Page 38 - April 2020

FIELD NOTES
Grow Your Members with Empathic Evaluations
A member has just given a speech to their
home club. They offered their trust in the
audience through sharing a vulnerable and
personal topic. Now, it is up to the evaluator to
provide feedback to enhance and support the
speaker in their growth.
Does this sound familiar? I believe this
scenario is what can make or break the longevity
of a club. Why do many of us come back, year
after year (even for decades) to regular meetings?
I genuinely believe that evaluation is the heart
and soul of the Toastmasters brand.
What is it about evaluation that is so
important in a Toastmasters club? It provides the
means for growth which is our common bond as
members. When club members grow together,
they stay together! I truly believe this applies to
ongoing members, as well as prospective guests.
The empathic evaluation (showing an ability to
understand and share the feelings of another) lends
itself very strongly to growth. There are three
characteristics that significantly enhance this:
• Visibility—A speaker receiving an
tevaluation wants to know they were
38 ONE COMMUNITY
Dave Bones, ACS, CL
“seen” for their goals and personal
context. For example, if you noticed
that the speaker had done a lot of
preparation or if you were moved by
something they said, let them know!
This establishes authentic rappor.
• Direction—How can we both support
and offer ways to improve? Without this
component, there is no growth. Two
problems often occur:
• The “whitewash” evaluation - an
evaluator only offers the positive
attributes of the speaker with no
suggestions for improvement.
They may say something like, “I
really could not find any points to
improve upon, but . . .”
• The negative evaluation - this is
where the evaluator primarily
tells the speaker what they didn’t
like about the presentation. For
example, the evaluator might
comment that the speaker was too
quiet, or their eye contact wasn’t