Getting Optimal Value From A Coaching Program
Posted 04-18-2009 at 08:44 AM by Mark McClure
Updated 04-18-2009 at 08:45 AM by Mark McClure (add to category)
Updated 04-18-2009 at 08:45 AM by Mark McClure (add to category)
From time to time I see threads here asking about how useful (or not...) various Internet coaching programs are.
As a professional (mid-career) coach and IM'er, I think you can get a lot out of a program just by knowing that your performance is being observed.
Of course it does help that you actually want to be coached in the first place - and not everyone does, especially when they realize they'll have to do some work!
A good example of the motivating power of being observed (and partly judged) is Jay White's recent relaunch of his email autoresponder apprentice program - of which I'm a member. There's direct email access to Jay, as well as over-the-shoulder video coaching, transcripts, mp3s - the usual, good stuff you would expect from a well organized coaching system.
But the key benefit is the assigned homework and the requirement to send it back in order to:
a) get feedback and therefore quickly see if you're on the right track.
b) make a good impression on the master (this is an apprentice program...) which might turn into some form of working relationship or at least recommendation in the future.
So, with those in the back of my mind, I took the mp3 player to my daughter's track and field meet today and listened a couple of times - it was an all day event. And I made a mind map of what I heard on lesson 3.
Alas, 'haven't finished the homework yet - fell asleep lying in the grass area round the edge of the track on what was a gorgeous Spring day! But I've made a start... and that's what counts in my book.
Here's part of the mind map I made while listening to the mp3:
- Mark McClure
As a professional (mid-career) coach and IM'er, I think you can get a lot out of a program just by knowing that your performance is being observed.
Of course it does help that you actually want to be coached in the first place - and not everyone does, especially when they realize they'll have to do some work!
A good example of the motivating power of being observed (and partly judged) is Jay White's recent relaunch of his email autoresponder apprentice program - of which I'm a member. There's direct email access to Jay, as well as over-the-shoulder video coaching, transcripts, mp3s - the usual, good stuff you would expect from a well organized coaching system.
But the key benefit is the assigned homework and the requirement to send it back in order to:
a) get feedback and therefore quickly see if you're on the right track.
b) make a good impression on the master (this is an apprentice program...) which might turn into some form of working relationship or at least recommendation in the future.
So, with those in the back of my mind, I took the mp3 player to my daughter's track and field meet today and listened a couple of times - it was an all day event. And I made a mind map of what I heard on lesson 3.
Alas, 'haven't finished the homework yet - fell asleep lying in the grass area round the edge of the track on what was a gorgeous Spring day! But I've made a start... and that's what counts in my book.
Here's part of the mind map I made while listening to the mp3:
- Mark McClure
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