‘Founding and chartering ESTH Toastmasters’ club – My journey

‘Founding and chartering ESTH Toastmasters’ club – My journey

Having spent around 15 years in the National Health Services (NHS), working in diverse areas from Clinical Research, Cancer, Performance, and Information teams, and gathered experience to become Subject Matter Expert (SME) in many areas. However, there was always a desire to work on my soft skills.

Traveling around the world enriched my interpersonal skills, especially when I came across Toastmasters International (TMI) platform. A journey for me, that started with meeting people with similar mindsets, and having a common goal of building networks through communication had a lot to add to my skill set. Something like this at my workplace would be great – always had this thought in the back of my mind!

How it all started

When I joined Epsom and St Helier Teaching Hospitals (ESTH), I was amazed by the energy of then- CEO, Daniel Elkeles who during the induction program, showcased the value of personal development and training. Alongside this, ESTH was actively promoting Equality and Diversity and the setting up of REACH and Women Network was impressive. I couldn’t resist seeing that as an opportunity to introduce Toastmasters learning experiences that could potentially complement the themes ESTH was involved in and has aspired to excel above and beyond existing boundaries.

Getting anything done through the right channels can be challenging when you are a newbie at the workplace especially when it’s NHS. A casual discussion about Toastmasters with my manager, Rumiko Yonezawa , was key in progressing with this idea of having a club at the workplace. Further support from Head of EDI Steve Simper and Chief Nurse, Arlene Wellman was instrumental in providing the resources needed to kick-start the club.

However, I soon realised that a green signal from senior management was not enough, and the journey had just begun with the challenges I had to face, for this to be a fully chartered Toastmasters club.

Five main challenges faced

1) Getting started

Just the conception of the idea of having Toastmasters at the workplace isn’t enough; even though it’s an international brand, you still need to engage your workplace staff members who are new to this concept. However, I still needed to promote the club within the trust to assess the needs and requirements of this platform. It was an interesting, challenging, and rewarding task as it further opened doors of networking with staff members from different departments like clinical, admin, and nursing staff. Since, I was part of the ESTH Women Network, I was able to use this platform to advertise Toastmasters to a certain extent. The rest was through word of mouth, using persuasive posters and emails to various departmental heads. This attracted some staff members to attend the toastmaster’s demo meeting run by seasoned Toastmasters. The meeting was attended by around 60 staff members, making it a successful event.

2) Getting registered

As a founder of this club, I had to go through several channels before registering and chartering the club. With our CEO, Daniel Elkeles leaving the trust, the management structure was not clear, and so was the funding process. I had to familiarise myself with the organisation structure in order to start off on the right foot. At first, I believed that this was going to be straightforward and easy where I would approach and conquer the goals. However, I realised I was technically starting my own entrepreneurship based on an innovative inspiring idea where not everything goes exactly how you would intend. And yes, I did write a business case for this program myself from scratch!

3) Getting others involved

Furthermore, I had to get members involved in the club to keep the motivation and excitement going. Timings will always be a constraint in our industry due to healthcare demands and especially during pandemics where priorities were revised frequently. In addition to the marketing, I created Expression Of Interest (EOI) forms to gather information and commitments on the timings of the club. I had to figure out a way to engage members and keep the meetings successful and personal networking was key in keeping the momentum and the fortnightly meetings going.

4) Getting the funds

As we continued with our pre-chartered meetings, I was mindful of the requirement for the club to be chartered soon; however, finding the right funding route was a challenge. There was a constant back and forth with the finance team and change in the organisation structure was not of much help either. Although the program was approved by senior management, the funding for the club took a long six months to materialise. Dream manifests into a reality!

5) Getting the right balance – personal and professional

Juggling a full plate of professional and personal responsibility can be a difficult task. Being mindful of my focus on meeting professional deadlines and working on personal development was imperative. At times, I felt I couldn’t give the time to this process due to pressing deadlines on the professional front resulting in the delay in chartering the club. How I managed to be successful on both fronts is still a mystery!

Achievements

After a long ordeal of planning and executing this goal in a healthcare setting during the pandemic, it was time to reap the fruits of the hard work put in setting up the Toastmasters club at ESTH.

The ESTH Toastmasters Club was successfully chartered in September 2021 with seven committee officers and twenty members. Our online Zoom meeting was attended by Toastmaster’s D53 Area Director – Gillian Prior , Division Director – Massimo Guadagnini, Program Quality Director – Rupa Datta , Club Sponsor & immediate D53 Area Director – Varun Sharma and our two assigned mentors, Antonia Harrison DTM and Pedro Casillas .

ESTH Toastmasters Club is the first NHS club set up in the area and from here onwards and upwards.

The club has helped ESTH Staff in

- practicing time management, - enhancing their listening skills, - sharpening their presentation skills; and - boosting team collaboration.

A positive feedback I received as the President of the club was that it gives an opportunity to staff during their lunch break to optimize opportunities for self-improvement.

Future ahead

For the ESTH Toastmasters Club to continuously support the learning and development requirements of the staff and successfully step into another year, it would be advisable to focus on some of the key areas to enrich the experience of a Toastmaster within the club.

1. Marketing the program

Due to change in priorities and circumstances, members move jobs or step down from the club officer roles; therefore, it is advisable to continue recruiting new members. Taking advantage of the organisation’s communication channels, weekly emails and message boards are useful. For ESTH, the following platforms can be useful

a. Team talks – advertising the club in these weekly talks can prove beneficial for new recruitments.

b. HR L&D Program – building the program to be part of the Trust L&D program

c. Induction pack – including the club in staff induction pack

2. Attending other TM corporate clubs

This opens the horizon for existing members and provides the opportunity to participate and experience other corporate clubs.

3. Attending club officer meetings

For existing club officers, it is a great opportunity offered by TMI to hone their skills in performing their leadership skills.

Finally, I would like to thank the senior management at ESTH; my manager Rumiko Yonezawa in particular, for trusting me in taking this forward; our seasoned Toastmasters who have always been there to support me and our eloquent ESTH Toastmaster members who attended our Tuesday lunch meetings. There was never a dull moment as the challenges during the setup of the club and the excitement of networking with staff from different backgrounds and cultures kept me going. It has been an absolute pleasure being the Founding President of the ESTH Toastmasters Club and representing our club at TMI, and I wish this club all the success in the future, back to you (In Toastmaster style)!!