The influence story #3 | Karen Knight

I had a friend who is a big into hiking. Going up the mountains and climbing... trekking. She was telling me about a place quite close to where we lived and she said, "oh! you've got to climb up. There you've got to go and see the view of the water from the top of this Mount Finlayson!", I only said "OK, I'll do it!". She wasn't able to go so I was going to be by myself - just to tell her that I did it and it was fine. I got there one day and pulled up. There were a fair number of people going at about the same time.

I am not very good shape, this was really a dumb idea - yet, I started up the trail. Not far in front of me, was an older lady and she was quite heavy. She was huffing and puffing - I got a bit of pride and I wasn't going to quit before she did. She never quit. She climbed right till the top of the mountain. The view was worth it, it was beautiful and we took pictures and spent some time.

"Thank you"..."For what?"

Then we all went down and the heavy lady also got down, she got in her car and drove away. I was getting ready to get into my car and this young girl comes up to me and says "Thank you!". I said, "For what?" and she said "well, I didn't really want to climb the mountain, my boyfriend made me. I saw you up ahead and I said well, when you quit, I will! I was so glad to thank you!".

I stopped there and I was just stunned because I was influencing someone without even knowing it and the lady that I followed who was influencing at least two people there may have been somebody following that girl who talked to me. She never ever knew it!

You could make the most amazing changes to the world and not even know it

You could make the most amazing changes to the world and not even know it - just be strong and do what is right because you never know who is watching you.

- Karen

About Karen:

Karen Knight, DTM is a Past District Director - District 21 (Canada) and an avid Toastmaster since 1995. She has recently received her second DTM title and has finished the Competent Communicators manual at least 10 times. She is extremely amiable and a fantastic storyteller. She told me lots of stories about different influences. I am thankful to her for sharing these inspiring stories.

Be accessible, build trust | Daniel Sandars

TM Daniel was extremely happy - not only because I contacted him for the blog post, but also because of a special connection that Northampton shares with Pune. Our member Aniket (from Deccan Toastmasters Club) had been a General Evaluator at the Northampton Speakers during his visit to UK - Daniel's club!

Exchange opportunities, help each other

Daniel shared a few thoughts about influence in general. "Toastmasters is a voluntary organization. My general approach is to understand the people that I am working with, and to try to identify their needs, motives. We get to exchange opportunities, for ex. maybe if someone wishes to do an HPL and I have another project, we could see these opportunities to help each other."

"My personal style is a very open collegiate democratic approach. I tend to communicate freely and explore ideas to build consensus. Even at the top levels of District Leadership, it is building up trust that is effective. Autocratic leadership doesn't work well in my opinion." Daniel mentioned discussing further on influence relating to leadership styles.

in Toastmasters, a leader might not have the necessary formal education

Daniel brought up a very important and a burning point during the discussion, "I have a very formal, well-developed educational background and I work at a University, but often within Toastmasters, people can be in Leadership positions even when they don't have a formal educational background as such. For ex. your District Director may not actually been to a University". The effective workaround in this situation was mentioned by Daniel "I always think it is very much up to me to reverse mentor and reverse manage that situation and try to develop the trust. I need to operate more freely."

establishing connection, being available is the key

What advice would Daniel give to new Toastmasters who want to influence people? "I really think that the key is getting to know people in a formal and informal situation, communicating freely, making yourselves available and accessible." He mentioned of a personal experience "When I had applied to be a Division Director, even before getting elected, I started networking with potential Area Directors. In our District, we elect Area Directors. We had established a connection through Facebook group six weeks before even I got elected."

Key takeaways for me from the fruitful and enlightening conversation with Daniel would be:

1. Trust is important to create influence

2. Mentor or reverse mentor depending on the situation

3. A leader should be accessible and available

About Daniel:

Daniel Sandars, DTM is a research fellow at Cranfield University, and a member of two clubs viz. Northampton Speakers and Cranfield Speakers. He is currently serving as the District Public Relations Manager at District 71. He has served more than 7 terms in different positions at clubs, also as Area G44 Director, Assistant Division G Director: Program Quality and Division H Director. He is a Fellow of Royal Society of Arts, an Associate fellow of the operational research society and a dual M Sc.

The influence story #2 | Karen Knight

Mentoring makes a huge difference. My mentor is Pat Johnson who is the Past International President. She used to live in the same city as I did. I had moved since then but she is still my mentor and I talk to her regularly and Pat Johnson has a mentor who is Ted Corcoran who is another Past International President who also has a mentor. I have about six people that I am mentoring right now.

I am a huge fan of mentoring

There is so much difference that you can make. One of my mentees Yasir Khan, he is from Pakistan - when he joined our club, he had never spoken in public before, but he really wanted to do things and he wanted to go to international stage. So he came over to my place one night and because he had joined in January, we did about three or four speeches so that he would be eligible for the club contest. He entered into International Speech Contest at the club level and won, and then he entered at the Area level and won, and then Division Level and won, and then he came second at the District level. He had been in Toastmasters for only three months.

If you have the right mentor, it can make all the difference in the world

This happened during last year (2017). This year, in March, he spoke on TEDx. It is just over a year, and he went from having never spoken in public to speaking on TEDx stage. He was amazing but, if you have the right mentor and that person has time to spend with you, it can make all the difference in the world.

Mentoring has a lasting impact

It has far more influence, long lasting influence than any other medium. I have been influenced by speeches, but it tends to be short term. Public speech is the best way to influence a large number of people - if you need to get A message across in a short period of time, a well-crafted speech will work for that. But if you wish to make a lasting change, then it is mentorship that does that definitely in my opinion.

-Karen

About Karen:

Karen Knight, DTM is a Past District Director - District 21 (Canada) and an avid Toastmaster since 1995. She has recently received her second DTM title and has finished the Competent Communicators manual at least 10 times. She is extremely amiable and a fantastic storyteller. She told me lots of stories about different influences. I thank her and take this opportunity to publish these stories through this blog.

Mentoring and Interpersonal communication | Randy Cooper

What is preferred way to influence people other than public speaking? TM Randy mentioned that it can be done through interpersonal communication and mentoring. "In Toastmasters, learning a person's goals is important.  It is also a big issue when working with club and district leaders.  There is a lot of mentoring and support, especially at the top levels of district leadership." I think, mentoring is one core and inseparable component in the Toastmasters education program which not only allows better learning, but also helps create the right influence.

Whenever there are influences that overlap, Randy specified, "We should find the common ground and work from there. When a club struggles, there are differing solutions to how to fix it.  However, when each side realizes that the other side has the same goal in mind, they can work through their differences."

Interpersonal communication is the most effective way to create influence

Randy concluded on a spotlight note saying "While public speaking is a great way to influence people, interpersonal communication is the most effective way to do so.  Knowing people and trusting them goes a long way to influencing each other."

I think in just a single conversation that I had with Randy regarding 'influence', I have had a supermassive learning. I learnt that interpersonal communication and mentoring are effective ways of influencing people and working towards same goal keeping aside the differences helps resolve influence overlaps.

About Randy:

From Alabama, USA, Randy Cooper, DTM is a Toastmaster dedicated to members. He is a Past District 77 Director and extremely active on International forums. TM Randy is also a Pathways enthusiast, his impressive analytical skills have bought a lot of knowledge to the international online forums.