When do you make a difference?
The start of a new year is a good time to think about leaving your mark on the world. Make a commitment, build your talents and grow your leadership skills.
What you commit to makes a difference in your world. When you apply talents, efforts and creativity to the problems of your workplace, you leave the world a nicer place.
- You are also changed by the experience.
- You have more leadership experience.
- You have become more valuable.
John Maxwell (author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership) has written about laws of leadership. We can find leaders in any profession. Are you in accounting? Perhaps on a one to ten scale, you are a “seven” as an accountant. That “seven” means that you can contribute a lot, you have knowledge and skills, yet you still have a lot of growth possible in your work. Your skill as a leader, let us imagine, is a “five” out of ten. Maxwell would tell you that your impact as an accountant would be limited by your leadership skill. If you are a “five”, that would be the limit of your impact as an accountant – just a “five.” Its time to grow as a leader! With additional skill and experience, one could offer more of the other talents in one’s portfolio.
Your leadership matters.
Skill and experience give us the know-how to solve problems. Leadership knowledge puts skills and experience into action. Leaders know how to be influencers with others. Career knowledge has more impact when it is applied to the work of others. Leaders do more than give orders – they make people want to work on their team. Leaders can show others how increase their performance impact in working with others. When people join together to create results – leaders can encourage this – each person’s contribution is multiplied. Leadership matters in getting results.
Whatever course your future takes, leadership can make a difference. Leadership is a universal enhancer to the talents you are building in your career. Your efforts become more valuable with learned leadership skill.
Apply your lessons from Toastmasters to your career.
The leadership gains possible through your Toastmasters membership can change your life forever. If you have big goals, leadership skills can accelerate your goal attainment. If your goals are unclear and forming, the leadership experience in Toastmasters will show you new possibilities and give you the chance to be mentored by someone with more experience. Saying “yes” to leadership experiences in Toastmasters simply increases the odds that your life will be amazing. Boost your effectiveness score and get friendly feedback from your club and district colleagues.
Be convinced of your value and impact. Good leaders demonstrate confidence. They create this confident inner-being through recalling past experiences. Start with your Toastmasters club, and offer some of your special life-joy with every project and speech. Learn to generate this positive field, even if you have to fake it at first. Remind yourself, “I’m offering something valuable to my friends here. I’m going to help them have a better life.” If you keep working this way, your conviction will build, and you will have this leadership ability to influence available to you the rest of your life.
We like to say, “Toastmasters is where leaders are made.” Your leadership matters, even if you start small and cautiously. Believe in the greatness that you bring to each project in your life.
Steve Broe is a club officer for Payson Toastmasters and Paradise Valley Toastmasters. He is a Distinguished Toastmaster and the author of LEADING THE WAY UP MT. OLYMPUS, available on Amazon.
View More membership articles: https://aztoastmasters.org/category/members-articles/
