From Jeff Janssen's book "Championship Team Building," comes 10 tips for sending messages to your players:
To make your messages more effective and to minimize the chances of miscommunication, you should construct and send messages that can be easily understood by the receiver. Use the following tips when sending messages.
DIRECT...Coaches and players need to communicate directly with the person they want to receive the message. When you tell someone else to relay a message to another person, you risk them forgetting to deliver the message, distorting your message and not being able to clarify if necessary.
COMPLETE AND SPECIFIC...Tell the whole story. Too often we assume the other person knows what we mean and we often leave out important information. Make sure you include all the details.
CONSISTENT WITH EACH OTHER...Consistency is a big key to communication. Make sure that what you want on one day is basically the same thing the next day.
STATED TO COMMUNICATE NEEDS AND FEELINGS...Communication allows us to transmit our needs and feelings to other people. Be sure that your communication clearly states your needs and feelings.
FOCUSED...Focus your communication on one topic at a time. You confuse your listeners when you jump from topic to topic.
REDUNDANT...Use the triple tell technique when sending messages: A) Tell them what you are going to tell them. B) Tell them C) Tell them what you told them.
AT YOUR RECEIVER’S LEVEL...Be sure you use language and terminology that can be understood by your receiver. Too often coaches are more focused on teaching topics than they are on teaching people.
POSITIVE...Focus your messages on the things you want to have happen versus the things you want to avoid. How many times have you told your team “Don’t foul” in the last minute of the game only to have your player commit a foul? Instead, tell them to “Play smart defense.”
ATTENTION GRABBING...Using another person’s name is more likely to grab the person’s attention as well as make them more open to your message.
CHECKED FOR UNDERSTANDING...Be sure the people you send messages to clearly understand your intent. One of the best things you can do after sending a message is to ask the person, “What did you hear me say?” If they cannot tell you, you have a great opportunity to clarify or correct what you said.
DIRECT...Coaches and players need to communicate directly with the person they want to receive the message. When you tell someone else to relay a message to another person, you risk them forgetting to deliver the message, distorting your message and not being able to clarify if necessary.
COMPLETE AND SPECIFIC...Tell the whole story. Too often we assume the other person knows what we mean and we often leave out important information. Make sure you include all the details.
CONSISTENT WITH EACH OTHER...Consistency is a big key to communication. Make sure that what you want on one day is basically the same thing the next day.
STATED TO COMMUNICATE NEEDS AND FEELINGS...Communication allows us to transmit our needs and feelings to other people. Be sure that your communication clearly states your needs and feelings.
FOCUSED...Focus your communication on one topic at a time. You confuse your listeners when you jump from topic to topic.
REDUNDANT...Use the triple tell technique when sending messages: A) Tell them what you are going to tell them. B) Tell them C) Tell them what you told them.
AT YOUR RECEIVER’S LEVEL...Be sure you use language and terminology that can be understood by your receiver. Too often coaches are more focused on teaching topics than they are on teaching people.
POSITIVE...Focus your messages on the things you want to have happen versus the things you want to avoid. How many times have you told your team “Don’t foul” in the last minute of the game only to have your player commit a foul? Instead, tell them to “Play smart defense.”
ATTENTION GRABBING...Using another person’s name is more likely to grab the person’s attention as well as make them more open to your message.
CHECKED FOR UNDERSTANDING...Be sure the people you send messages to clearly understand your intent. One of the best things you can do after sending a message is to ask the person, “What did you hear me say?” If they cannot tell you, you have a great opportunity to clarify or correct what you said.
