I first used Zoom for a coaching call eight or so years ago. Something of a novelty then as most of my coaching to that point had been face-to-face. Times have changed!
During the early stages of the pandemic, and what we now call lockdown one, businesses were forced to adapt quickly to the new reality. I believe it was called ‘pivoting’. Our face-to-face programmes stopped for 9 months. We delivered all our content – 1-2-1 coaching, team training – from our homes. We also put time and effort into writing on-demand courses in the form of e-learning.
Now, with the launch of our new website, we have rewritten and created new on-demand courses to support our client’s learning. We currently have 25 titles, ranging from leadership, communication and motivation, to stress management, emotional intelligence and positive psychology.
Thankfully the demand for face-to-face learning has not gone away. Indeed, it is more popular than ever. However, what we are seeing for some clients is a more blended approach. Two examples will suffice:
- A large financial services client wanted a course on ‘Managing Hybrid Teams’. We created a package containing an e-learning course which all the delegates completed before attending a virtual live Zoom coaching session, where we reviewed the content, discussed the themes and helped them implement the learning for their teams.
- For one of our partnership clients, we have reshaped their leadership programmes to contain both face-to-face full day sessions and modular virtual learning sessions. This has cut down on travel and time expenses, providing flexibility for start and finish times (to accommodate their overseas offices) and maximised the value of the in-person time. E-learning (also known as on-demand learning) is used as ‘pre-reading’, saving us time covering the theory basics in the room.
You can see our full list of on-demand courses here or talk to one of the team about how we can create a bespoke programme of blended learning for you.
Shaun Durham, Crisp Professional Development