THE SIX MODES:

A few years ago, I learned from Matt Church out of Australia about the six different modes of delivery. These modes of delivery have to do with how you would express your thought leadership, intellectual property, and content.

The six modes are...

Author, Speaker (TELL)

Facilitator, Coach (ASK)

Trainer, Mentor (DO)

These are not in any real order. These are just six distinct ways of putting yourself, your message, and your work out there.

It also doesn't mean that you're supposed to use all six, as you may be focused on one or two, but it is important to note which of these are better-leveraged strategies depending on how much exposure you want to achieve for yourself and your work.

The most amount of focused work that I've done and where I've spent the most amount of time has been on the author. Not as a published author, but in program design. To design different programs loaded with life-altering content requires a lot of planning and writing. Whether they are virtual or in person, some kind of program design would have to go into it.

There's no better way to learn than by doing, which will also reinforce the lesson of not being attached to the plan, as you do have to adapt to whatever comes up. But it is still incredibly important to have some kind of plan. My course creation and content design put me in author mode.

Now when I go to deliver a training program, I then go into trainer mode. This started with 2 and 3-day in-person immersions, but now also 8 and 12-week virtual programs so that I am a trainer in both types of training environments.

But there are not always very strict hard lines in between these modes, because in a training environment, I will sometimes have to go into coach mode when working with an individual for a while in a group setting and sometimes I have to go into speaker mode when sharing stories and delivering the content.

Depending on the group environment, or even the specific exercises that are laid out, sometimes I have to go into facilitator mode. The facilitator really sets up the environment with its exercises and then allows the participants to go on their journeys, even while knowing that mistakes will likely be made, but it is important for the participants to make those mistakes so that they learn from them.

Where I find myself most going into mentor mode is on leadership calls where I mentor other leaders in my organization. It's not a specifically designed training environment, but instead an instructional and sometimes experiential environment where the leader is challenged and tested to grow into a greater contributor.

On Tuesday nights I have been running a men's transformational training program where my role is typically trainer.

But then on Wednesdays, I have been running a team training program where my role is typically facilitator.

Friday afternoons are my leadership call where I'm in mentor mode. (There's also being a leader, but organization leadership is a very different capacity and not among the six modes of delivery.)

So, Tuesday nights I'm in trainer mode, but then Wednesday nights I'm in facilitator mode.

However, it is that you create your body of work and put yourself out there in the world, always recall these six modes to then decide what's the best way for you to achieve your intended outcome if you wish to serve.

• How do you see yourself serving and helping others?
• Which modes most speak to you or have you most focused on?