What Are These Paths You Speak Of?
Congratulations! You’ve signed up for Pathways. Are you a brand new Toastmaster just starting your journey? Perhaps you are a more seasoned member ready for new adventures? In either case your next step is to select the path you want to work on but you’re unsure which is right for you. Read on for guidance.
Before we start, remember that the Pathways program is designed around five core competencies:
- Public Speaking
- Interpersonal Communications
- Strategic Leadership
- Management
- Confidence
It’s interesting to note that Toastmasters recognizes and calls out that confidence isn’t a skill that can be taught but something you gain with experience. While all of the paths include a focus on building public speaking skills and building confidence, some paths also include aspects of the other competencies. Let’s group the paths by the different competencies
Public Speaking and Confidence
- Engaging Humor - Build public speaking and speech writing skills.
- Presentation Mastery - Build public speaking skills
These two paths have the strongest focus on improving public speaking skills.
Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, Management, and Confidence
- Effective Coaching - Build interpersonal communication, leadership and coaching skills
- Leadership Development - Build communication and leadership skills
These two paths focus on interpersonal communication and public speaking skills along with management.
Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, Strategic Leadership, and Confidence
- Dynamic Leadership - Build strategic leadership and conflict resolution skills
- Motivational Strategies - Build motivational leadership and communication skills
- Strategic Relationships - Build networking, leadership and communication skills
Similar to the two paths above, these paths also focus on interpersonal communication and public speaking skill but have the addition of strategic leadership instead of management skills.
Public Speaking, Strategic Leadership, Interpersonal Communication, and Confidence
- Persuasive Influence - Build skills to lead in complex situations
- Visionary Communication - Build innovative communication and leadership skills
These two paths complement the three above with similar focus on competencies but different priority. Here the focus is on strategic leadership and public speaking skills along with interesting communication.
Public Speaking, Management, Interpersonal Communication, and Confidence
- Innovative Planning - Build creative project management and communication skills
- Team Collaboration - Build collaborative leadership skills
The final two paths have their focus on management and public speaking skills along with interpersonal communication.
With the exception of the first group (engaging humor and presentation mastery), all of the paths have some aspect of interpersonal communication in the competencies they include in their focus. The projects in each path are grouped into five levels:
- Mastering Fundamentals
- Learing Your Style
- Increasing Knowledge
- Building Skills
- Demonstrating Expertise
Level one (mastering fundamentals) is the same for all paths and begins with an Icebreaker speech. Once you complete level two, the remaining levels each have a core project and your choice of one or more electives. You can learn more about each path (including details on the projects at each level) by clicking on the icons for each path shown on the Pathways Overview.
Help!
“I’m more confused now that I was before about which path is right for me” you might be thinking. You are not alone and Toastmasters has a an on-line guided questionnaire to help find the right path for you. This assessment consists of 25 questions relating to difference aspects of the competencies listed above. When you are done, it will suggest three paths for you (although you can still pick another path if you want). If you choose to order printed materials instead of using the on-line program you are limited in the paths available. I still suggest answering the questions on the assessment to see which paths it suggests for you before choosing the printed path you want.