Alternate Learning: Are You The Skill Coach or The Will Coach?

Today, I just abruptly discontinued coaching session with a BECKON Aspirant who is being trained to manage my professional social media first – Pages, blogs, tweets etc. and then for other clients. According to the aspirant, this is the scope of agreed skill coaching.

Post discontinuation, here is the impact analysis on BECKON Aspirant

Psychological Impact

The aspirant is under the impression that the coaching session ended due to performance issues (poor learning and grasping ability) however the reality is – this circumstance is being created deliberately for mental training (Will)

Financial Impact

No further fees have to be paid if the work in scope (Social Media pages) is managed with immediate effect to my entire satisfaction. This is one of the learning outcomes in the agenda

Learning Impact

On job training for a new “Skill” with ulterior motive to trigger “Will” to learn on their own when the situation arise.

Social Media Management

I have to read more blogs than necessary to choose the right ones for my followers or to increase my own understanding of the market

To make my bandwidth available for core functions I needed someone to manage few of the pages and blogs I maintain on a regular basis.

It is not about merely sharing links, it is about outcomes to be achieved and that is definitely not mere vanity metrics or branding. The bottom line is revenue, customer acquisition and growth.

The content has to be useful for me and my followers

I did consider Crowdfire for twitter account however the points listed below kind of diffused my enthusiasm

1] Post on our behalf

2] Followers are not always high quality and relevant to the industry in which we operate

3] I am not sure if they filter out spam or fake account.

4] I follow users that tweet information useful for our business and scope of work we are involved in.

5] It is beside the point which I may read immediately or when I have the time.

6] It is handy and finds new people to follow or un-follow inactive users however the relevance and usefulness are questionable.

7] It is simple, quick, and easy to understand. It is not smart or great for my needs and the motive seems vengeful (for the lack of exact word) which is quite unprofessional. I do not necessarily have to un-follow some just because they do not follow me. I am the loser then as their tweet quality may be far superior to mine. I would definitely want to follow them.

So the BECKON aspirant will be gradually made to understand the nuances and needs to manage my account – live, on the job and who is not quite aware of it yet.

Phase I:    Doing

Phase II:   Thinking

Phase III:  Consulting

Thinking is a natural process lead by repeated doing. The more you do the same thing mechanically, the more you will question why, when it turns mundane

Why social media management?

What business problems are being solved by our product or service?

What benefits have target audience realized?

Why follow few influential people and few average people?

What is end purpose?

While we let the BECKON aspirant here to dwell on outcome driven learning process and unexpected twists and turns, you can write to advocating.outcomes@gmail.com if you are ready to be a BECKON coach. 

We will be glad to know more about case studies with your learning intervention towards measurable outcomes.

Is There Any Scientific Approach to Estimate Working Man Days For a Consulting Project?

While preparing a management-consulting proposal for any client, most consultants estimate working man-days required to execute the project and deliver desired outcome. Each time, they fumble at the exact same point – How to calculate, if not exact, at least close to exact man-days? It is not the ambiguity involved that creates the confusion – it is lack of a scientific approach. However, there is enough room for refining prevailing approach by considering a combination of the following components while estimating working man-days:

Scope of Work: You re look at the scope not just from execution perspective but also from an outcome based standpoint. The methodology you will adopt to frame your recommendations, implement your solution and execute the project should be crystal clear and should not be “Evolve as you Solve” style. You list the series of tasks; estimate time and effort required for each task and quote a fee, even if you are unsure if all components were appropriately included. The list is to let your client know the magnitude of the project.

Methodology: Many consultants often refer earlier projects similar in nature to arrive at the working man-days. A standard set of assumptions can be misleading. If a particular task took X time in a company as the resources involved went out of the way to execute it, how fair it is to assume another company would be able to complete the same task within the same time frame? What discount would you consider for bureaucracy? Time and effort required for key tasks could vary, depending upon the complexity of activity, stakeholders involved, organization culture and other external factors.

Milestones: Clients would me more keen about milestones reached or outcomes achieved than activities involved – You can always keep the man-days for internal reference and add required buffer if you anticipate slips or delay from client’s end while quoting project based fee. In the project charter include roles and responsibilities of both parties with required penalty clauses for delay and options to claim additional fee in case of implementation lapse. A communication calendar with key stakeholders to discuss project progress as per mutually agreed timelines should facilitate meeting targets better and lead to a logical closure of the project.

BECKON Model is used in One to One sessions with Entry-level Consultants, Leaders, Entrepreneurs, Owners of Small and Medium size enterprises.

For more details contact advocating.outcomes@gmail.com