Adherence to procedures was loose, fulfillment of roles was mixed and in-jokes were rampant. This is the position Edinburgh Speakers Club found itself in recently so we decided to run a “Model Night” to try and improve the situation.
The idea was that for one night the entire club would try to live the principles of ASC, create an inclusive communication environment and complete our assigned speaking and club night tasks to the highest quality. The best people the club had were selected for the various positions apart from the three speakers who were all newer members continuing their learning and development journey. The idea being that the rest of us would deliver exemplary performances in evaluation, chairmanship, timekeeping and running the business meeting.
This approach allowed everyone to focus on being the strongest versions of themselves they possibly could. As the night progressed it became clear that all members (new and not so new) were becoming better able to understand the reasons behind the various roles, practices and principles of the club. The members exemplified the best attributes of the role they were fulfilling and our expert chairman succinctly explained the rational behind each contributors approach as we went along.
This night was a big success for Edinburgh Speakers Club not because we were striving for excellence but because in doing so we all learned how to improve the processes and practices of the club and we were reminded of the importance of an open communication environment from delivering a speech at the lectern all the way to dropping the in-jokes!
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