In Toastmasters, the primary "leadership evaluator" role is the General Evaluator. This role is crucial for assessing the overall quality and effectiveness of a club meeting, including how well members perform their various leadership and support roles.
The General Evaluator's responsibilities extend beyond just evaluating speakers; they provide comprehensive feedback on the entire meeting's proceedings, from preparation and organization to enthusiasm and the performance of duties by all participants. This role is considered a leadership function within the meeting, as the General Evaluator leads the evaluation portion and offers insights that can lead to club-wide improvements.
Key aspects of the General Evaluator role include:
- Overseeing the Evaluation Team: The General Evaluator manages the team responsible for evaluations, which typically includes speech evaluators, the Ah-Counter, Grammarian, and Timer. They ensure these evaluators understand their tasks and responsibilities.
- Assessing Meeting Flow and Roles: The General Evaluator observes and reports on various elements of the meeting, such as the transitions handled by the Toastmaster and Table Topicsmaster, the effectiveness of introductions, and how well other functionaries (like the Grammarian or Ah-Counter) perform their roles. They look for both strengths and areas for improvement in preparation, organization, timeliness, and enthusiasm.
- Providing Constructive Feedback: The feedback offered by the General Evaluator should be motivating, structured, and specific, highlighting what went well and suggesting improvements. While they don't re-evaluate individual speeches, they can comment on the quality of the speech evaluations themselves, ensuring they were helpful and constructive.
- Promoting Club Effectiveness: The General Evaluator's report offers a "big-picture view" of the club's performance, helping to ensure members are learning, meetings are efficient, and the club is thriving. For example, they might note if guests are not being greeted or if certain members are consistently overlooked for impromptu speaking opportunities.
- Developing Personal Skills: Taking on the General Evaluator role helps individuals improve critical thinking, organization, time management, motivational, and team-building skills. It's a significant learning opportunity that strengthens speaking, listening, and leadership abilities.
To prepare for this role, individuals are encouraged to use the Toastmasters General Evaluator checklist and review resources like "A Toastmaster Wears Many Hats," which outlines the duties of various meeting roles. Clubs are advised to schedule ample time for the General Evaluator's report and consider inviting members from other clubs to serve in this role occasionally for an unbiased perspective.
While the General Evaluator is the primary "leadership evaluator," the concept of evaluation is central to all Toastmasters roles. Every member, when giving feedback, is contributing to the growth of others, which is a form of leadership. The Toastmasters philosophy emphasizes learning by doing, listening, and improving, with evaluations being fundamental to this process. Even self-evaluation and peer feedback among club officers and District leaders are now formalized to foster leadership development.
