How to President the RDG Way

I have an officer that is under-performing. What do I do?

This is a very broad (but also common) issue. Poor officer performance is usually due to a failure of know-how (they don't know how to do something), a failure of motivation (often an emotional blockage), a failure of expectation (your expectations vs. their expectations are different), or a combination thereof. 

Failures of know-how can usually be solved by education, and you may find it useful to seek out or create materials that solve the issue going forward. Checklists, "cheat sheets", tutorials, and so on can be developed to help solve the issue now and in the future (several of those are available in the resources folders in this and other programs here). Sometimes failures of know-how are smokescreens for failures of motivation, however - if you have an officer that says they don't know how to do something when asked about a failure to perform, but hasn't spoken up about it, there may be a deeper issue.

Questions that can help get over failures of know-how include:

• "What exactly do you need to know?"  - Seems basic, but you want to make sure the problem is well defined.
  
• "How do you think you could find out about it?" - Creates the expectation that they need to put in some research time. It could also be phrased as "Where do you think you could learn more?"
• "When will you read that tutorial/take that course/engage with that learning opportunity?" - Creates the expectation that they'll be the one taking action. Set a deadline and follow up.
• "Will this get done in the future? What other questions do you have?"  - You want to confirm that the issue is just with know-how, and not something deeper.  

Motivation issues are varied. It could be simple procrastination, disinterest or burnout, or deeper issues. You may see this show up toward the end of a term. If you have an officer that knows what to do, but isn't doing it, you need to address it early. Here's a list of comm

Common Excuses & Responses

Excuse	Response
"I haven't had any time to do it." OR "I've been really busy at work."	We all have busy times. Have you involved your committee? If you're struggling time-wise, can you let me know as soon as possible so we can have someone pick up the slack?
"I forgot to do it."	That happens. How will you remember to do it in the future? Can you put it on your calendar or to-do list?
"I don't want to do it."	Can you find someone in your committee to take care of it? Can we rework the process?
"I tried to do it, but I failed." OR "I tried, but it's not working." OR "It's too hard."	If you're having trouble with the task, how can we rework the task or fix it to make it work?
(No Response)	Try other methods of getting in touch.

The last category of expectation differences may need recalibration of either your expectations or theirs. This is where you need to triple check that your expectation is reasonable. If it is, you may want to develop a progression that elevates their level to yours in a step-wise fashion. Expecting large change all at once is unrealistic, at best; find ways to gradually introduce the change.

If you have a combination of these, start with the know-how, then the motivation, then the expectations. For all three, the RDG solution is consistent action and communication, while holding the officer accountable and responsible. 

How do I balance "taking up the slack" with delegating?

Especially for the impatient or driven, there can be a big struggle between wanting to get tasks done (especially the longer they linger), and getting the responsible officer to take care of the task. On one hand, if you have something you can take care of (and quickly), you might feel like you should just do it and get it out of the way. On the other, you end up denying the responsible officer a chance to learn and grow, and it often leads to a downward spiral where you take on more and more and they do less and less.

This is another broad question that depends on your specific situation. Here are some guideposts to guide your decision:

• Is the officer or their committee even available? If not, you need to pick up the slack (or find someone to do so).
• What is the impact of the task being undone? If there is an immediate effect, especially if it's impacting member or guest satisfaction, you will likely want to step in sooner rather than later. If there aren't more urgent problems, make more efforts to delegate. 
• How long has this been undone? The longer the task is undone, the more you may want to lean toward picking up the slack.
• Have you contacted the officer more than 3 times about the same issue? If you're getting no response, you may consider doing the task more, but try to vary your contact method (e.g. if e-mail isn't working, try text or a phone call).
• Does the task take less than five minutes to complete? You may just want to get it out of the way for small tasks, but follow up and let the officer know it was done.

In any event, if you decide to take up the slack, make sure you follow up with the officer to let them know about the performance gap.

One of my officers/members is driving me insane. What do I do?

For this scenario, I'm assuming they're doing something that it's only you they're bothering, and aren't a nuisance to the rest of the club. If you want an in-depth read on how to handle difficult conversations, try Crucial Conversations. This is going to be a quick and dirty, fairly generic response.

The first thing to do is determine if this is just a hang up of yours. If so, it may be something that needs to be re-evaluated.

Provided it's not, collect a few instances of the behavior, and how it made you feel. Maintain objectivity.

Ask to speak with the person privately and raise the concerns, along with the way . Be prepared for defensive behavior, but also give them the chance to explain themselves. Usually a candid discussion is enough to defuse immediate tensions, but you may likely need follow ups.

If this doesn't work, you may want to talk to your area director, your immediate past president, or other mentors to get advice on how to handle the situation.

A disruptive person rarely affects just one person in the club. If they won't live up to the Toastmasters values and coaching doesn't help, it may be for the best to have that person leave the club.