My name is Stephen Krutzfeldt, and I am the President and founder of the “DocuSign SE Toastmasters” club. Our club officially chartered on June 30th, 2022, so we are a very young club. Since chartering, we have grown our club from 20 members to 23, while seeing an uptick in member attendance and engagement. We attribute our growth and engagement to several factors, the most important being a strong foundation laid by a mission statement combining our corporate culture with Toastmaster’s mission:

We provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

-DocuSign SE Toastmasters club mission

Every successful organization whether they are a for-profit business, non-profit entity, religious organization, or Toastmasters club, all have one very critical attribute in common; that attribute is a mission statement. Once we had a clear mission, the rest of the pieces fell easily into place. My other Toastmasters club members put me in touch with a Senior Toastmaster and staple of the community, Colleen Marie Kelly. Colleen Marie has been instrumental in helping our club charter, organize, and execute in a way that fostered growth and aligned with the club’s mission.

Before we could begin attracting members, we first needed to assemble a strong Officer Team. This proved to be an easier task than we had anticipated, thanks to the powerful mission and executive support. I reached out to various leaders and aspiring leaders in the DocuSign organization and centered the conversation around the Toastmasters’ mission. Our officer team is diverse in backgrounds and strengths, but we are strong in our alliance with the mission. Because of this, our newly founded club had all seven officers get through Toastmasters Officer Training on the first round!

Once we had a strong officer team and a clear mission, I was able to convince DocuSign executives to sponsor the club and pay for our members. Together we were able to remove a key barrier to entry. With all our officers now rowing in the same direction, we were able to go out and speak individually to prospective members. Our members all have eclectic backgrounds and are located all over the United States, but every single person who joined made that choice because they could get behind the idea of a supportive and positive learning experience that empowered them to develop communication and leadership skills that result in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

I mentioned at the beginning that our club has continued to grow, and we have seen an uptick in engagement. This is largely due to word-of-mouth recruitment from officers, members, and executive sponsors. Each meeting leaves folks walking away talking about the experience. We have heard members catch their crutch words on team calls, and we have also observed changes and adjustments to how meetings are being run, reflecting best practices learned in Toastmasters and Pathways. To what do I attribute our club’s success? A strong mission statement and leaders that are driven to follow it.