Why I Never Wanted To Be That Guy With An Online Course & Why They Don't Work

For years I had many of my friends and clients nudging me to record my trainings and make an online course. But to be honest I simply did not want to be that guy. Though the procrastination did go a bit deeper than that. After training people in person for over a decade I truly came to believe it really was,  and still believe is, the best way to bring about real lasting change. I even witnessed the organizations that I visited and trained in person on an annual basis grow more than any of the others. But this blog isnt about why my trainings worked. This blog is about two major reasons why I believe online courses don't.

ONLINE COURSES LACK FEEDBACK

Simply delivering video content online can't replace the real time discussions and feedback that are critical to the very topic I am training them on. Each team I work with is so unique and requires a process of applying the things taught into that uniqueness. Whether it be their leadership structures, daily schedules, or even the fact that they are in a non-wester country speaking a totally different language. How the ideas I am teaching translate takes a conversation and also comes with experience that grew the more I did it.

ONLINE COURSES DON'T INCLUDE THE RIGHT PEOPLE

The more I travelled the globe working with teams the more I found that it was critical to have the right decision makers in the room. To see a culture shift, one that takes a major investment of time, team, and finances, requires those with the power to make those decisions are actually present. In the few cases that I did a Zoom training with an individual or team I found they would often come back frustrated because they simply did not have any authority to change things. So ultimately nothing much ever happened without having the right people in the room. An online course may give a person knowledge of what needs to be done but sadly can't change anything if they are not the decision maker. And in most cases you don't find the right decision makers taking the time to take an online course.

SO WHY THEN DID I MAKE AN ONLINE COURSE?

Yes you read that correctly. Even though I didn't see the value in an online course I have recently launched one. I am that guy. So what changed? My thoughts and opinions above definitely didnt. I still stand by what I wrote. Except now I find myself working with more nonprofits and mission driven businesses than ever before. This growth has driven me to look at how I can better use my time to serve more of you in a more sustainable way.

IT'S BUILT TO SUPPORT THOSE OF YOU I WORK WITH

This is the number one thing that tipped me over. I realized that many of the leaders I trained have teams that are constantly changing. So I wanted to create an ongoing resource to equip those leaders with. In this case these are organizations and businesses that have already started to make the decisions and cultural shifts necessary to grow.

YOU NOW DON'T HAVE TO WORK WITH ME

I am a solo freelancer so have always been limited in my capacity to travel and even take on more work. This has sadly meant I have had to turn down working with many of you over the years. My hope with this new course is it will create a way to serve more of you. To hopefully kickstart your journey into communications and see you grow even without me. And in some cases it could just be a good first step to us collaborating in the future.

I AM BUILDING IT FOR FEEDBACK & COLLABORATION

Finally, I am developing this new online course to not only be content that you consume. I am surrounding it with resources and direct access to one on one sessions with me. That way I can help better bring it into your unique context. So while I am still a strong believer in training you in person, I am excited to see how this course can take us all to the next level.