Let Us Talk Episode 7

Optimistic Sheikha - A Toastmaster with a Persevering Spirit

Interviewed by: Saleh Abdullah Alkhamyasi

DTM Sheikha Al-Harthy is a pioneer in the toastmaster circle in Oman, the first Omani woman to be awarded distinguished Toastmasters Status. The conversation with her gives you a feeling that you are before a very passionate toastmaster. She advocates the three Ps whenever she is talking and motivating a budding toastmaster. Her formula consists of plan, persevere and patience.

DTM Sheikha Al Harthy

She started working for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) in 1985 immediately after her graduation in 1984 from UK in Business Management and worked in several departments of PDO. Her certification in NEBOSH coupled with the communication and leadership skills developed at Toastmasters qualified her as Safety Contract Engineer. Currently DTM Sheikha is pursuing a Masters degree in Safety studies and aspiring to become a consultant.

Her diverse hobbies include reading, attending Toastmasters meetings, watching movies in Silver Screen and dining out, exercising and travelling across the world during her leave. A proud mother of four children, she adores the innocent smile of her cute granddaughter. She revealed that she enjoys having lots of friends and acquaintances and toastmasters made that possible all the way.

Let us talk approached DTM Sheikha to shed light on her experience as a committed toastmaster. Our conversation with her was so interesting. Her memories and the lessons learned during a decade journey were thought provoking and an eye opening too. The dialogue with her proceeded in this direction.

· I will always continue to embrace that quest for a lifelong learning after all it is an environment where one is learning from everyone.

· I persevered. I have always maintained a positive attitude and made it a habit to nourish my mind with Vitamin I can. I honestly felt the fear but made it a point to do it anyway.

· I searched inside my inner self and what I learnt was the need for patience.

· It was interesting being an Area Governor; it is a role I liked most because you can really make a difference.

· I realized that challenges are good for the spirit, and that if I could come through that challenge successfully. I would definitely have learnt to become a good leader and communicator

· To make a dynamic 2013 OTAC successful, Let us get everybody involved

· To the budding toastmaster, I would say, persevere with being a Toastmaster; there will be trials and tests along the way but never give up! Have strength, pursue your goals further and in the future you will be grateful you trained yourself in this art

· We need to respect and learn from each other with a never ending friendly attitude.

When and why did you join toastmasters?

I had always wanted to be part of a club that would support and develop me, strengthening my character through enhancing my abilities in communication and leadership, as so much in life depends on these skills. It was back in 2002 when a colleague mentioned Toastmasters to me. I felt as if it was the call of the hour. You know nothing happens by luck and when I read the club’s portfolio I immediately recognized that, it was offering just what I was looking for and sure enough it was a real turning point in my life.

You are among the pioneers as a toastmaster from Oman how do you feel about that?

Many thanks! It is nice to be recognized however I will always continue to embrace that quest for a lifelong learning after all it is an environment where everyone is learning from everyone. When I started Toastmasters in PDO we used to record the speeches in video and play back! We had a good laugh watching our areas of improvement being crystal clear. Sharing knowledge with TM Yahya Maimani, TM Amour Al-Brumi, TM Mohamed Jaffer (MJ) and TM Abdulla Kutty, is fun, we meet up to analyze elements of Toastmasters and get to understand them well, hold discussion on behaviour, characters, etiquettes and other subjects of interest.

It is a great group we have developed rapport with each other. In addition, in my time as an Area Governor of Area 6 we had formed an Area Governor group where all 4 Area Governors, DTM Clita, DTM Dr. Rajan Philip, TM Manoj and myself met in a small restaurant along Darsait highway, while sipping coffee we compared notes and had a good laugh.

I Also like the OTAC events I find some of the speeches to be very funny and interesting, at times I laughed until tears came out! I also enjoy sharing talks on Toastmasters with DTM George Thomas, I have receive a lot of encouragement from him, actually it is DTM George who first pushed me on the OTAC stage and he has always followed up my progress, recently he had encouraged me to qualify for higher performance manual and he brought it to me because of his gesture I tried so hard to achieve this hard qualification by leading a Trade Union formation in my organization and this was received very well by staff. There are other Toastmasters whom I have good memories of as well the list is huge so let me say thanks a lot team it is really good to have all of you around. It gives me a communitarian sense of belonging, contributing and serving.

Were there any temptations to quit?

Oh Mr. Saleh that is the gist of the matter. To conquer your fear is the trick of the trade that is why Nelson Mandela said: I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Of course, yes! Many times! In my role I came across some people who did not fully understand the functioning of Toastmasters and that made the work so much harder, but I persevered. I have always maintained a positive attitude and made it a habit to nourish my mind with Vitamin I can. I honestly felt the fear but made it a point to do it anyway.

What made you carry on then?

I realized that those who can be difficult and challenging in life present an opportunity for learning and growth and I used this to help me to grow and develop my skills. I realized that I should look to carry on despite the difficulties I faced to achieve my goals in my career and in life as a whole. If I could learn to deal with the variety of people in my life it would benefit me in all walks of life. I realized that challenges are good for the spirit, and that if I could come through that challenge successfully. I would definitely have learnt to become a good leader and communicator. In this case, I needed to understand the character necessary and so I searched inside my inner self and what I learnt was the need for ‘PATIENCE’. I set myself a challenge to see if I had the necessary patience in me and I quickly realized I did not have enough. I needed more and it needed to be strengthened, and so I continued on with Toastmasters with the aim to achieve this.

What leadership roles did you play so far?

I have fulfilled a variety of roles in my time in the club from Sergeant at Arm to President, a mentor, a sponsor and lately an Area Governor. Each station of them was a learning opportunity through which I learned immensely.

Tell us about your role as an Area Governor?

It was interesting being an Area Governor, it is a role I liked most because you can really make a difference. By then I saw that I had learnt a lot from Toastmasters and I had earned both channels of the communication and leadership. I had gone deep into each role, I mean the competent communicator (CC) the Advance communicator Bronze (ACB) and as for the leadership line, I was already Advance leader Bronze what was left was for me to be in Silver and then Gold and later on as a DTM. I had enough knowledge to share with my colleagues especially when I had tried to go very deep into my first (CC) of 10 projects, to me this is the foundation of communication and it needed to be pursued very carefully in order to master the advance speeches. I faced many challenges, however, as I am a result oriented person and I had my goals, I simply listened to advice, ignored the noise and without offending anybody achieved the goals as per the District leadership and became a guide to effective District management.

What are some lessons you learned on the way to DTM?

Surely, it has been a journey that had ups and downs! In the past 10 years it felt like travelling through the countryside along bumpy meandering roads, sometimes with thorn bushes and cobble stones. Every time you reach a small village you feel happy to see the children surrounding you as if to wish you for a pleasant journey, only to leave them and repeat the same hardship to get to the next village and so forth until you reach the end of your journey where you come in contact with the higher ground surrounded with green trees with fruits, flowers and butterflies of different colors. This land is high up and enjoys a cooling breeze. You stand at the summit to take a glance of the colorful panorama back toward the distant villages and the road you have travelled during your journey and on the far side in the distance is spectacular view of the shimmering sea. While up there gazing it appears as though the summit is giving you a choice, either to go back to where you came or to move forward across the sea to a promised land. This is the same with our Toastmasters’ projects, your target is to achieve a high point of DTM, where you get prepared to understand life as a whole in its true colors. The choice is yours whether to accept it and move forward or to stay stagnant.

What do you like to see in OTAC 2013?

To make a dynamic 2013 OTAC successful, first and foremost we need to cut down time, as presently it is long. It should be no longer than 4 hours. That means in between we need to have another competition for the combined areas by the time we have an OTAC competition not more than 3 people from each contest (International speech 3 people, table topic 3 people, evaluation 3 people and so forth) from where we would just look for the number 1 winner who would represent us to the DTAC. We also need to introduce other interesting sessions and it would be ideal if it were left to members to suggest interesting topics. Members do have a lot to share and I am sure something interesting will crop up. Let us get everybody involved.

What is your advice for the budding Toastmasters?

To the budding toastmaster, I would say, persevere with being a Toastmaster; there will be trials and tests along the way but never give up! Have strength, pursue your goals further and in the future you will be grateful you trained yourself in this art. At the same time physical exercise regularly, eat healthily, increase your vocabulary, use technology and have positive imagination, above all, have faith in order to live happily. Do not let them say you died at 30 and you were buried at 80. Let me highlight some more tips to bear in mind:

· When you compose a speech try to pre think your objective - write from the heart – Start, continue, finish – Edit – re-edit – happy with your text –practice in front of the mirror several times – now you are ready – deliver your speech.

· Good Storytellers – Life is full of anecdotes, use them to describe, dramatize and paint pictures to relentlessly communicate. Our lives are wrapped up in stories – novels we read, movies, jokes we laugh at, are all stories. With storytelling, the scenic route gets you there just like the direct one, and on top the audience enjoy it a lot more. The purpose of telling stories is to make information memorable, recallable, clear, useful, and appropriate.

· Try to learn the best from the best. Select someone who knows the territory. A mentor’s role is to help you see things you wouldn’t normally have seen for yourself because you were so involved in doing other things.

· Networking – You need involvement in organizations other than your own to meet outside people. You have to trade information back and forth. Increase your business contacts. Keep your eyes and ears open to prospects. Learn to recognize a potential business friend. People you meet in airplanes, at the health club, friends of friends, friends of vendors, friends of kids, even people you read about in newspapers. Your college mates make several attempts with each person before giving up. Introduce yourself and show interest, look for common interest and follow up in what common interest you have discovered. Acknowledge every telephone call or correspondence you receive. Keep networking until it feels comfortable. Contact them, have lunch with them, write notes to them, Congratulate them, Compliment, ask advice etc.

Last word you want to wrap up with?

Although we are all Toastmasters we should remember people are individuals and they have their own colorful characteristic. We need to respect and learn from each other with a never ending friendly attitude, after all we all benefit from attracting a diverse and varied membership. If we happen to do this then we will enjoy colourful garden of flowers flourishing and our Division will grow from strength to strength. Isn’t this that we are looking for?

Let me thank you for this invitation. I honestly appreciate the efforts being made to connect the clubs together through such a creative initiative. Let me take this opportunity to encourage the VPPR in each club to be ambassadors of this blog and do their part in making their members aware about it and have them come forward in putting their comments and share their news. It is only if each one does his or her tiny part that we will all make a big difference. As they say excellence is not a journey but a destination.