The Sunday Mail
Toastmasters International, a non-governmental organisation, boasts membership of 142 countries globally. In Zimbabwe, the organisation, which is a platform for communication experts, has 26 clubs, consisting of giant corporates like Old Mutual, Deloitte and Touche, Cimas and CBZ Bank. The Sunday Mail’s Fatima Bulla-Musakwa (FBM) interviewed its incoming president, Ms Liza Zindoga (LZ), who was elected at the recent annual Southern Africa elections, about her new role, among other issues.
FBM: Congratulations on being elected Toastmasters Zimbabwe president, how do you feel about this?
LZ: Toastmasters’ members know how rewarding it is to help a fellow member develop new skills to improve their professional and personal life. I have been given the opportunity to do this a thousand times over. It’s exhilarating and it’s heart-warming when you get a ringside seat on someone’s journey of personal development. Becoming a division director, which is my official title, is an assignment for me to lead the operations of a group of up to 30 clubs, with potentially up to 800 members and close to 150 club leaders. I am excited and a bit apprehensive at the same time. Thanks to the fantastic mentorship system within Toastmasters, I will have all the help I need to steer the Zimbabwean ship.
FBM: Tell us who Liza Zindoga is?
LZ: Professionally, Liza is a NUST (National University of Science and Technology)-qualified engineer, who is a technical director in a family-run electrical engineering business for the past 10 years. She has also worked in the IT industry for five years after graduating, then went into the real estate sector, where she is still active. She is passionate about servant leadership, so she is also an ardent Rotarian. Personally, Liza is a God-fearing Adventist, who is married and a mother to four children.
FBM: What are your objectives as you take on this responsibility?
LZ: There are three main reasons I want to serve with excellence as the head of Zimbabwe Toastmasters. I want to learn more, share what I have learnt and I want to help the organisation be the best that it can be.
When you are in the core team of the district, which is Southern Africa in this case, a lot of the things you do are administration and management work. I set a personal value, a standard of excellence in all my tasks that I intend to pass on to members by creating and delivering a success plan to achieve excellence.
I will be monitoring the performance of my branch of this large organisation, and identifying potential issues and challenges before they arise, besides leading and guiding a team of leaders.
FBM: How has being part of Toastmasters improved your personality?
LZ: Toastmasters are big on team spirit. A primary lesson that I learnt is to listen carefully, compassionately and with an open mind to other members of my team. I treat all with respect and obtain all ideas and viewpoints before moving forward with a plan of action. Another improvement is that I can now state reasons for my positions, to avoid sounding arbitrary or dictatorial. I learnt also that the key to good leadership is to avoid acting defensively when criticised; to take the criticism as a challenge to do better or to reject as unwarranted, if appropriate. I am a communicator and I lead by example. Each year in Toastmasters I have grown, but, more importantly, the people around me have improved as well. I had leadership positions before Toastmasters, but I would like to believe that I have become a better leader because of Toastmasters. My leadership style is now firm, fair, frank and friendly. I am a Toastmaster for life.
FBM: How do you plan to influence the community at the helm of Toastmasters?
LZ: One of the Toastmasters values is excellence. As part of redefining leadership in our continent, I will be encouraging my leadership team to continuously be on the lookout for emerging leaders, and work towards learning the best ideas for developing and supporting them. This involves increasing membership in our clubs and creating new ones.
I intend to take Toastmasters to the people in the various communities through special youth programmes in schools, in the corporate space and in everyday life. It can give the skills and confidence anyone needs to effectively express themselves in any situation. Whether you are a manager, student, young professional, someone looking to advance your career or make an impact in your community, Toastmasters is the most efficient, supportive, enjoyable and affordable way of self-development.
FBM: Tell us the background of people who participate in Toastmasters
LZ: Toastmasters is open to everyone over 18 in over 145 countries, including Zimbabwe, for an annual subscription of only US$90. Joining Toastmasters allows people to build the skills they need to become more confident speakers and stronger leaders in every area of their lives. Toastmasters offers a proven education programme that comprises of two tracks – communication and leadership. The programme allows members to simultaneously pursue both, and each features a series of projects that can be completed at your own pace.
Besides improving your communication and leadership skills, by being part of Toastmasters you can achieve so much, including learning so many transferrable skills, which you can use in business and life.
These include management skills, conducting business meetings, training skills, marketing, budgeting, parliamentary procedures, as well as confidence in speaking and leading.
Another thing is this is a great community, which is supportive. You can get a mentor at any stage of your growth in any area of development. This is the kind of support we have in Toastmasters, always ready to uplift each other.
