Consulting, Coaching, and Training - Oh My!

(If you're stopping by from our newsletter, scroll down to catch the rest of the article, three paragraphs down). If you're just joining us, here's my view of consulting, coaching, and training!

A lot of clients ask us what the differences are among consulting, training and coaching. Well, there’s no doubt that any definition we give here will be inconsistent with our competitors and allies. But here goes:

We think traditional consulting consists of meeting with key players within an organization regarding an issue they are facing; assessing the situation or process; and making recommendations as to how to solve the problem. Traditional coaching is very much like the role of a sports coach – except it often takes place one-on-one between the coach and a business owner. Think of the high school basketball coach spending time after practice with one team member. The great thing about coaching is that since business owners do not have “bosses,” it helps them stay accountable to action. Lastly, traditional training is that process that takes place where an instructor who is considered a subject-matter expert invites numerous people to sit through an information transfer session.

Disagreements? I thought so. But before you go, here’s my take. While I am sometimes called a consultant, I usually only take on projects where I am actively involved in the implementation. That’s the best way to maximize impact on the bottom line. I focus on the business as a whole, so while I have been referred to as a coach, even by my clients – that I am not. Coaches like Kim Greenspan and Beth Miakinin help business owners become more effective at what they do – they help hold you accountable. They help you strategize for your future. Oh, and the training piece – I think … scratch that … I know that the best way to get people to change is to help them along the way with experiential learning and a methodology for applying it to their own situation. Information transfer and/or education is great, but so much better if it drives people to action.

Tell us what you think about consulting, coaching and training!

-Tammé

Take a Leap

So many of us wish we had more hours in a day to get it all done. If you had an extra hour, what would you do with it? I'm sure some would take a longer lunch, but seriously, what could you get done with an extra hour? What about a whole extra day? Tomorrow is Leap Day, the 29th of February. It doesn't really seem like a 'bonus' day, just another day of the week. But at least it's a Friday, so TGIF!

Inspiration

Whenever I work on our newsletter (like I'm doing now, for March), I love surfing the internet hunting around for fun little tidbits that our readers will enjoy, such as quotes, good pictures, random tidbits of information, etc. But I got to thinking, what if I create a forum where our readers can send us feedback on what they'd like to see? So I decided to talk about it here. Of course, you can always email me at kristen@verbalwise.com if you'd like to send something in anonymously. But if you like, send some comments on our blog here! We'd love to get your feedback and gather some inspirations to those who matter most to us - you!!

So what can we do to better serve your needs? What types of articles are you looking to read? How can we help your organization grow? Or even fun stuff: what type of contest would you like to see, what would make a good prize that you'd like to receive?

Send us your thoughts!! :-)

-Kristen

Avoiding Unwanted Viruses

If you're coming over from the newsletter, this is the continuation of the article in the February issue. If you're just joining us, here's some tips to avoid unwanted viruses. If you'd like the part of the article that precedes these tips, email kristen@verbalwise.com!

Follow these simple tips to avoid unwanted viruses:
1.) If you know the name of the person sending a message with an attachment, don’t automatically assume it’s from them. Look at the subject line. If it doesn’t make sense to you, don’t open it.
2.) Spam filters sometimes filter out perfectly good messages. Check them regularly to make sure wanted emails are not being filtered. If you find one, make sure to add the sender’s name to your contacts list and/or white list. See # 3 below for Outlook steps.
3.) Set up your spam filters to work for you.
a. In Outlook, go to Tools Menu, select Options, Choose the preferences tab (which will probably already be selected); choose the junk mail button; choose the safe senders tab; click the add button, type in an email address (tamme@verbalwise.com) which is good for people with personal emails like yahoo, gmail, etc. Or, you may entire a domain (@verbalwise.com), which will allow anyone from a specific company to contact you. This is a good idea for companies you trust and work with regularly.
b. In other email applications, it’s sometimes as easy as adding people to your contacts list. So, when you sign up for a newsletter or meet a new prospect, add the name and email address to your address book!
4.) VerbalWise does not send attachments unless we are working with a specific client who is expecting them. You may want to follow the same practice to help your recipients.

Hope these tips help you to avoid unwanted viruses (after all, what virus is wanted?) Feel free to comment if you have some tips of your own that go along with these!

Behind the Scenes at Michigan Entrepreneur TV!

Here are some pics taken behind-the-scenes from Tammé's interview at Michigan Entrepreneur TV.


Here's Tammé in the prep room, watching the previous interviewee:






One of the technicians working the board in the sound room:





A view of the set from the sound room:






A close-up of Tammé and Tara on set:





Want more info on Michigan Entrepreneur TV? Check it out at http://www.michiganentrepreneurtv.com/!

Interview with Tammé

We hope you received our January newsletter and bookmarked our blog! As mentioned in the newsletter, Tammé had the chance to share her wit and wisdom in an interview with Tara Kachaturoff, the host of Michigan Entrepreneur.

Check out channel 15 if you're from the Bloomfield Hills or Bloomfield Township area, or channel 18 if you hail from Birmingham, Beverly Hills, or Franklin. The interview will be on this Thursday the 24th at 6:30 pm.

Come back to our blog later this week to catch a couple behind-the-scene pics!

-Kristen

What's Your New Year's Resolution?

It's almost cliché to talk about New Year's resolutions in January, but most people make them anyway. I've got my personal resolutions (I think losing weight has been at the top for about 5 years now), and my professional resolutions as well. But all the determination in the world will do no good if I have no process for acheiving it. If I don't monitor my calorie intake and have an exercise plan, nothing will become of my so-called 'resolution'. Being vague doesn't help either (how can one achieve 'being healthy'? What does that mean?).

My top 3 personal goals and resolutions for 2008:
1) Pay off current debt
2) Buy a treadmill and use it 3x per week
3) Go on a mission trip to Costa Rica with my church

A great website that shows popular goals is http://www.mygoals.com/about/pressRelease014.html#HF. It also provides templates for most common goals that some may have.

Tell us what your resolutions are! And more importantly, how you plan to achieve them!


-Kristen