[For Area Director detailed requirements, read the “Area Director Responsibilities” in the District Leadership Handbook. This article’s quotes from this Handbook are in italics.]
Were you a club president? If you were, you realize that the club president provides necessary leadership for the club, actively seeking and connecting with club members and officers. The club’s executive committee generally determines the club’s primary needs. Club Presidents lead in aspects of club practice and performance important to the club’s executive committee. A club’s primary need might be membership building, or perhaps education; or the club’s primary need could be all aspects of the Distinguished Club Program (DCP).
Now you can better understand the first responsibility listed for the Area Director: The Area Director is responsible for leading the Area by serving the needs of clubs. The Area Director is not there to serve their own needs or desires, nor to be a leader of the clubs. Leading means serving, serving the clubs’ Area Council teams. “Serving” is a big part of Toastmasters International’s core values: integrity, respect, service, and excellence.
It would be rare to find an Area Director who has not been a club president. How can you effectively coordinate with club presidents if you have never been one? However, if you find yourself wanting to do both club president and Area Director jobs at the same time, that would be very educational and also challenging. Could you benefit from leading two different leadership teams? As Area Director, you would also serve on the division Council with the other Area Directors in your division.
What is your Area Director job and what is your focus during the year? The Area Director is the leader of the Area Council team in each club. If you have four clubs, that means you have 4 Area Council teams to work with individually. The Area Council consists of the Area Director and the club president, the club vice president education, and the club vice president membership. You are not an officer of each of the clubs in your Area. Your success with each club will depend on your cooperative associations with those top three club officers which make up each Area Council team. When you encourage and respond to Area Council team needs, they will appreciate your service to them and ask for more. The need to meet with a club’s Area Council will vary based on their needs, your leadership, and on their desire to have you participate. Hopefully, you can encourage each team in all aspects of the Distinguished Club Program. Good, effective Area Council teams are most important to an Area Director. All of your Area Council teams could meet together at one meeting, if the Area Director finds it advantageous to expedite the work.
Have fun as an Area Director with each of your clubs – really! This insight on area director leadership has come after three terms of area director service over 20 years. So don’t be surprised if you don’t pick it up the first time. But give it a good try and you will have fun and begin to implement good Area Director leadership.
Take each club’s best practices back to your club and make that club prosper too! That’s just a great bonus for an Area Director. You will enjoy the immense learning that takes place and how your appreciation for the Toastmasters program grows!