Many people have asked me what I have been doing now that I’m out of the corporate world and smack bang into the freelance consulting world.

It’s now been four weeks out of a 9 to 5 job and the best thing about my new lifestyle is that I don’t have the dreaded commute every morning battling overcrowded trains.  Instead, my commute is exactly 12 footsteps from my bedroom to the study.

But before you start to think that I have been living the life of cafes, breakfasts and lunches out with friends during the day – the reality is that it’s not been like this at all.

Instead, I have developed services and packages to sell as well as networking with potential new partners who can help me in the quest to “help people help themselves when it comes to learning and networking”.

As such I now have two offerings as private onsite workshops that can be delivered that focus on:

• Public Social Networks (in this case, Twitter)
• Enterprise Social Networks (in this case, Yammer).

Both 3 hour workshops are delivered as onsite masterclasses that are interactive, hands-on and practical.  More information can be found in Services.

Some people have asked why I have chosen to deliver these via facilitator-led workshops especially when there is a focus to move more training online.  The truth is from what I have seen and experienced, is that many people in organisations still feel at a loss as to how to use these tools in the context and application of their own work.

That is, they may use some of the functions sometimes but they haven’t explored the tool fully or integrated it with their daily work.  If you don’t see the ‘utility’ of the tool, it’s unlikely you’ll adopt it.

However, my masterclass doesn’t just focus on utility but also on the new behaviours of sharing and collaborating –  all within a safe workshop and social environment.  There are practical activities where participants are encouraged to Play, Learn, Explore and Share.   In my sessions, there is a lot of chatter, laughter and freedom to experiment.  And yes, you bring your mobile devices of course!

Over time, I will develop these workshops as blended learning programs via Webex but I have delivered these via short one hour webinars instead as another option.  The webinars are ‘teasers’ into the tools that encourage people to explore them more in their own time.

And What If You Don’t Want to Do the Workshops?

There are many senior managers and leaders who may not have time for workshops and in the past, I have coached them on how to use these tools (in particularly, LinkedIn and Yammer) as personalised coaching sessions around their work commitments.  I will offer these as a service too because I love the opportunity to help, coach and guide people around building a network using social tools.  The benefit is that the sessions we explore how they can use the tool for their own career and personal development purposes.

A Reflection of Social

Melbourne Skyline.   Photo by: Nurbis

One of the reasons I chose to deliver these masterclasses in person is that I value the personal and social contact with others.

As much as I love and use social tools to connect with people globally, I also value the closeness and proximity of my local community. Living, working and walking around Melbourne and its suburbs, I see a vibrant city filled with people who come from all walks of life, organisations and businesses that drive our economy and make their mark in this big world.

I’d like to be a part of that in some indirect way where I’m helping drive our own economy.

That’s why it’s important for me to reconnect with my local community and businesses to offer my knowledge, skills and services so that the engagement is richer and we start off from the same cultural base and experience.

Besides, it makes me open up my eyes to the opportunities and challenges in my own neighbourhood and who knows, may reveal new and exciting endeavours in community learning in the future.

Photo:

Nurbis http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/50679