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worked every day through a heavy load. I still to order the trophies sometime in the first half of
focus on doing one thing at a time. The work is January and not in February. This allows more

even more daunting than at any time during my time to adjust to stock shortages and possible
CGD year. I see that I am working more efficiently errors, such as misspelled engravings. I even
and productively than I ever did during my first have this task in my Trello backlog for the year
six months in the Trio. I’m even able to shift so I don’t forget.

my priorities more rapidly. Though the role of
the District Director does give me a lot of “busy Lorri Andersen, DTM - Program
work” to do, I don’t mean to imply that all my Quality Director
work is “busy work.” I do have a lot of strategic
planning to do to achieve my vision. The time As Program Quality Director, please share with
management skills I learned as your CGD have the members your vision for the coming year

been invaluable. I use them to carry out my daily
work as your District Director. The current role asks Program Quality Directors

to provide the kind of high-quality training
Anticipate District needs earlier and experience that encourages Toastmaster
Before my PQD year, I had consistently members to be so excited they can’t wait to go
not anticipated my “customers” needs in a to training!

timely fashion. This is important when special The District Education plan needs to be
supplies must be ordered months in advance. My analyzed to see where gaps exist and to fill those
procrastination often meant that my customers gaps with needed training.
did not receive what they needed on time. It came I want to develop a Team to develop high

days to weeks AFTER they needed it. quality training and thus a quality program
This snake came back to bite me again last experience.
winter. It involved ordering trophies for our
Division speech contests. I didn’t give the Supply Please share at least two lessons you have
Orders team at WHQ enough lead time. They had learned over the past year that make you a
to pick the trophies we needed, engrave them, better leader than when you started the Trio

and ship them to us weeks before our Division journey
contests. I gave them barely enough time. Our When I was elected Club Growth Director in

first Division contest had their trophies within a May of 2020, as a people we were lulled by the
few days before their contest. I did stress out as worry and nervousness of the pandemic. July
I had cut the time a bit close. I wasn’t sure they and August seemed like two long months of the
would receive their trophies in time. dog days of summer...slow and sleepy. Before

Lesson learned: consider customer needs I knew it, it was September and then October.
early and incorporate this consideration into New Club Leads were the last thing on people’s
my plans. For example, we need division contest minds. The leads seemed good and were going
trophies in April. I wrote in my plan for the year to produce a club. In the end, they did not. What

VOICES! | JULY 2021 9