Toastmasters International: Creating world leaders in communication

Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. The organisation has more than 345,000 members worldwide. Members improve their speaking and leadership skills by attending sessions at one of the 15,900 clubs in 142 countries that make up the organisation’s global network. 

The mission of Toastmasters International is to empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. A Toastmasters Club mission is to provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

Toastmasters International also shares the following four values, which when adopted, help members grow not only as communicators and leaders, but as human beings:

• Integrity
• Respect
• Service
• Excellence

The Toastmasters Club provides a nurturing environment for new members to learn the different roles in a normal club session, get accustomed to the different activities and start working on their communication and leadership skills. Upon enrolment, a new member receives a Competent Communication manual and a Competent Leadership manual, as well as a monthly subscription to the Toastmasters Magazine. Mauritius currently has seven Toastmasters clubs:  

• Aurora Toastmasters
• Ceridian & SD Worx Toastmasters
• Financial Toastmasters
• NewGen Toastmasters
• Plateau Toastmasters
• Port Louis Toastmasters
• SpeakUp Toastmasters

Moulding young people

The Plateau Toastmasters Club President 2016-2017, Mr Krishn Ramchurn, explains that in our current academic journey at school, high school, college, and university, we are not taught how to communicate effectively, or how to lead others. 

“Toastmasters provides the opportunity to develop these priceless skills, which young people require when they take up employment. The business world is people working with people, and that’s one crucial component to success in any chosen profession. Toastmasters also provides accelerated programs, like Youth Leadership Programs and Speechcrafts, which allow participants to grasp the basics of effective communication within a few weeks.”

He further adds that the potential growth of an individual depends on only one thing: the individual’s decision to grow, and take actions! “The seven Toastmasters Clubs in Mauritius each have their unique culture and environment. However, all seven clubs following the same Toastmasters International educational program, the nurturing club environment and supporting club officers provide a safe and friendly environment for new members to get accustomed into the Toastmasters program, and grow at their own chosen pace. Some clubs [if not all] offer mentoring and Toastmasters also offers individual member coaching.”

The educational program teaches 68 competencies, with the five core competencies of public speaking, interpersonal communication, leading and managing, leading strategically and building confidence. With the advent of Pathways, members have the possibility to learn 250 additional competencies!

The different level in Toastmaster

According to Krishn Ramchurn, the Toastmasters educational program is divided into two lanes: communication and leadership. “The Communication track consists of four levels, starting from Competent Communicator, or CC, and a Toastmaster is required to complete ten prepared speeches per level, which comes to a total of 40 speeches. A Toastmaster moves from CC to advanced levels, namely Advanced Communicator Bronze [ACB], Advanced Communicator Silver [ACS], onto Advanced Communicator Gold [ACG]. To achieve ACS and ACG, there are other additional requirements to meet, such as delivering educational sessions, or coaching a new member.”

On the other hand, the Leadership track consists of three levels, starting from Competent Leader, or CL, where a Toastmaster is required to complete a number of items from 10 leadership projects. From CL, a Toastmaster moves to Advanced Leadership Bronze [ALB] and Advanced Leadership Silver [ALS]. To achieve these advanced levels, a Toastmaster is required to not only deliver educational sessions, but also be a club officer and participate in the club leadership, as well as complete a High Performance Leadership [HPL] project.

Krishn Ramchrun reveals that when a Toastmaster complete ACG and ALS, he/she achieves the ultimate title of Distinguished Toastmaster [DTM] at club level. “While the current education program has served Toastmasters for many years, much of the communication track hasn’t been updated since the 1970s. With respect to the need to modernize the communication track, as well as renew the focus of leadership learning, Toastmasters International called for the education program to be revitalized in 2010, and it is known as Toastmasters Pathways. The Toastmasters Pathways learning experience is not a departure from the current program, because it builds on the established educational foundation. Pathways is a modernized learning experience suited to our changing global society.”

Krishn Ramchurn lists the benefits to members as follows: 

• A learning experience tailored to your personal and professional goals
• The opportunity to develop many skills relevant to an evolving global marketplace
• Recognition of educational achievements that will come earlier and more frequently
• New technological resources to improve speeches and support meeting roles 
• Online access to educational materials
• Videos that model the skills you are learning

He also reveals that pathways will roll out in phases to enable the Pathways launch team to manage the program’s capacity and make adjustments as needed to adequately support members. “Once Pathways has rolled in out every region, there will be a two-year transition period in which the current education program and Pathways will operate simultaneously. In Mauritius, the Pathways roll-out is expected to happen as from 2018.”