4 things I learned being an Evaluator
A non-exhaustive list of learnings from being an Evaluator in my Toastmasters journey
Every Toastmasters meeting has the three prescribed sections — Prepared Speech, Table Topics, and General Evaluation. Each of these segments is spearheaded by a set of role takers. The most commonly found roles in any meeting are Prepared Speakers, Toastmaster of the Day, Table Topics Master, and Evaluators.
Under the wider umbrella of Evaluators, there are three subcategories —
- General Evaluator — who evaluates the entire meeting proceedings
- Speech Evaluator — who evaluates the individual Prepared Speaker
- Timer, Ah Counter, Grammarian (TAG) — who evaluate you based on your time, use of filler words, and grammar respectively.
Considered the heart of the Toastmasters Educational program, close to 40 percent of the time is allocated to General Evaluation. I’m sure most of us have goals to make it higher on the corporate ladder, a Manager who can handle a team, or just a better communicator. It becomes imperative to understand what we can learn from being an Evaluator at Toastmasters and use them in our daily lives to achieve our goals.
1. Intent Listening
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” — Stephen R. Covey
Though Toastmasters is a public speaking club, you are trained in active listening when you are an Evaluator. A wise Toastmaster at Qonverse quoted Stephen R. Covey, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”
When I keenly listen to a speech, I can read between the lines of what was said. The articulation of words speaks about the importance of the statement. The modulation of voice tells you about the emotion. The change in the speaking pace conveys the urgency of the matter. Listening offers so much to grasp that when I do, it makes that much easier to understand.
“If you make listening and observation your occupation, you will gain much more than you can by talk.” — Robert Baden-Powell
Taking the role of an Ah Counter, I take notes on crutch words or filler words that speakers use. Until that time, I had no concept of crutch words. These words do not add any significance but are present while speaking (Like, you know, I mean). However, when I consciously made an effort to identify these in others, I started to identify my crutch words.
Similarly, as a Grammarian, I would pay attention to good or bad usages of grammar. It benefitted me in two ways. One was to learn new and interesting usages and the other was correcting grammatical errors I had been making.
Growth starts with identifying one’s shortcomings. To become a better communicator, knowing where you can improve becomes crucial.
2. Giving useful feedback
Each speech in Toastmasters is part of a Project and has objectives that are to be completed. A Speech Evaluator would give feedback adhering to the objectives. Likewise, every role that you take is under similar scrutiny, and feedback is given by the General Evaluator.
If you were giving a speech from Organize your Speech project and I give you feedback on improving your presence on stage, that means I have failed you. I did not construct my feedback as per the objectives.
If I said, “You need to improve the speech’s conclusion”, I would have still failed you because I have not told you why it is important to conclude well or how to work on concluding better.
When you listen and observe, it empowers you to critically analyze how well the speaker has met the objectives. If there was a setback in meeting the objective, tell them why you felt it did not work you and leave them with a suggestion to try. This way, you enlighten the speaker with their limitations and in turn, empower them to work on it.
3. Connecting with people
Imagine how you would feel if I walked up to you after your speech and pick it apart with comments. Not great, right?
If it were me on the receiving end, my first thought would be to crush the life out of that person with my bare hands. I’m kidding! I’m not secretly a psycho. But that person would not have made a great first impression.
Imagine the same being told by a friend or a mentor. You would take it less harshly. Why this difference? It is because you have already established a rapport. That helps you to be more open to criticism that they have to offer.
Now imagine if I walked up to you and said, “Hey, I could relate to the incident you had in school. I have had a similar experience and it took me back to those days. Though, I feel that you could’ve done better with the transitioning from one story to next. Here’s what you can try next time…”
By telling you that I could relate to your story, I hope to connect with you emotionally. You would know that I had been paying attention and your words made an impact. This warms you up to any criticism that’s coming your way and would be open to suggestions. I expect you would like me more than in the first case.
4. “The Sandwich method”
Pills help us get better. If I was given a bitter pill, I would not be receptive to the good it does to me. Rather I would be hung up on the taste. That is exactly why pills are sugarcoated.
Criticism is a lot like pills. Even when it is constructive, criticism can be a bitter pill to swallow. It is, therefore, advisable to give criticism in “The Sandwich method”. It is essentially stuffing the criticism between the bread of compliments.
At Toastmasters we encourage people to learn from their mistakes. Moreover, the educational program is voluntary and self-paced. That said, sometimes the constructive criticism gets lost in the compliments. Assessing the situation and striking the right balance between compliment and criticism can make for sumptuous feedback.
While speaking remains an important aspect of Toastmasters, it is these added responsibilities that you try and become a wholesome person. You may find instances of better listening, giving positive feedback in great managers and effective leaders. Ranging from daily conversations to crucial negotiations, these learnings can help you become a better communicator.
I might use these techniques more often than before. But that does not mean that this is the end of the road. If anything, I am more aware of where I can do better. As we like to say in Toastmasters, “There is always room for improvement.”
