Think about the very best coaches you know and respect. What is it about them that makes them so good at what they do?

Maybe their football knowledge is second to none, but what else defines them as a master coach? It's often their ability to communicate with their coaching staff, players, parents, administrators and the media.

Communication is a critical component for a coach’s success, and the quality of their interpersonal skills is hugely significant.

UCLA professor emeritus Albert Mehrabian has pioneered the understanding of verbal and non-verbal communication since the 1960s. Focusing on the communication of feelings and attitudes, his work offers a useful parallel for football coaches when we consider the universal hook that football has and its ability to trigger the complete range of emotions.

While Mehrabian’s was work was not conducted within the context of sports or coaching, the statistics are useful in understanding that communication does not come from words alone. His work suggests that:

• 7 percent of meaning comes from the actual words that are spoken or the literal content of the message
• 38 percent of meaning comes from voice and tone – that is, how words are said and shared
• 55 percent of meaning comes from in facial and body expression

 

Represented visually, this shows just how much of people’s attention is drawn away from the actual words and to the tone and tenor in which the message is shared – through facial expressions, posture, gestures and body language. 

Taking these statistics at face value, think about your own coaching and how you choose to communicate.

Focusing on your verbal communication, if players, coaches, parents and administrators only absorb 7 percent of the words you use, how do you know which 7 percent they're listening to? What can you do to maximize that 7 percent?

Identify in advance which words you want them to actually remember. Carefully choose the words you want to use to ensure they're heard.

For example, when sharing instructions to help correct a player’s technique, choose the key words that describe what the player needs to do next, and emphasise these in the sentence. Use as few words as possible. Have the confidence to let the instruction land before offering more instruction. Use questions to confirm understanding. Questions that solicit "yes" or "no" answers won't help establish how well the instruction has been understood. Ask the player to tell or show you.

Remember, the quality of your verbal communication also applies to written communication. Communicate with intent. Don't be lazy when you share written communications. While short-form communication such as texting and tweeting is commonplace, take extra time and effort to communicate specifically. Before you hit send, try to hear yourself talk so your words have more value and your ideas have content. Replace vague words with descriptive words. Avoid clichés or nonspecific words like "thing" or fillers such as "you know" or "like." People will pay more attention to your ideas if you can express them well.

Think now about how you engage the person or people and deliver your message. Pacing is key. Communication mastery is not about being fast, it is about being effective. Nothing is gained by going too fast, but potentially, everything could be lost. Breathing more slowly and deeply will slow down your communication and also create more time to think, thus more communication control.

How else do you use your vocal qualities to vary the tone and tenor of the message? You can use intonation to emphasise and reinforce key messages. When we want to be heard, we tend to shout. Try decreasing the volume to draw people’s attention. Next time you demonstrate, try not saying anything at all when you provide the model itself. Challenge players to notice what you're doing, provide a demonstration a number of times from different angles, then ask players to tell you what they saw. Chances are they'll notice more because you haven’t interrupted their thinking with non-essential words.

Hand gestures, body position and other subtle gestures are all critical features of communication. Non-verbal messages must direct people to the most important points. Don’t leave it to them to interpret – rightly or wrongly – what they see and hear. Pre-reflect on how you communicate your message and ensure that your verbal and non-verbal messages are mutually complementary. Double check the message that's being received, the one you want to send.

High-quality communication starts with preparation. Plan what to communicate and how you'll communicate key messages. And then take the time to reflect on how effective your communication has been. Perhaps even be brave enough to record some of your coaching conversations and analyze the quality of the communication to ensure your communication does what you want and need it to do.

Sarah McQuade is an independent coach education consultant, owner and director of e.t.c coaching consultants and co-director with The Coach Learning Group. To learn more about accessing how-to coach skills workshops click the Coaching Skills button at www.etcoachingconsultants.com. 

To learn more, visit St. Vincent Sports Performance.