。他们为如何选择合适的项目以及如何从领导经验中学到最大价值提供了建议。
DTM PRIYANKA KOMALA
华盛顿特区。
项目：组织演讲比赛
Priyanka Komala只有5岁，住在印度，当时她登上舞台，发表了即席演讲。这预示着未来的成功：她继续成为一名出色的Toastmaster，担任部门州长和俱乐部教练。
Komala是位于华盛顿特区的美国国家科学，工程与医学研究院的技术主管，也是美国国家研究院Toastmasters俱乐部的成员。她选择为自己的HPL项目组织区域演讲比赛。 30多名成员参加了会议。 Komala说她之所以选择该项目，是因为她知道这并不容易。她吸取的教训：
寻求帮助。当Komala开始计划她的项目时，她俱乐部中的任何人都没有这个过程的经验。她要求其他人，包括一些地区州长，就如何选择最佳项目提供意见。寻求帮助的过程教会了她寻求帮助的价值。
她说：“成为领导者很脆弱，并且让其他人知道您在某些领域没有知识。学习的唯一方法是承认您可能并没有所有答案。”
她还指出，并非每个人都有时间提供帮助。 “您必须没事的人都可以。”例如，这给了科马拉一个机会，询问他们是否认识其他可能会提供建议的人。她收到的建议变成了宝贵的联系。
没有权威的影响。将任务委派给协助她的人并非总是会自然而然地来到科玛拉。她说：“与过去相比，我不得不委派更多的人，但是赋予团队成员的力量和信任是完成工作的关键。对我来说，担当更多有影响力而不是权威的角色是很有意义的，并且通常可以创造更好的团队动力。”
**Accept hiccups. **As someone with an admitted perfectionist streak, Komala came to accept that not everything in her project would go smoothly. “Things don’t always shape up the way you plan, so you have to see it as part of the process and not take it personally,” she says. “It helps you be more creative in problem solving.”
**Showing you care. **The HPL also underscored for Komala that showing concern for your colleagues is a key to leading well. “At the end of the day, what really matters is being kind to people,” she says. “When you acknowledge that your team members have lives and challenges outside of Toastmasters, it helps build rapport.”
接受打嗝。 作为一个公认的完美主义者的人，科玛拉开始接受并不是她项目中的所有事情都会顺利进行。 她说：“事情并不总是会影响您的计划方式，因此您必须将其视为流程的一部分，而不是亲自去做。” “它可以帮助您在解决问题时更具创造力。”
对人表示关心。 HPL还为Komala强调指出，对同事的关心是取得良好领导的关键。 她说：“归根结底，真正重要的是对人们友善。” “当您承认您的团队成员在Toastmasters之外有生活和挑战时，它将有助于建立融洽的关系。”
EDWARD WEDLER, DTM
Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada
Project: Organizing a TEDx event
Edward Wedler had no shortage of promising ideas for his project, but one stood apart from the others. Wedler, a member of the Annapolis Valley Toastmasters in Nova Scotia, Canada, who splits his time between Florida and Canada, opted to organize a TEDx event. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. A TEDx is an independently run TED-like event that attracts those seeking to share and exchange ideas to solve problems or address pressing issues.
“I wanted to bring thought leaders together to discuss ideas about attracting the next generation of people and industries to rural communities,” says Wedler, an Ambassador for the Toastmasters Pathways learning experience.
Wedler knew hosting a successful TEDx wouldn’t be easy. Such events require a high-interest theme to attract quality speakers and meet audience expectations. In his favor were TEDx’s proven formula, strong track record and supportive service.
Applying a global concept locally. Wedler says the project taught him how to orchestrate a community-driven event and seek and coordinate high-quality presenters from a broad range of backgrounds. “I wanted to learn how to take a global concept like TED and apply it locally,” Wedler says. “We identified nine finalist speakers from a list of 29, each of whom spoke for about 15 minutes, and we had an experienced Toastmaster act as master of ceremonies.”
Planning and execution of the event took five months, and 50 volunteers assisted along the way.
**Success and failure. **Following the event, in a presentation to his club, Wedler highlighted what he perceived as his strengths and weaknesses in leading the project. Strengths included surrounding himself with good people and getting tasks done on time and within budget. Wedler used Google Docs, arranged team Skype meetings and designed effective marketing posters and multimedia emails as part of the project.
“I learned as a leader that sometimes you have to step in and make decisions or say no if things are heading in the wrong direction.”
— EDWARD WEDLER, DTM
His weaknesses? “There are times I think I could have been firmer in making decisions myself rather than delegating.”
One challenge was managing the event’s finances. “I learned as a leader that sometimes you have to step in and make decisions or say no if things are heading in the wrong direction,” he says. The key to success, Wedler believes, is setting achievable project steps or milestones and monitoring them throughout the process.
**Beyond Toastmasters. **Wedler believes there are multiple advantages to staging a project outside of Toastmasters. “HPL projects done outside the Toastmasters comfort zone help strengthen our brand image, create good public relations and attract new members,” he says. “When the event succeeds, it celebrates Toastmasters and becomes a great marketing tool.”
**Seeking feedback. **Wedler solicited feedback from his team on his performance as a leader. “I think it’s important to get feedback from those you lead during the project as well as at its end,” he says. Such feedback can help leaders make valuable mid-course corrections.
Wedler believes there are two types of leaders: those who lead through authority and those who lead through example and persuasion. “This project really helped me hone the latter skills,” he says.
爱德华·韦德勒DTM
加拿大新斯科舍省安纳波利斯谷
项目：组织TEDx活动
爱德华·韦德勒（Edward Wedler）在他的项目中不乏有希望的想法，但其中一个与众不同。韦德勒是加拿大新斯科舍省安那波利斯山谷Toastmasters的成员，他把时间分散在佛罗里达和加拿大之间，他选择组织TEDx活动。 TED代表技术，娱乐和设计。 TEDx是一个独立运行的类似TED的活动，吸引了那些寻求共享和交流思想以解决问题或解决紧迫问题的人们。
“我想将思想领袖召集在一起，讨论有关吸引下一代人和产业进入农村社区的想法，” Toastmasters Pathways学习经历大使Wedler说。
韦德勒知道成功举办一次TEDx并非易事。此类活动需要引起高度关注的主题，以吸引高素质的演讲者并满足听众的期望。 TEDx久经考验的配方，良好的业绩记录和支持服务对他有利。
在本地应用全球概念。韦德勒说，该项目教会他如何组织一场社区主导的活动，以及如何寻找和协调来自广泛背景的高质量演讲者。韦德勒说：“我想学习如何采用像TED这样的全球概念并将其应用于本地。” “我们从29名名单中选出了9名决赛入围者，每人发言约15分钟，我们有一位经验丰富的Toastmaster担任主持人。”
活动的计划和执行花费了五个月的时间，沿途有50名志愿者得到了协助。
成功与失败。活动结束后，Wedler在向其俱乐部的介绍中强调了自己在领导该项目中的长处和短处。优势包括与好人相处，并在预算范围内按时完成任务。 Wedler使用Google文档，安排了Skype团队会议，并设计了有效的营销海报和多媒体电子邮件作为该项目的一部分。
“作为领导者，我了解到，有时候事情必须朝着错误的方向前进，否则您不得不介入并做出决定。”
— DTM爱德华·韦德勒
他的弱点？ “有时候我认为我本可以更坚定地自己做决定，而不是委派我。”
一项挑战是管理活动的财务状况。他说：“作为领导者，我学会了有时候您必须介入并做出决定，或者如果事情朝着错误的方向前进，则拒绝。”韦德勒认为，成功的关键是设定可实现的项目步骤或里程碑，并在整个过程中对其进行监控。
超越Toastmasters。 Wedler认为，在Toastmasters之外进行项目有多个优势。他说：“在Toastmasters舒适区之外进行的HPL项目有助于增强我们的品牌形象，建立良好的公共关系并吸引新成员。” “当活动成功时，它将庆祝Toastmasters，并成为一个很好的营销工具。”
寻求反馈。韦德勒（Wedler）征求了他的团队对他担任领导职务的反馈。他说：“我认为重要的是要从您在项目进行中以及项目结束时得到的反馈中获得反馈。”这样的反馈可以帮助领导者进行有价值的中途纠正。
韦德勒认为，领导者有两种类型：通过权威领导的人们和通过榜样和说服力领导的人们。他说：“这个项目确实帮助我磨练了后者的技能。”
MARK BENSINK, ACB, ALB
Thousand Oaks, California
Project: Improving mentorship program
After Mark Bensink earned his CC and CL awards, his club’s vice president education suggested that he carry out an HPL project to revitalize the club’s mentorship program.
“This was the perfect topic for me, as I had spent many years as an adult educator focusing on mentorship and coaching in one of my past jobs,” says Bensink, now a director of global health economics at Amgen in Newbury Park, California.
Bensink created a vision for his project around the idea of the “virtuous circle,” a concept he practices as a martial arts instructor. A virtuous circle refers to a beneficial cycle of events where each event has a positive effect on the next. Bensink, a member of the Amgen Noon Talkers in Thousand Oaks, California, applied the concept to the practice of mentoring.
**Three Levels of Mentoring. **Working with a small team of club members and his HPL guidance committee, Bensink developed a structured mentorship program based on three levels of mentoring:
At Level 1, new club members receive mentoring for their first three speeches in the Competent Communication manual and first three projects in the Competent Leadership manual.
At Level 2, these new members deliver speeches 4, 5 and 6 in the CC manual, at the same time becoming mentors to newly arriving members. The new mentors, in turn, are mentored by senior club members, who hone their leadership skills.
At Level 3, members give speeches 7 through 10 in the CC manual. Here senior club members—those completing advanced levels—are asked to find a similarly advanced member to form a mentorship team. “This is a co-mentorship relationship where people might spend an hour together switching roles between mentor and mentee to further build skills,” Bensink says.
**Learning your style. **The project gave Bensink a better understanding of his own leadership style as well as where his mentoring skills needed improvement. “The amount of mentoring I did myself helped me better understand the mentor-mentee relationship and drive the mentoring vision for others,” he says. “It’s a mastery paradigm. When you do something for a long time and get comfortable with it you’re in a better position to lead and teach it.”
**Measuring progress. **The project also gave Bensink a greater appreciation for the value of meeting goals in increments. “Many times we set project goals and only look at the end point,” he says. “We don’t track how we’re doing at designated steps and milestones along the way.” For example, if mentors and mentees meet for just 30 minutes every two weeks, mentees can use the advice they get to develop a good speech within two months.
A skilled mentor will keep mentees accountable but also help curb any perfectionist tendencies, Bensink says.
“A good mentor will help you focus on areas that need improving but also tell you when your speech is good enough to go.” In other words, the best mentors help mentees strive for excellence and not perfection.
MARK BENSINK, ACB, ALB
加州千橡市
项目:完善师徒计划
在Mark Bensink获得他的CC和CL奖之后，他的扶轮社教育副会长建议他执行一个HPL计划来振兴扶轮社的导师制计划。
“这对我来说是一个完美的话题，因为我在过去的一份工作中做了很多年的成人教育，专注于导师和辅导，”本辛克说。他现在是加利福尼亚州纽伯里公园安进公司(Amgen)的全球卫生经济学总监。
本辛克围绕着“良性循环”的理念为他的项目创造了一个愿景，这是他作为武术教练实践的一个概念。良性循环指的是事件的良性循环，即每个事件都会对下一个事件产生积极的影响。本辛克是位于加州千橡市的安进午间谈话者组织的成员，他将这一理念应用到指导实践中。
三个层次的指导。本辛克与一个由俱乐部成员和他的HPL指导委员会组成的小团队合作，开发了一个基于三个级别指导的结构化导师计划:
在第1级，新社员在胜任沟通手册中的前三次演讲和胜任领导手册中的前三次项目上接受辅导。
在第2级，这些新成员在CC手册中进行4、5、6次演讲，同时成为新成员的导师。而新导师则由俱乐部的资深成员来指导，并磨练他们的领导技能。
在3级，成员在CC手册中发表7到10次演讲。在这里，高级俱乐部成员——那些完成高级水平的人——被要求找到一个类似的高级成员来组成一个指导团队。“这是一种合作辅导关系，人们可能会花一个小时在导师和被辅导者之间交换角色，以进一步培养技能，”本辛克说。
学习你的风格。这个项目让本辛克更好地了解了自己的领导风格，以及他的指导技能需要改进的地方。他说:“我自己所做的辅导帮助我更好地理解师徒关系，并推动了指导他人的愿景。”“这是一种大师范型。当你做一件事做了很长时间，并且适应了它，你就处于一个更好的位置来领导和教授它。”
衡量进展。这个项目也让本辛克更加重视实现目标的价值。他表示:“很多时候，我们设定项目目标，但只关注最终目标。”“我们没有跟踪我们在指定的步骤和里程碑上做了什么。例如，如果导师和徒弟每两周只见面30分钟，徒弟就可以利用他们得到的建议，在两个月内培养出一篇好的演讲。
本辛克说，一个有经验的导师不仅能让学员负起责任，还能帮助抑制任何完美主义倾向。
一个好的导师会帮助你关注需要改进的地方，还会告诉你什么时候你的演讲已经足够好了。换句话说，最好的导师帮助学员追求卓越而不是完美。
CARINA SCHEY, DTM
St.-Prex, Switzerland
Project: Organizing a TLI
When Carina Schey considered options for her HPL project, she decided on organizing a Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) event. A member of several clubs in Switzerland, she recalls attending a similar event where the keynote speaker was less than inspirational.
“I committed right there to holding a TLI where the speakers would do a great job of inspiring everyone,” says Schey, an Ambassador for the Toastmasters Pathways learning experience. “I also wanted an event that would be highly interactive so everyone felt involved and there wouldn’t be any death by PowerPoint.”
Schey began organizing the TLI in the city of Bern for the three Toastmasters divisions in Switzerland. Along the way, she learned important leadership lessons she now applies in her profession as a consulting health economist, as well as in her leadership roles within Toastmasters.
Create contingency plans, and backups for contingencies. When one of the speakers for Schey’s event canceled, she decided to find back-up speakers for all of her TLI sessions. That planning paid off when another speaker canceled the night before one of the sessions. Such contingency planning is often easier said than done. “It took a bit of diplomacy, because no one wants to feel they are second best,” Schey says. “But I contacted people who I thought would cherish the opportunity to be backup speakers.”
**View obstacles as a challenge. **Most Toastmasters encounter obstacles in planning or executing their HPL projects, but Schey says the key is to keep moving forward. “If you really believe in your project you can overcome any obstacle.”
**Brief your speakers. **Another lesson Schey learned, which she now applies to the professional conferences she organizes, is to give speakers a detailed brief of what is expected from them. “Because I wanted TLI speeches that were highly interactive, I ended up briefing the speakers in more detail than I usually do in my professional life,” she says. “But now it’s something I do in my work conferences as well.”
DTM卡林纳·希
瑞士圣普雷克斯
项目：组织TLI
当Carina Schey考虑为其HPL项目选择方案时，她决定组织Toastmasters Leadership Institute（TLI）活动。她是瑞士几家俱乐部的成员，她回想起参加一次类似的活动，当时主题演讲者的灵感不足。
“我承诺在那里举行TLI，使演讲者在激励所有人方面做得很好，” Toastmasters Pathways学习经历大使Schey说。 “我还想要一个高度互动的活动，这样每个人都可以参与其中，而PowerPoint不会造成任何死亡。”
Schey开始在伯尔尼市为瑞士的三个Toastmasters部门组织TLI。在此过程中，她学习了重要的领导力课程，现在她在咨询健康经济学家的职业以及Toastmasters的领导角色中都得到了应用。
创建应急计划，并备份应急情况。当Schey活动的发言人之一被取消后，她决定为她的所有TLI会议寻找备用发言人。当另一位发言者取消了某场会议的前一天晚上时，这项计划便获得了回报。这样的应急计划通常说起来容易做起来难。 Schey说：“这花了一点外交手段，因为没有人愿意觉得他们是第二好。” “但是我联系了那些我认为会珍惜机会成为备用发言人的人。”
将障碍视为挑战。大多数Toastmasters在规划或执行HPL项目时遇到障碍，但是Schey说关键是要继续前进。 “如果您真的相信自己的项目，就可以克服任何障碍。”
向演讲者进行介绍。 Schey从她现在所学到的另一个教训中汲取了教训，现在她可以将其应用于她所组织的专业会议，从而向演讲者详细介绍他们的期望。她说：“由于我希望TLI演讲具有高度的互动性，所以我最终向演讲者进行了比我平时职业生涯中更为详尽的介绍。” “但是现在这也是我在工作会议中所做的事情。”