14/10/2024
Łomianki, October 2024
Why you might consider me as your Project or Key Account Manager
Much as I love teaching, it’s management and doing business that has always really motivated me. So it’s been years since I worked as part of a school and in that time, in-company freelance language training has given me the opportunity to earn a living and meet my basic personal need for autonomy and professional development. However, now that, for a variety of reasons beyond the scope of this brief text, the in-company Business English training market has become so capricious, I am exploring the opportunity in the challenge (like one does in business) and am re-branding my offer to meet your need for a Project Manager or Key Account Manager.
Currently, there is a lot of buzz around terms like Customer Experience, Employee Experience and broadly innovative people-based business solutions. However, it is also true that it takes a certain minimum degree of commitment to look for operating-cost efficiencies by betting on your people and your client base, especially in this highly competitive market and given all the external cost-shocks we have recently been experiencing (the Covid pandemic, war in Ukraine and the Middle East and the US/EU – China trade war). The temptation for short-term profit maximisation is as great as it is perfectly understandable. On the other hand, every business decision has its down sides; deep cuts to a company’s employee base imply massive challenges for long term growth, even with a return of market demand and full exploitation of new technologies and channels of distribution. It’s a business choice and once that path is taken, I fully accept a company is not likely be a potential market for the services I’m offering.
So, let’s consider the other, brighter path with a green light for longer-term investment projects. The best time to get me on board is as soon as the Board votes to bet on attracting and keeping the best people in the company, consistently expanding its market share and satisfying investors not just this quarter but for many years to come. Working together with strategic stakeholders, the CEO and key executives, we build the project I am running into the company at strategic level.
In my experience, the sales team is usually in the early focus of activity, and my main KPI should reflect that of the aggregate annual sales target. However, the scale of the training component of the project depends on specific requirements; there may be a range of training or loyalty programmes for the sales representatives or clients to set up and coordinate. Or there may be more emphasis on supporting key executive roles like the Logistics, HR, IT or Financial department in designing and implementing procedures. In all cases, as a trained coach I have the tools and approach to promote a relaxed, cooperative and civilised business culture in every email, meeting, report and interaction. Here my other possible KPIs would include at first reduced and then consistently low staff churn and absenteeism, swifter ticket response times, smoother logistics and distribution and general clarity and efficiency of communication.
In practice, I have found that in-company teaching roles have been an entrance point for managing training and communication efficiency projects while as a sole proprietor, I automatically act as a key account manager for my client company. My last big project successfully delivered mostly remote training for 22 employees while supporting the daily operations of the CEO, sales director as well as logistics sales support and HR departments. When I as a current client, who is an IT director in a large corporation, what I could do for her as a project manager, she immediately says “Communication”. Broken down into key activities, we are talking about:
• needs analysis,
• planning and scheduling,
• work-flow monitoring,
• identification of bottlenecks,
• information gathering,
• reporting,
• assessment and reviewing.
She also says I’d have to brush up on some tools like SAP, CRM, Excel and current agile management techniques but I’d look forward to that; you learn to use the tools you need to do the job.
The current situation presents us with a whole host of opportunities for growth and profitability. While this text was not written with the aid of AI, AI has been used as a tool to save some time on the translation to Polish. However, it was thanks to the efforts and kindness of another human being with real intelligence, that we now have a proper Polish version, in this case my dear wife. Likewise, if all the AI tools, SAP and CRM systems and vast potential of communication and information technology is to be of real service to your operation, I believe there is a real business case for hiring me as a project of key account manager.
Why not seize the opportunity? Working with you would be a pleasure and a privilege.
Key Competences
Business Processes
• Long and short-term training project design, delivery and reporting
• Detailed practical support for CEO and all specialised executive functions including Sales, Marketing, HR, IT, Finance, Logistics and Office Management
• All Key Account Manager functions: sales, marketing, needs analysis, product design and negotiation, work scheduling, cash-flow management and invoicing as well as logistical support.
English Language Training
• 30 years’ worth of language analysis
• Highly effective teaching skills (you really learn)
• 10 years’ experience running remote in-company training (Zoom, Microsoft Teams)
• Focus on business context and operational detail
Coaching
• 8 years’ practice
• Certification with Kare Landfald’s Zen Coaching approach with full participation as voluntary assistant in the four-module cycle https://zen-coaching.com/
• Sources and inspirations include Karl Rogers, Eckhart Tolle, Ann Weiser Cornell, J. Krishnamurti, Marshall B. Rosenberg and all my clients, whether satisfied or maybe not 😊
• Empathic listening
• Body focusing
• Guided meditation
• Resourcing and mentoring
Zen Coaching was founded in 2005 by Kåre Landfald from Norway. He has been inspired by, among others, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, A.H. Almaas, Marshall B Rosenberg, Osho and modern coaching approaches. Kåre has degrees in Philosophy, Management and […]
