An Outstanding Offer
At a recent Toastmasters anniversary celebration a former member and small business owner spoke of how he found the Toastmasters experience so beneficial professionally that about 7 years ago he began a program where employees of his company would be given $1,000 for earning what is now called the “Competent Communicator” designation. He also agreed to pay the nominal fee for club dues. To this day, not a single employee has collected the prize. Reason? No one has completed the program. Is it that difficult? No, it’s not. He went on to say that only one employee actually made the effort to join Toastmasters! That person quit after getting through 30% of the program.
Thoughts?
Joe Kerr: Perfectly understandable. Those Toastmasters are a wacky bunch. I keep my distance from them and advise others to do the same.
Wanda B. Goode: This is an example of how little most people are willing to do to improve. At work, we had the opportunity to take computer based training. I’m guessing one out of 25 people took advantage of it. “Do we have to do them on our own time?” was a frequent question.
I try to encourage team members to put in some time to improve, but it’s not easy. It’s difficult to get people to invest in themselves. I’d love to hear how others have had success convincing employees of the need to put in some time/money to continue to learn and grow.
Why don’t we take the necessary steps to succeed? Do we think they won’t work? Do we fear that they will? Here are some posts that offer up explanations.
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