Unplanned... but ready to Lead (sort of)

Way back when - some time in the late 90's, I joined Toastmasters. It was through an invite by Roy Niclolas - we were both members of Capitol Jaycees, and I was expereincing a limiting factor in the Jaycees as far as being a leader was concerned - I rose up the chapter's ranks, but could not see a path to being the president. I didn't have the numbers or support... it was that simple, and honestly, I didn't really see myself on that path. But fater being a shapter's VP, there was little else to grow on. This was when I took Roy's invite to heart. I was ready for change - away from the world of Jaycees. It was time to try Toastmasters.

How did I like it? To be honest, joining an orgnization that focused on communication was, to me, child's play. I was very fluent in English, having grown up in a family that spoke it at home, so I knew the nuances instinctively - I simply knew what was right grammar, and had a vast vocabulary. So how would Toastmasters help me? Well, they had this program - and modules and ranks (CTM, ATM, DTM) that you earned upon accomplishing a number of projects. Okay... that shouldn't be hard. But what I started to notice was the feedback process... how others listening to you would then give you tips on how to get better next time.I found this useful - though in some cases, a bit superficial. But the speech projects covering various ideas were likewise worth doing.

There were thigs I left forgranted - that Toastmasters gave me a forum to focus on. THe 'ah' count being one of them. I knew I had them - but here, I practiced not doing them. Timing... not going over one's alloted time - that too, was a worthy thing to master. So my being a Toastmaster helped me get better at speaking. I guess it should be noted that I was - by profession, a corporate trainer assigned in the Asian Development Bank. Not a small feat, either.So speaking in front of strangers wasn't new to me either. But self-imporvement was always a worthy goal.

What i did not expect, though, was to be thrust into the leadership position at so early a time. Yes, the Jaycees taught me to be a leader - but to be a club's President on my first month as a Toastmaster? Talk about tht coming from the left field. Let me share some atatements I heard back then. "kaya mo yan!" (i.e. you cna do it), "We'll help you", "we'll support you", "We're behind you" and some other alternative statement saying similar things. Needless to say, I agreed. Call it a need to prove myself, a curiosity to see if I could be President, the need for a larger challenge than just speaking better. All these cound have been reason to agree.

How did I do? I won't deny truth and say that things went smoothly - after all, I went in blind to the Toastmasters organization, philisophy, set of cativities. But then again, my role and goal was lead the club to be stable - get it our of it's leadership crisis, and membership funk. Transition smoothly to the next President... and not fuck things up in between. I would receive letters from some stranger named Pawe Uy congratulating me on achieving this or that... huh? So what? I did not understand half of what he was mentioning. But I got some congratulatiosn, so I guess I was doing somethign right.

One of my initial challenges? Membership attendance and seeking speakers for every meeting. Not having a full complement of officers to help - and even if I had some, we were unclear as to who needed to do what. Everything had to be decided by me. Were I to describe my leadership style back them, it would have been 'Let's try this out and see what happens. Oh look... we didn't foul things up - cool. Guess we did right.

I was always the back up speaker - and because of this, I accomplished my Competent Toastmasters norm in record time. I luckily was president when 10 people from SGS decided them needed Toastmasters - and hoined our club. So you could say, I doubled membership because we were meeting at the right place (Makati Sports), at the right time. Speech contest? What's that? Fine, I'll represent the club in Table Topics. Cool! I won Table Topics - okay. done. What? Not done? Another competition? Forget it?

Yes, I backed out from the Division contest because... it would not have helped me with my goal of stabilizing Diamond's emvironment. Competing, and Winning in the contest would not help improve the club's status. So I thight, that was just a distraction. Dulce Ranosa, who was then our Area Governor and Immediate Past President of Diamond, accepted my reasoning. So, yes... i had a goal, and stood by that goal - ignoring the noises. Had I been placed in the same situation again, I might have done exactly the same thing.When I was finally done with my term, I simply wanted to turn-over my role to someone else. I was able to lead Diamond for almost an entire year/ The club survived it's tenth year, being a Distinguished Club. Don't ask me how. Like I said, I did not consider the matrics - I just wanted Diamond to survire to it's 11th year. But... I doubled the club's coffers, doubled the club's amembership, won in the Tbale TOpics contes, anddid not implode. Were there days I thought it wasn't worth it? Oh yeah. Did I question why I accepted the Presidency? On occasion. But did I give up? Never.

I listened to advice. But I decided. I learned what I could, then acted. That... in a nutshell was my reluctant leadership style. I took on the role that no one wanted. Then did what I could for the club's sake.

Oh yeah, and just when I thought I had finished being a leader, Dulce... who was going up to be Pawe Uy's Division Governor (yes, there's that name again - he must be important), wanted to tap me as the next Area Governor, because I turned a dying club into a healthy one. So my journey continued.

Oh yeah, two years later, during the Financial crisis - when no oe wanted to be Division Governor, I was asked to take on the role... so, here I went again.