Coaching a club from struggling to successful

Membership is at the heart of a club’s success. Without a robust membership, a club’s proceedings, growth, achievements and presence can all stagnate – at both club and individual member level.

That’s where a Club Coach comes in to save the day - an experienced Toastmaster who helps rebuild club membership and restore club quality.

If you’re considering signing up as a Club Coach, this is a tremendous opportunity for you to test and grow your leadership and communication skills.

Pre-requisites and paperwork

The club you coach is termed a ‘struggling club’ and it might be experiencing issues on multiple fronts ranging from:

1. Low membership: At least 3 but not more than 12 members

2. No volunteers to fill club officer or meeting roles

3. Low participation and negligible member achievements

4. Poor quality meetings that further impact member engagement

The fulfillment in turning a club around is a true application of your leadership skills. While it might be tempting to take up this role solely for the sake of the Distinguished Toastmaster award credit that you will earn, remember that it is an intensive role requiring time commitment and frequent attendance at club and Executive Committee meetings.

Prerequisites for becoming a Club Coach require that you:

● Are a paid member in good standing

● Have not been a member of the eligible club in the past six months

● Have been a member of Toastmasters International for at least one year

● Have served as a club officer for one annual term or two semi-annual terms

● Have completed a minimum of Level 2 in a path, or an Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB), or an Advanced Leader Bronze (ALB)

● Have completed the Club Coach Program Training module

You will need to fill in and submit documentation during your Club Coach tenure (a minimum term of six months and until the club achieves Distinguished club status with 20 members) – read about the steps and milestones you need to achieve here.

Let’s down to the details of what your term as club coach entails.

1. You will need to attend most of the club meetings coordinating with the other club coach.

2. Take up meeting roles to support the club officers in case of low participation.

3. Meet at least monthly or quarterly with the club top 4 ranking officers. Be curious and practice active listening. Guide and support the officers’ efforts as required. Keep their morale up as they face challenging situations like low renewals and fee increases.

4. Work with the club officers to increase meeting quality. While membership is the heart of a club, participation is the heartbeat of a club. If you can support the club in progressively increasing meeting quality, existing members will stay and participate more, and guests will feel encouraged to join.

5. Help the club with ideas to build strong public relations and presence that leaves a lasting legacy.

One of the skills you will build as a Club Coach is an Organizational Development intervention into a failing organization (the struggling club). True to the title ‘Coach’, you will place the accountability and responsibility to turn the club around where it belongs – on the club itself.

To understand more about the Club Coach program, explore these useful resources.