Communication: One of the Key Elements for Success in Coaching Profession
Whether the coach speaks or not, he’s always communicating! Signals are sent through his appearance, the tone of his voice, gestures, and movements. So it’s impossible not to communicate!
When the coach deliberately or unintentionally happens to ignore players, journalists, or fans, again he’s communicating messages. Thanks to their communication, the coaches become recognizable, as communication gives them added and unique value that sets them above the rest. Every word, every smile, greeting, and handshake with an athlete or fan is a message that’ll be remembered for a long time. Good quality communication is one of the basic requirements of a coaching profession.
Coach as a Person is Being Assessed According to His Communication
To succeed, it’s no longer enough to be recognized as a skilled, talented, and result-oriented coach. Today, a coach must know how to present his knowledge and the results achieved to those around him, to the public, and to the whole world. To achieve coaching success, it’s important to gain an insight into communication and marketing skills, primarily as today the public interest in sport is under a certain influence of marketing communications. The sporting public, which consists of athletes, fans, club management, spectators, the media, and sponsors don’t evaluate a coach exclusively according to his professional work and the results achieved on the pitch; he’s also measured as a person, according to his communication with the public. The public will always remember coach’s results, but the way his personality is presented determines whether respect or disrespect of the public will be gained. Every appearance is a communication opportunity; a widely spread message creating a positive or negative impact. Among coaches there’s a common opinion about the things that mostly matter in achieving success. These are usually to be a strong teacher and educator and an expert in technique, tactics, and the fitness regime, both in theory and in practice. I only partly agree with this opinion. Today, the way a coach presents his personality and his professional work is just as important, if not even more important than his actual expertise and pedagogical quality. A coach can only succeed if he is able to use appropriate communication in order to promote his work and sports achievements. Thanks to the know-how of marketing and communications, a coach can win sympathy and provoke emotions among the sporting public. The more emotions a coach provokes among the public, the stronger his odds of gaining sympathy and, in turn, receiving better coaching job offers. Essentially, if a coach doesn’t know how to present himself and his expertise, the results won’t follow.
Words or Not, the Coach Always Communicates
A coach communicates, making direct contact with the players and those around him, on a daily basis. Personal contact is of great value to every coach. It opens the door to direct two-way communication with the players, exchanging information, feedback, and everything that promotes positive communication. It’s impossible not to communicate! Whether you speak or not, you’re always communicating! Signals are sent through your appearance, tone of voice, gestures, and movements.
When you deliberately or unintentionally happen to ignore players, journalists, or fans, again you’re communicating messages. Efficient communication gives you added and unique value that sets you above the rest. Every word, every smile, greeting, and handshake with a player or fan is a message that’ll be remembered for a long time. Good quality communication is one of the basic requirements of a coaching job. It’s extremely important that as a coach you cherish two-way communication with your team so that your goals and vision are shared among all of your players. Communication of the coach exclusively with the captain is simply not enough. You have to communicate with all members of the team so they can later transfer your messages, passion, and enthusiasm to the newcomers in the team. The personal contact of the coach often depends on the attitude of interlocutors before the actual communication. The greater the cultural similarity between the coach and player in terms of origin, education, preferences, and beliefs, the higher chance of successful communication.
Individual talk with players is always a very important aspect. Especially at a time when a player is going through a tough time or not performing well on the pitch. Davor Suker was once a marvelous player who could beat any opponent. But I am sure there were times during his career when he literally wanted to do everything on his own. And this is impossible in soccer. His coach, Miroslav Blazevic, must have got annoyed and displeased with his performance. He would have had to talk with Davor Suker in private. Such individual conversations would have taken Davor Suker a step forward. With his lucidity praised by the coach, he would be thrilled to listen to him and take on board his every constructive criticism. Following each interview, he would be able to regain his motivation, and we would once again see the unstoppable Davor Suker—the fear of the rival’s goalkeeper.
Speaking and Listening as Indispensable Tools
We all talk to each other, but not all of us have managed to master the art of high-quality clear expression. Not all of us know how to engage in conversations aiming to resolve, rather than encourage conflict. Without the ability to clearly present what you know and what you want your players to be taught, you won’t be able to achieve meaningful communication. You simply won’t be understood. The biggest problem of most coaches is they’re not aware of what they’re saying and the way they come across to their players. The importance of personal exposure is increasingly becoming important and so it’s important the coach knows how to communicate well with the public.
For the players to properly understand the coach, his communication must be complete and professional. This can only be achieved if he sends a consciously planned spoken message and afterwards look to receive feedback on its acceptance and effects. The feedback he gets becomes the foundation of relations between coaches and players. Feedback improves the preservation and development of high-quality and effective communication. In order to be understandable to players, the coach has to use clear, understandable language, concise sentences, words that they are familiar with and specific speech. Each coach can improve and upgrade the quality of his communication, thus preventing miscommunication among players. The way to do this is primarily by listening.
Do you sometimes forget the right word when explaining something? This could mean your vocabulary is not wide enough and needs to be broadened and enriched. How can this be achieved? There’s no better way to enrich your own vocabulary than reading books. Listening also plays a significant role in reaching a strong level of communication. Not without reason, nature has given us all one tongue and two ears. We should listen twice as much as we talk.
Unfortunately, we don’t use this gift of nature as well as we should, not being aware how the quality of our lives could be improved by listening. It’s simply impossible for a coach not to communicate. Equally, silence is a powerful tool. On many occasions, silence has more of an impact than any spoken word.
Half-Time Communication?
A break during half-time is a significant moment for the coach. It’s an opportunity to draw attention to both the good, but also the negative aspects of the game. Over the last 20 years since I’ve been around different coaches, I’ve heard hundreds of stories and different approaches to the players at half-time. I wonder whether it’s even possible in such a short time to show players everything that a coach noticed during the first half. So, what exactly is the most effective thing to do for players during a quick 15-minute break? To ensure the coach’s messages are useful and effective, first of all they need to be short, simple, and clear. Brevity and concise information is essential as there’s very little time available. Players still need an additional few minutes to freshen up, rest their feet and re-energize ready to get back on the pitch. The coach’s short comments during half-time should initially provide feedback to the players on their game and instruct them how to resolve problems that have arisen in the game. This can’t be done using general phrases, such as “you have to score a goal,” “you’re not concentrating enough,” or “the defense is open.” Given the short timeframe, the coach should concentrate on practical advice, in order to give players valuable suggestions to improve. Practical advice can often be connected to the pitch conditions, and can for example, in harsh weather conditions, subtly, and sometimes even drastically, affect the result of a game. If it rains, the surface is slippery and the ball travels faster. Do all players wear suitable boots for such conditions on the pitch? Is it windy? The team that attacks with the wind behind them certainly has an advantage over a team that plays against the wind. What’s the pitch like? Is it short, long, narrow, or wide? These are all factors that influence the approach of a certain game and which every coach needs to make his players aware of. Narrow pitches allow pressure inside the penalty area; therefore the defensive players should be warned when the ball is on the bounce. Players should be encouraged to constantly put pressure on the ball as it increases the possibility of an opponent’s errors, and in turn increases the chances of gaining higher ball possession. Do players follow the ball and attack opponents as soon as they receive the ball, or wait? Finally, it’s always useful to remind players to communicate and talk more with each other. Football is a game where you don’t use your hands. But, remember, there aren’t any rules prohibiting the use of your voice! Players should be encouraged to use their voices as a resource on the pitch, because communication between the players is an essential tool in defense and attack. “Watch your back!” “One-two!” “Mine!” or “I’ve got it covered!” During half-time it’s not good to only analyze mistakes. It’s also very important to emphasize the positives in the game and boost the players’ motivation levels. This is something many coaches fail to do. Criticism during half-time is mostly counterproductive, especially when you are losing. A positive approach to communication enhances the confidence of players and increases the likelihood their trained skills will be repeated. The half-time break is the perfect opportunity to emphasize the goals set by the coach. Regardless of how many things the coach has on his mind, he shouldn’t talk about everything. He should selectively identify a few key changes that can help improve the game in the second half. Every wise coach will always leave a little time for his players to speak during the break. Players too have a certain perspective on the game, despite the attitude of the coach. Their comments and suggestions can often be useful in addition to the coach’s words during the break. Then there are the substitutions. They are a result of how well the coach reads the game and must be used as a useful tool for the coach to improve the play of the team. The course of the game simply cannot be predicted prior to the start of the game.