Tsend-Ayush.S: “Try to see how the world is doing better, If we limit ourselves to Mongolia, we can’t improve”

By Munkhjin.Ts

Welcome to “Humans of UB Toastmasters” inspiring interview series. There is no doubt that many people imagine the UB Toastmasters club with Tseenee, one of the enthusiastic and energetic toastmasters in Mongolia.

We interviewed the former president of the UB Toastmaster club, Tseenee, who has many hats including a project manager at an international organization, IELTS teacher and founder of Bookaholics book club based in Mongolia, to understand how Toastmasters journey reinforced her career and personal life. In this series we discussed some of her self-reflections, and the story of how she had built today’s inspirer Tseenee.

-Hello Tseene! Thank you for accepting our invitation today. To start, could you share with us how your Toastmasters journey has started?

-Thank you very much for having me. My journey as a toastmaster probably started about 5 years ago. The reason why I joined Toastmasters was my failure. When I was a student I had a chance to join the international youth organization, AIESEC Mongolia. When I left the club, the small community that I built broke down. At that time I didn’t understand exactly what my mistake was. So I found a new community where I can correct my mistakes, which was the UB Toastmasters club and I joined the club in order to improve my leadership skills. \After working consistently for about 5 years finally I had a chance to find out what went wrong at my previous club and correct it. That was I made a mistake as a leader, which was I built a team dependent on me.

-Exactly what experience inspired you to stay persistent on this journey?

-When I visited the club for the first time, I saw something wrong. There were lots of wonderful members but they didn’t know how to work as a team. So I thought there is a cap that I can jab in and solve the problem. For me it was an opportunity to prove myself and try to correct my mistakes. That’s why I decided to join as a member, right after my first meeting. Every new member makes a decision based on their first 6 month membership experience. It depends on what you are looking for from the club. For me, It was improving my leadership skills.

Basically toastmasters offers 3 skills, communication, public speaking and leadership. If you just fade for the opportunity and wait for someone to help you, sorry you will fail.

“If you’re the person who wants to contribute to the society or community, or help somebody to be a leader, this is the right place.”

-The way you speak, the way you act always gives others inspiration. Where does this enthusiasm come from, how you are always committed to what you’re doing and keep your energy level high?

-I would say it is the members and guests. Imagine that if you can influence somebody’s life you feel the happiest moment in your life. So in this way I try to help others and feel I have become a better version of myself and try to fulfill my life and desire to the fullest.

You always look like a real leader. What made you confident and our proud member, can you elaborate more?

-I have to say that If you are willing to become a leader you have to act like a leader. Which means getting to know your members very well. For example I didn’t become a president at first when I got the chance but I decided to become Vice President of Education (VPE), the second important role at the club. Because I really want to know about my members, get closer to them. But being a president you can’t do that. If you’ve become VPE, you have to assign the roles for each member and you have to know their weaknesses, strengths and everything. So this is my technique to win their heart.

So a leader should be like this. It’s not about you leading something but you have to be one of them. If they struggle you’ve to be there, if they are happy you also need to be there. This way you can build the strongest club ever and members will not be reliant on you, they can process it themselves as well. And give them a chance to make decisions, not make decisions on behalf of themselves always.

Trust them, let them make the mistake and learn from it.

-You wear many hats. Officer of the toastmasters club and at the same time you teach IELTS and run a book club. Also you have a full time job. I really wonder how you manage your time and energy for all of these?

-I would say live the present moment. But being in the present moment and focusing on one thing is vital. For example, in the morning I focus on the important things of my club, try to make a decision for two hours. I don’t think about my work, or anything else even my family. Then I have 8 work hours. I dedicate myself to the fullest and I don’t focus on other things. I do whatever comes to hand at my workplace. After that, it’s my club time, I dedicate my time to approach the members and also lead my officers, so this is the club time. Live at the moment and don’t multitask, in this way you can juggle lots of things. Doing lots of things at once equals nothing. Just prioritize them and handle one by one.

-As a senior president and officer of one of the world class Toastmasters clubs, what is your recipe to make meetings more engaging and keep your members and guest energy level high? How do you conquer them?

It’s about the members. You can not make the meeting successful just by yourself. You can be the best but if your members are not doing their best the meeting will be a disaster. So what I can do is that I assign roles to the person who is capable of doing that position. There are some people who still need to improve, so I give the time to be mentored by someone who excels at the roles. They have between 1–2 months to show what they can do and how they can improve. This is the secret.

- I want you to share with us your experience. What were your joy and challenges?

-Challenge is leading distinct people from different backgrounds. Because we spend 2 hours a week at the club, there is less time to get to know the members. But inviting them over for coffee, talking about their personal life or anything I get to know them one by one. I’m still trying to solve it. Joy is getting to know about different people. For example, I have a lot of unique and closest friends at the club. I have never done meditation before, but with the help of my club I met a friend who meditates, so I learned how to meditate. And I have a friend who is addicted to traveling and exploring new things. I learned how to enjoy exploring new places and making adventures. I really enjoy being friends with all those special, beautiful minds. So you can learn all those unique skills at one club and you don’t have to go anywhere else. You have an opportunity to live a 29 members’ lives. For me that is the joy of being Toastmaster.

• To be honest, we really miss the energy and atmosphere you bring at the club. Why did you decide to leave the UB Toastmaster club and join the Singaporean club?

-I have 2 reasons. I believe that a good leader helps others to be a leader. So at the club there is a president. I don’t want to interfere with her work because I want the members to respect her and how she can lead and challenge herself.

The second reason is I wanted to challenge myself and compete at an international level. I wanted to challenge myself and how it feels to become a member of an international club.

And then at last what I can bring to my club. It takes some time to learn from them.

Actually, I’m planning to come back to my club and how I can transform them from a national to international level Toastmaster club.

-Wow, that is really delightful news. Your decision made all of us happy and at the same time gave us a hint to get out of our comfort zone and challenge ourselves to another level?

- I think UB Toastmasters have the best potential members that they ever have. So I want to unleash their potential and show we can be the best club in Mongolia.

If we limit ourselves to Mongolia, we can not improve ourselves. But the world is doing better.

There are lots of people doing much better than us. I want to show each club member what we are capable of and how important they are.

You spent 7 months at the international club right. So what are the main takeaways we UB Toastmasters should apply in order to make meetings more engaging and help members become better leaders and improve as a group?

- I would say that preparation is the key. We Mongolians don’t make real plans, we plan in our head. Not on paper. What Singaporean Toastmasters do is that they make a group like two weeks in advance. In this group officers are gathered and they test the meeting and provide advice to each other. For example Sergeant at Arms are doesn’t considered as an important role but what I have found is that it is a really important role. Zoom master also plays a very essential role. Also Mongolians assign two roles for one person. If a person focuses on one task we can see a significant difference. Another thing is that they take Toastmaster as a huge part of their life. Because they think it helps them to be a better version of themselves and also succeed at their career.

How toastmasters journey has helped your career?

I want to say that at work I have to work by myself. Working by yourself is very challenging. So this family helped me to fill that emptiness and avoid my loneliness at the workplace. I look confident but in reality I’m not. At work I have to present lots of speeches and presentations in front of international delegates and project leaders. I had some fears inside, how I look, do I look capable of doing this project etc. But by being a member of Toastmasters, I gained confidence, how it should feel, and how I can engage with others.

So if you only focus on your work I’m sorry you can’t develop yourself.

Before becoming toastmaster nobody recognizes what I’m doing at work, I can not express myself and I had less confidence, I used to hide it. I was stuck for almost 4 years in one position. After 4 years I gained my confidence and tried to engage with my boss and expressed what I am doing is very important to the organization and also the people whom I work with. So being expressive helped me be promoted. And became visible not only to my boss but also my sector experts.

-What is your advice for new staff in order to be recognized by their boss?

-First and foremost they have to improve their communication skills. Which is possible and you can learn it at UB Toastmasters club. Because if you can’t communicate with others you can’t tell others what you want and can’t get what you want. That is the reality. Learning to express yourself is the only right way. Don’t hide or sit behind your table.

-Can you elaborate it by taking practical examples, maybe our readers really need to hear this?

-Okay, let’s imagine that you want to be promoted and you don’t know how to tell your boss. Probably, you have to find the right moment. Your boss should be happy or If you showed your potential, this is the right timing to ask an important question. You can invite your boss for coffee or dinner. And tell “I’ve been working for you for … years so hard, and thank you so much for the wonderful opportunity you’ve provided to me. I have improved a lot but there is still room for me to improve so I want to keep working for you. This way your boss will feel comfortable. Then you should say that what I can do is that, but I need to be promoted. This is the communication your boss and you should have annually. But most people wait for 5 years. If you can make that conversation with your boss your salary will increase each year. Some people may say their boss is mean or ignorant etc. But if you express what you want and if your boss doesn’t support you, I think this is the right timing that you have to leave your work and find another opportunity because life is short, so you don’t need to waste your time at a place where your true potential is not being recognized.

What is your biggest achievement as a member of the Toastmaster club?

-The biggest achievement I had at the club was helping my successors to succeed meaning that I prepared my successor for about a year to become a president. A leader should think about who can be my potential successor. Because people forget about it because of their daily tasks. So you have to think very carefully analyzing your members who are capable of being a leader. If you can do this, you can say you are a good leader. Because you’re building a system that does not rely on you. I would say this is my biggest achievement.

-Are there any trait, habits that every leader should have in order to succeed?

-First one is impactful. You have to get to know how it feels being on that person’s shoe. If you don’t know, I would say you’re not a good leader.

Another good trait is that you set an example to your members by doing your best. Because your members don’t know where to go, so you’re the one who has to take a risk and show them where they’re heading for.

-Wow, you always impress me with your thought provoking answers. So now, let’s move on to your beautiful journey of learning English? How did you learn English at that proficient level ?

My experience is not that beautiful. When I was enrolled in university I mistakenly chose my field. I thought it was a kind of economics but it was international economics and relations. There are so many international high school students who have already learned how to communicate with others very confidently in English. I was always a beginner. What my teacher did to me is very beautiful, I would say. She asked me to read a sentence loudly during the lesson. I remember that I read about 10 words but none of them was correct. And of course people started to laugh at me, and so did my teacher. I was the top student in my high school, it was a very shameful situation so I was really ashamed and wanted to quit my university. After crying for over a week, what I was thinking is why should I give up, my teacher should be shameful for the actions she made. Then I made a decision, it’s okay to be shameful. Shameful for 3 years she will feel sorry for me. So I worked so hard, even on the bus I used to read new words loudly. I didn’t care when people laughed at me. My best friend was really good at English. I would say those who are struggling to learn English, it’s okay to be shameful for 3 years since it doesn’t last forever.

Put yourself in a shameful situation for about 2–3 years, and afterwards you’ll feel satisfied about what you did.

I want to know more details. What have you done for those 3 years? Especially in speaking and writing?

In order to speak properly what I did was I tried to communicate with others. I was born in Khuvsgul province. When I was a freshman at university, during my summer vacation I used to sit in front of the supermarket for about 8 hours every single day. Because I believed that I might find native english speakers only there. I only had candies and when somebody showed up I jump into them and asked “Can I ask you 5 questions then will give you a candy because I want to learn english”. They feel I’m kinda cute or something. That is the kind of dedication that I have made in order to learn english. If I meet 5 foreigners in a day, I feel successful and happily go home. That summer I have seen little improvement from myself and next year I started teaching English for the beginners at a training center in my province. The following year intermediate, and upper intermediate. And then now where I am, teaching IELTS. That’s how I build up my English systematically.

I believe that teaching is the most effective way to learn a language.

-Can you share with us how you prepare your speech and deliver it successfully?

-Comparing to others I have different techniques. People tend to memorize every single word of the script. But my weakness is I can not memorize sentences so I use this as my strength. What I can do is write keywords and key ideas that I wanted to deliver. I divide my speech into 3 parts. Which is introduction, body and conclusion. In the beginning part I start with a rhetorical question, meanwhile I think about what are the keywords that I had prepared. I would advise you don’t memorize every single word that you write. What I would suggest is to challenge yourself and write only 2 or 3 words which contain your main idea. In order to develop your skill, read an article and make headings. Just imagine there were no headlines or topics or subjects of that article and if you are a writer what kind of heading do you want to make.

People only share how they succeed. They think It’s not a nice thing to share how you failed, how vulnerable you are with others. What I want to say is try to show your weakness as much as you can. Our failure makes us a stronger version of ourselves.

-Thank you for your extraordinary answer. The interview is coming to an end. So what is Tseenee’s passion?

-It is very simple, I want to help as many people as I can. I would say that is my destiny in life. So everytime, I never think about myself, I always think about the community. You can’t live only by yourself. And also your kids will live in this society. In order to build a better society we have to think about what we can do for others. So remember that If you want to lean in far you have to go with your team. So I want to build up the biggest team that I have ever had and influence the community and contribute to it to the fullest.

-I really appreciate you for making time for us and sharing your thought-provoking experiences and beautiful thoughts, Tseenee. I hope you get the best of everything in your life.