Many people have professional degrees and diplomas, but far fewer have a qualifications in the “ability to lead,” “inter-personal skills,” or “excellent oral and written communication” -- skills that appear in practically every job advert in the newspapers."

But this is the curriculum of Toastmasters International, a global not-for-gain training organisation with around 220,000 members in 11,500 branches (called “clubs”) in around 80 countries.

One such club is Nedbank Toastmasters Club in Johannesburg, which is slowly improving the standard of communication and leadership across the bank.

“Only 3-5 people graduate from our basic communication programme every year,” says club spokesperson Lee-Ann Schmidt, “which is surprising since the need for better communication in the workplace is so large.”

Schmidt is a senior project manager in the Group Money Laundering Control unit.

She says even fewer graduate from the advanced programme. “Once the club members have completed their Competent Communicator (CC) qualification they can go on to specialise in 15 different areas, including Speeches for Management, Interpersonal Communication, Entertaining Speaking as well diverse areas such as Speaking for Television, Storytelling and even Sales,” she says.

“We fare slightly better with the leadership offering. About six or seven people are elected to the club’s exco every year, where they run the club’s finances, marketing and operations. Students on the leadership track also undergo specialist and general leadership training twice a year, which helps them be better leaders in the workplace.

“Because our leadership terms are only one year, Toastmasters has to grow leaders fast,” she says. “Once you’ve served on a club exco, running a club of 20 people, you can progress to running 5 clubs (around 100 members) within a year. If you choose, you can then go for the next level a year later, where you will run 20-30 clubs with 400 to 600 members.

“One year later you can be part of an exco that runs nearly 3000 members in 9 countries. Not bad for somebody who’s only been at it for four years.”

The organisation’s highest qualification can take about five years to complete, and combines advanced speaking skills with advanced leadership skills. The Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM) qualification takes about as many hours as an MBA does. One of the requirements of the DTM is to build a Toastmasters Club, which is a fine test of motivation, leadership and good communications.

“Getting formal qualifications in leadership and communication through Toastmasters is a fun way to learn business skills,” she says. “And you have demonstrate the ability to speak or lead if you want to qualify."

Schmidt says attending Toastmasters has extra benefits. “Not only are you learning to speak, but you are also learning how to run good meetings, appraise people’s performance in a motivating but honest way; you’re also learning goal-setting, self-discipline and project management at the same time.

Membership of one club automatically gives you the right to visit any club in the world, which improves networking skills. “Lots of Toastmasters have met such lovely people at meetings, they went on to marry them!” she jokes.

In over 83 years, more than three million people worldwide have benefited from the Toastmasters programme. There are nearly 7,000 company clubs in corporations across the world, including Nedbank, Standard Bank and Ernst and Young in Johannesburg and Cape Town but also Google, Microsoft and Caterpillar in the US.

Nedbank Toastmasters meets at 17:30 on the first and third Monday of every month at 135 Rivonia Road, Sandton.

For more information about joining the Nedbank Toastmasters Club in Johannesburg, or starting your own club, contact Kevin Barrett on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or visit http://ebusiness.it.nednet.co.za/Toastmasters.