Transform lives through training

You want to create a course to share your wisdom and change people’s lives.

Really change people’s lives. In some important, amazing, transformative, and uplifting way, you want to help your clients to make their life better. They will be stronger, fitter, happier, wealthier, more organised, less overwhelmed, more present, more centred, more supported/supportive, wiser….

Or will they?

Your ideal client finds your course, signs up, attends every session and completes all of the tasks. Fabulous. What happens next?

How do you design your course so that your client knows exactly what to do and how to do it, even when the course is finished? Especially when the course is finished.

Let’s begin with you.

When you finish a course what do you do?

Do you;

• Create goals and intentions based on what you have learned?
• Set priorities and implement strategies?
• Schedule regular check-ins and review progress?

No? or Not really? Maybe you go at it gang busters for a couple of weeks and then fall off. That’s perfectly normal. But why?

After all, if you signed up, paid for and participated in a course, it must have addressed a need/desire you knew was relevant to you.

There are loads of reasons why, but this blog will give you 6 supportive course design strategies to help your clients follow through, implement your strategies and change their lives.

1  Clarity regarding ideal client and specific need/desire

Excellent course design requires targeted language, activities, images, and intentions. Learners do not want a one size fits all option that needs a little tucking and pinning to suite their specific situation. Learners demand obvious relevance to them. ‘Oh, that’s me. I’m a parent with young children who are using social media.’

The training has to call out to her/him and must meet their immediate need/desire. “What’s in it for me?”

For example: The course provides strategies to promote safety from predatory behaviour when using social networking sites. The language, activities, and images would differ greatly for these clients;

• Parents of primary school aged children
• Lower primary aged students
• Senior high school students

Keep your client engaged and focused on their future behaviour by being specific to her/his needs/desires.

2 Engaging challenging realistic activities

Your clients are far more likely to think about and plan how to implement the ideas in your course when the content is action focused.

Think like a tradesman. If you could have your ideal client follow you for a day/week/month, what would you have them do to become expert or more proficient in the area you are teaching?

For example, if your area of expertise is in reducing anxiety, you may have your client keep a gratitude journal, meditate, list their ‘wellness toolkit’ (the things that make them feel lighter, happier, more present, peaceful eg walking, warm baths, quiet reading in the breeze, a hammock, etc). These are all really important ‘activities’ to present – the how, why, when, and where knowledge comes once you have decided on the what (activity).

Now think about how these activities fit together. Can you create some realistic scenarios where your client might be required to take elements of each to create a workable plan given a particular set of conditions? This allows your client to understand that the strategies you are showing are flexible and interchangeable, depending on their needs/desires/situation at the time. It improves their confidence in their ability to ‘use’ these strategies in their own messy lives.

Concentrate first on what you want your clients to do, then decide what you want them to know about the activity and how it relates to their intention (their purpose for the course).

Create activities that simulate or fit into their lives, are realistic, suitably challenging, and provide some opportunity for feedback or sharing with other people (budget templates, blank decision trees, flowcharts, scenarios, case studies, diaries, menu plans, exercise diary, meditation audios, journals etc). Provide multiple and rich examples of how these tools can be used independently and together.

Include reflective activities to debrief and consider the consequences of the activities in their own lives.

Encourage collaboration and sharing in a safe environment (Face book closed pages, member site chat pages, encourage or create small accountability/support email groups within your course, webinar shares, etc)

3 Intention setting

Encourage your learners to set an intention (aim or purpose) at the beginning of the course, based on the need/desire they are planning to address and their desired future state, once they have completed your course. (Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time frames, without ‘should’ ‘hope’, ‘may’, ‘possible’ or any other wishy-washy shit that confuses the universe.)

It’s a great idea to ask your client’s to send this to you. It aligns your client’s will. It’s fabulous intel for future courses re marketing and review of your materials. It’s also a good way to pick up on people who may have been a poor fit and contact them personally. I’m all about providing excellent service and I don’t want people signing up for a course that will waste their time and money and damage good will.

Once the course is finished, have your client reflect on their ‘actions and thought book’ and set their intention for the next month.

4 Incorporate an ‘actions and thoughts book’

Design into your course an ‘action and thoughts book’. You can supply it as a word document (with basic instructions included) or just suggest your client keeps a beautiful note book to record important moments in the course and future actions.

This is different from where your client keeps general notes they take during the course. The ‘actions and thoughts book’ is a learning tool with a specific purpose; to collect thoughts and actions to make future plans.

Have your client note their original intention, their hopes and concerns at the beginning of the course.

Encourage notes about;

• Ahah moments (major realisations/take aways) + what they may mean to her/his future success/challenges. Note any relationship to their intention.
• Direct quotes that seem to hit hard. Put them in “ ” and write about how it felt, what that might mean, and what can be done with this information.
• Strategies to be implemented straight away, how, when, and why.
• Identify any barriers or challenges that may present while implementing actions in their own life – note what they can do about them, be prepared and have a plan to deal with barriers and challenges as they think about implementing the strategies.
• Identify priorities with highlighter pens or similar.

Refer to this book regularly during the course. Keep bringing your client back to their notes and getting them to tie the lesson to their intention and their future actions.

Without this book, loads of really useful information is lost. Have you ever thought ‘There was something in that I wanted to think more about?’ and then spend ages trying to find it again?

5 Require a plan

Create a capstone activity (that is an activity at the end of the course that wraps everything up together) so that your client sees how the parts fit together and how they can succeed in the future, once your ongoing support is withdrawn. For example, have you client;

• Write end of course intention.
• Set a goal for the next month.
• Make a plan for the next month. Choose between options and prioritise actions (strategies).
• Identify possible barriers and challenges and plan how to avoid, minimise or work around.
• Schedule progress check-in and review intention, plan, and strategies at the end of the month.
• Celebrate successes/progress.
• Acknowledge, examine, learn from and forgive shortfalls (without excuses).
• Schedule a review each month.

6 Share accountability

Encourage your client to tell her/his coach her/his intention and plans.

Encourage an accountability partner or group within the course participants (continue on together to support and challenge each other).

Follow-up – have you built into your business the opportunity to follow-up with your clients? You can keep records of your clients and their intention (or your VA can do the data entry) and schedule time to check-in via email, hand written note, or even skype.

Personal feedback cements your good will. Of course, you may also have a second course that may feed from this one. That’s my business head speaking. On a personal level, it’s just a lovely thing to do, assuming you don’t have Marie Forleo numbers of enrolments!

Changing lives through teaching your wisdom

Personal development is an expense. How will your client decide whether this course had a good return on investment?

I think it should be…

the extent to which my life progressed toward my intention in a real and sustainable way.

What methods do you use? Please share in the comments below.