The Competent Leader Certificate is, in my opinion, one that does not receive enough promotion. Everybody knows about the CTM and ATM (Competent Toastmaster and Able Toastmaster) certificates for speaking but not everyone knwos of the CL and AL (Competent Leader and Able Leader). While Toastmasters stresses learning public speaking skills (the educational skills featured in the CTM and ATM) Toastmasters also needs skilled Leaders: club officers like presidents & vice-presidents, District officers like Area governors. And the skills needed to be an effective leader must be learned and they should be rewarded. As Dr. Warren Bennis of the University of Southern California Business school has said "Today's employee is overmanaged and underled." This is not because we have a surfeit of managers but because insufficient value is placed on developing skilled leaders.
The CL and AL are Toastmasters International's method of seeing that leadership skill is developed and recognized. These awards are part of the Leadership Track towards the DTM (Distinquished Toastmaster) award.
What are the requirements to receive the CL award?If you've earned your CTM and have served as. or are serving as, a club officer then you are already three quarters of the way to earnign your CL certificate!
So what are the programs in the Successful Club Series? Basically they consist of giving a presentation (a speech) before a club, and Toastmasters International will even supply a sample script, hand outs and overhead transparencies. (link to International's site)