Five Questions with a Leader - Pablo García
May 5th 2024
Pablo García is the Immediate Past District 107 Director (2023 - 2024)
How has Toastmasters impacted your personal and professional growth as a leader?
I joined Toastmasters back in April 2015.
In my personal life this drove to innumerable opportunities to meet great people, awesome souls, inspiring professionals, and a bunch of FRIENDS (and many to come!).
On a professional level, I was growingly felt more and more confident to be seen, to show up, to drive initiatives, to lead teams... and it paid off by allowing me to explore new pathways and job roles
What strategies do you use to effectively lead and motivate your team in Toastmasters?
I actively try to set up the starting point as a team, whatever that is. And this implies listening to, seeing and including the variety of perspectives, backgrounds and (dynamic) personalities which enrich the environment of the team, and notch-up the results.
That's just the first step to set the scene for a new collective challenge to be addressed more purposefully and in target to everyone's needs and the project/task/journey at hand.
Can you share a memorable experience or lesson learned from your time as a Toastmasters leader?
I learned the (almost, luckily and randomly ended well) hard way that, believe it or not, GDPR is needed to pay attention to (and indeed great to have).
How do you balance your responsibilities within Toastmasters with your other commitments?
All is poisoning and nothing is poisoning. The dose makes the poison" ~ Paracelsus (s. XVI).
I try to categorize needs and prioritize them accordingly. Preparation, anticipation and reminders are golden. Flexibility and self-care are always transversal. Asking for help if needed might become HANDY (kind reminder to myself here).
And when everything else falls apart, patiente, reflection, a BIG SMILE and action to avoid it in the future
What advice do you have for Toastmasters members aspiring to take on leadership roles?
Give yourself this gift, you deserve it and will not regret it. And hey, they deserve your leadership too .
You will find incredible people, including a few "yourselves"