Excerpts from ‘Online Pathways Guides Adventures‘.

The story begins in Tolkien style ….

Coach Carole lives a simple life with her fellow Pathways Guides in the shire, until the wizard George Marshall arrives and convinces her to join a group of volunteers on a quest to support the clubs of District U. The journey takes them both on a path through the complex world of online toastmasters, swarming with social media friends and virtual dragons. The purpose of the project is to provide support to clubs across the world of Toastmasters who are undistricted; ie they do not have a district team.

Potential challenges are identified and approached with wisdom and integrity. The Training Team at World Headquarters (WHQ) are contacted by the wizard George Marshall and convinced that his merry band of adventurers can achieve their mission. George becomes the Pathways Guide Coordinator, as nominated by WHQ, who are delighted to accept this offer of support. Coach Carole devises a vision and a process, through her High Performance Leadership (HPL) project – a framework for achieving the support mission. Carole informs the Online Alliance community of this project, the formation of the Steering Committee and the selection of a Guidance Committee for the HPL.

Together they will build a collaborative international team of online toastmasters who have the experience of Toastmasters leadership, Pathways education program and being a Pathways Guide and/or Ambassador. Two strong Pathways Champions, Michelle Alba-Lim and Mark Snow, are head hunted to join the merry band and become the Steering Committee. A Technology Guru, Graham Cairns, is added to the team – to ensure that ‘all will be well in the shire’ – Graham is added to the Guidance Committee.

Together they gather a band of fearless adventurers, now known as the Online Pathways Guides (OPGs). They search the shire of online toastmasters and send out their invitations to more than 36  likely candidates. Volunteers from across the shire, put up their hands, eagerly saying ‘pick me’.

From the applicants they select 28 and verify with the Training Team at WHQ. Support from WHQ comes in the form of a Virtual Rollout Kit and their permission for the Steering Committee to schedule and deliver Guide Support Sessions.

Then begins the complex task of assigning them to clubs across the world of Toastmasters Clubs in District U. The challenges of the Time Zone dragons are solved one by one and the teams are ready to go. The OPGs are all happily contacting their assigned clubs and scheduling their virtual club visits.

Now the OPGs are grouped into four collaborative shire teams: Harmony Orange;  Serene Green;  Cool Blue and Mellow Yellow, and their team leaders will provide the support and direction that they need.

The Online Pathways Guides Adventure is about to begin! Carole will tell the story, from the project point of view at the Firebirds Collective on March 25 and April 22.

A short report on how to achieve Cross-Cultural Understanding by being an Online Pathways Guide will be delivered by Carole at the Online Alliance meeting on March 26.

Stay tuned for another ongoing story as together we learn how to Manage Projects Successfully for Toastmasters in the cloud.