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Toastmasters International

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News from Toastmasters International April 2019

The Path to Innovative Planning


These Pathways projects help you plan events and lead teams to success.

By Jennifer L Blanck, DTM

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If you manage projects or teams, or want to start doing so, the Innovative Planning path

in the Pathways learning experience can boost your abilities in every phase of taking a

project from conception to completion.

Like the other paths in the new education program, Innovative Planning develops

public speaking and leadership skills throughout five levels of increasing challenges. The

beginning mix of required and elective projects focuses on writing and delivering
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speeches, connecting with an audience and understanding the speaker’s preferred

leadership style.

From levels 3 to 5, the path brings those skills together with a new emphasis:

understanding what it takes to manage a project successfully and to create innovative

solutions. At the end of the path, participants synthesize their skills with their newfound

knowledge and demonstrate their understanding with a major project of their own.

You don’t have to work in the project management field to benefit from completing

the projects in Innovative Planning, says Kevin Markl, a member of the Prep Squad

Toastmasters club in San Ramon, California. “There are a lot of different competencies
to learn, and some you probably haven’t covered yet.”

A Path for Professional Development

Leading Through Empowerment

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Markl selected Innovative Planning because it parallels his job, which involves launching
new products. The path also relates to his Toastmasters district leadership role. “As I

move up in both my career and Toastmasters, I need different skill sets to be successful,”

says Markl. “I can get that through Pathways.”

He found “Manage Projects Successfully,” a Level 4 project in Innovative Planning, to

be particularly productive. It helped him understand what it takes to be a successful

project manager, including establishing relationships with stakeholders and team

members. It also develops the skills he needed to delegate tasks and manage resources.

“As I move up in both my career and Toastmasters, I need


different skill sets to be successful. I can get that through
Pathways.”
—Kevin Markl

To complete the assignment, participants must form a team, create and present a

plan, complete it and then present another speech that reflects on the experience. Like

the other projects in all the paths, videos, interactive activities and other resources

supplement the learning experience.

Markl says he’s traditionally been a micromanager. “Manage Projects Successfully”

provided the opportunity to improve on that. He applied the project to a Toastmasters

Leadership Institute (TLI), the semi-annual district training for officers and members.

As the District 57 program quality director, he shared a vision and goal for the event

with the TLI dean, who oversaw all aspects of the event. “I wanted to pack the house and

give additional sessions hosted by and promoting our specialty clubs,” says Markl. He

also led the TLI committee that organized the event. “TLI is a big event with lots of

moving parts. I needed to delegate [responsibilities to] people on the TLI committee and
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empower them. I couldn’t be second-guessing or reaffirming everyone’s decisions.”
The project helped him succeed in working with members on organizing the event

and motivating them to achieve a common goal. Markl calls it “the art of working with

other people.” As a result, the TLI sold out a week beforehand, with 390 attendees. One

of the advanced clubs that presented a session at the event saw an increase in
membership afterward. “It was very successful without me micromanaging anything,”

Markl says.

Leading Through Listening

HPL allows you to apply your leadership and planning skills by leading a team to

complete a project. There’s a guidance committee to provide advice and feedback along
the way. The project requires two speeches: one to present a plan and vision, and

another to report on results and experience. It also requires “360-degree evaluations,”

which means obtaining feedback from all directions, including team and guidance

committee members.

In Pathways, HPL has more interactive materials than in Toastmasters’ traditional

education program.

Leading Through Self-Reflection

As a project manager for a construction company, Steve Dahlgren presents weekly

reports to 15 to 20 people. “I was really nervous giving the reports and realized I needed

help,” he says. Dahlgren joined the Marin Toastmasters 890 club in San Rafael, California,
and eventually started working in Pathways. He says the “Understanding Your

Leadership Style” project, in Level 2 of Innovative Planning, benefited him greatly.

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Dahlgren was impressed by the many materials associated with the project, including

a quiz and extra reading, and says it helped him focus on an area he had rarely thought

about: what kind of leader he is. He learned that his leadership style was democratic and

collaborative; however, his job required him to be more authoritative.

“Part of my job is to ­ensure that subcontractors deliver on


time, and that needed a stronger style of leadership.”

“I was less comfortable doing that,” he says. The project helped him identify when to

use varying leadership styles. “For example, part of my job is to ensure that

subcontractors deliver on time, and that needed a stronger style of leadership. The

project helped me take the role of ‘the boss’ rather than a friend, which is more my

style.”

He considers the Innovative Planning path helpful to anyone in project management,

but that’s not all. “I think people stepping into leadership roles, or anyone whose job

requires planning or running meetings, would benefit from this,” says Dahlgren.

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Jennifer L Blanck, DTM is a member of 5-Star Toastmasters Club in Arlington, Virginia, and AAMC
Toastmasters in Washington, D.C., and a regular contributor to the Toastmaster magazine. Learn more at
jenniferlblanck.com.

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