Helping people on their journey…
For the last few weeks, I have been busy planning. You should see my study walls filled sticky whiteboard paper with my ideas of what I can ‘package up’ and start to sell. It’s been a creative and stimulating time as I let my ideas get ahead of me but at the same time, it’s also been enlightening. I’ve had my assumptions challenged (this is good).
- Where I believed that people were using social tools already and doubted what could offer over and above what they already know was…wrong.
- Where I believed that I knew who my client market was…wrong.
- Where I believed that my own Learning and Development colleagues would understand what social learning was about was….wrong.
So what was right?
Well, lucky I turned off my LinkedIn notifications otherwise you would have been receiving continual notifications of me changing my title as I struggle to find a name to call myself.
I was right about trying to find a name that encapsulates how I can help others (using my own experience) navigate through this social media quagmire to build their own networks so that they can become better at what it is they do.
- Am I a Learning and Development Consultant…? (but still have constant requests to design facilitator-led or online learning asychronous courses only)
- Am I a Social Learning Consultant…? (but no one knows what this means anyway)
- Am I Learning Strategy Futurist…? (but everyone wants to know what it is that you actually “do”?)
- Change Agent…? (but everyone is thinking of some shifty cartoon character in a trench coat and hat)
I’ve had a few instances this week where people asked me what my job was. In a social setting at pubs and restaurants, you know that awkward silence after they’ve just talked about their recent organisational restructure and corporate downsizing, they turn to you and ask, “so what do you do?”
If I say any of the above, I’m immediately met with their eyes glazing over quickly followed up with a, “Oh really, what’s that?”
So I’ve decided I need to have “HARD” and “BOLD” words to describe my role.
Words of ACTION.
Words of OUTCOMES. RESULTS. PERFORMANCE.
“Consultant” is too passive.
“Social Learning Whatever” makes them go back to looking at their glass of beer.
I believe the difficulty comes down to the fact that over the many years that one is in the workforce, you pick up many skills and experiences. What you deliver may be different to various audiences and clients.
You can be the consultant one day, the developer the next, the change agent throughout.
However, what has been a positive and enlightening realisation is that my background in learning and development has served me well to be in a position where I can put a program together in whatever format.
So really I can be whatever I want to be depending on the work and the client but as I go back to my original post “What’s Your Niche” where I deliberate what it is that I do, it keeps coming back to the point that I “want to help people learn to use tools that will help them in their work” – so really, what does that make me?
I’m a coach.
COACH.
A coach is an advisor, a consultant, a developer, a designer, an agent of your change.
It’s a positive word.
It’s bold. It’s of action. Outcomes. Results. Performance.
It’s inspiring but also humble.
It creates positive and upbeat feelings towards your work and your role with others.
You can make it out to be whatever you want and in any context.
Most of all, it’s understood by everyone.
Just one word.
All this thinking and reflection, angst, tossing and turning in bed and it’s come to this… a word that has described me all along and I just couldn’t see it.
Coach.
Photo Credit:
Lacey Raper – photo from www.unsplash.com
Hi Helen
This is a topic close to a lot of people’s hearts who are on the
road to independant working.
I really don’t want to bring you further turmoil but in my
experience, when I told my boss I wanted to start coaching our
customers, his reaction was that coaching is for sports people
not engineers.
I think the word coach defines a format of information transfer,
along with mentor, trainer, instructor etc. To me the word coach
means guiding someone toward a goal, faciltating improvement
through different customised methods and assessing progress. So
I think using it could limit your services.
If you’re looking for something to put on your business card you
might consider something less concrete e.g Problem Solver or
Executive Trainer. This would hopefully lead to further enquiry
at which time you could deliver your 30-sec elevator pitch.
One way to think about this message is to say who you help, what
you help them with and how you do it. For example, I call myself
a Customer Service Engineer; I help mechanical engineers,
designers and draftspersons design better products more
efficiently thereby improving their profits by providing first
class learning facilitation, coaching and mentoring. By working
with me, my clients maximise their investment in their
engineering staff, systems and software.
My advice would be to think about what the biggest problem is
that you solve and what value this has for your clients.
Two books that I’ve got a lot of help with this task from are
Power Stories by Valerie Khoo and Book Yourself Solid by Michael
Port both available on Kindle
Thanks for the comment Antony, as always appreciated. I am thankful that everyone has experiences and helpful information and you make an excellent point that it could be limiting for me. Regarding the word, “executive” I like that. My thinking came from my observations of senior leaders in an organisation being fearful of social tools and how they can be used. A more one-on-one executive coaching approach seems a more personal experience – and one in which I can understand, learn and be mindful of the challenges they have. Personally, one of my greatest enjoyments have been helping people – working one-on-one with them as a personal coach or through running highly interactive, hands-on workshops where there’s a lot of engagement and use of tools.
I make it a goal to get them to the point where the jigsaw puzzle piece drops and then they’re off! That to me, is a measure of success. My value would be to provide them with the confidence to seek out and build networks that will help them in their profession or career using the social tools at their disposal.
I have read the Book Yourself Solid book but will check out Valerie Khoo’s book as I’m always interested to learn more.
Thanks again for your reply and suggestions, appreciated as always! 🙂
God luck with the Coach tag Helen. Although in my view I think you are under selling yourself and the plethora of other skills and attributes you bring to the table – but at the end of the day it is “Your Niche” after all and thus you ned to be happy. I consulted widely on my tag and I even got professional advice from branding experts (which I recommend) and I am happy with what I have – sums up all my skills and positions me well in the market (or at least I think it does). Has it worked – time will tell but initial approaches very good. Good luck Coach – gee I feel like I am watching Cheers 😉
Thanks for the wonderful and kind words Con. It’s been an interesting journey. Many people have said similar things to me but I keep going back to the question, “what is it that I enjoy?” It has always been to help people in some way.
If I reflect on my journey to date, it’s always been in the training, coaching, facilitating, learning roles as an equal partner. Even my community service roles have all been around that aspect. When I think to how people come to me – it’s always from the aspect of me helping guide them to some solution of a performance gap – whether it’s been in their team or an individual need – and in so doing, I’m learning more about their business, themselves and trying to link or connect them to people or projects in my network. I would hope that my brand is already showing as someone who is willing to share her experiences and knowledge with others so that they may learn and grow in their own way. This is what gives me joy. The rest is simply icing on the cake!