We hear a lot, and rightly so, about the importance of working not just IN our business, but ON our business.
Does working ON your business include figuring out whether and how you want to provide coaching, in addition to online courses?
I've been thinking about how we as service-oriented, mission-driven online educators can optimize the mix and balance between coaching and courses as two different ways of providing guidance and instruction.
In this blog post, I'd like to share the method I've created in my business, for structuring my course design coaching practice.
(Next week, I'll go much deeper into the topic of how coaching and courses can fit together in your business from a LEARNING DESIGN perspective...but first, let's explore the basics of how to structure the coaching in practical terms.)
If you provide coaching in addition to online courses, or have been thinking about doing so, I'd love to hear your thoughts and reflections as well.
What IS "Coaching"?
"Coaching" has different meanings in different contexts, so it's important to be clear on what we mean by the term, specifically.
There are specialized definitions of "coaching" based on the standards of specific industries.
I'm using "coaching" to describe a DELIVERY STRUCTURE for conveying my course design guidance to clients.
In that context, "coaching" means working with my clients one-on-one in a "done with you" format.
In coaching, the focus is on the client and their specific goals.
The focus of my course design coaching is to help each client design their course as quickly and effectively as possible.
My coaching is specifically tailored to the unique project goals of each client.
It's a highly customized, hands-on, bespoke experience where I provide in-depth guided practice to walk my clients through the process of setting up their own course.
In my coaching process, the client operates their subject matter expertise, and I operate the learning design expertise.
In coaching, I handle the "heavy lifting" of course design FOR the client; they don't need to learn the art and science of course design for themselves.
If they WANT to learn course design per se (in order to be able to create additional courses in the future, for example), that's when they would need to take a course, which is a very different experience than coaching.
What's a "course"?
"Courses" are structured learning experiences delivered in an online format.
The goal of my Course Design Formula® Master Course is for each participant to learn how to operate the Course Design Formula® for themselves.
In the Master Course, as in coaching, each participant ends up creating an online course.
The difference between the course and coaching is that in the Master Course the focus is on internalizing and mastering the learning design PROCESS, over and above creating a specific finished product.
The goal of my course-design coaching
is to develop a PRODUCT.
The client sets the goal for the product they want to develop,
with my ongoing support and guidance.
The goal of the Course Design Formula® Master Course
is to learn a PROCESS.
I as the instructor establish the learning goal
for what the student needs to learn at each step of the process.
In my business, I follow a specific set of procedures for coaching.
I thought it might be helpful to share these, as I see many experts and entrepreneurs contemplating how to structure these aspects of their own businesses.
If the processes and procedures I've developed in my business can be helpful to you as you develop yours, that will be great!
Check out the flipbook below to see the coaching process I've developed.
(You can enlarge the flipbook by clicking on the white square or the + icon in the lower right hand corner of the navy area below. If you are on a smartphone you can expand the flipbook by in landscape view by dragging on it with your fingers, as well).
Coaching structure for Learn and Get Smarter, Inc.
What does "coaching" mean, and what does it look like, in the context of YOUR business?
How does coaching integrate with the way you offer, or plan to offer, online courses?
Join us in the Course Design Formula® community Facebook group, or at the Saturday morning Learn and Get Smarter community meeting, to explore these and other topics in depth.
