Chapter 10: Communication

The Importance of Communication

-"You can communicate without motivating but it is impossible to motivate without communicating." —John Thompson, former Georgetown University men's basketball coach -"It is not what you tell them—it's what they hear." —Red Auerbach, former Boston Celtics championship coach -Good communication skills are a critical ingredient contributing to performance enhancement. -Not only do good communication skills contribute to performance enhancement but they also play a key role in achieving the personal growth of sport and exercise participants.

Receiving Messages Effectively

-Active listening: Ask questions, paraphrase, attend to main and supporting ideas, acknowledge and respond, give appropriate feedback, and pay attention to the speaker's total communication (verbal and nonverbal). -Keys to active listening: Mentally prepare to listen, don't mistake hearing for listening, paraphrase what the speaker said. -Supportive listening: Communicate that you are with the speaker and value his or her messages. -Keys to supportive listening: --Use supportive behaviors as you listen. --Use confirming behaviors as you listen. --Use both verbal and nonverbal listening behaviors. (Supportive: yepp, I hear you! The person complains and they respond "I can understand how youd feel!") -Aware listening: Realize that people react individually or differently to the way you communicate. -Tips for aware listening: --Be flexible. --Be alert for barriers and breakdowns in communication. -Empathy is a person's ability to perceive, recognize, and understand the feelings, behaviors, intentions, and attitudes of others; empathy is an important prerequisite to effective communication. -Concerted efforts to get to know athletes, view them in social situations, and seek feedback from them about what they are thinking and feeling are important. -The importance of care: The more an athlete, exerciser, or student feels that the individuals who teach and mentor them care, the better the communication will be. -Creating a caring climate is a situation perceived as interpersonally inviting, safe, supportive, and capable of providing the experience of being valued and respected.

Assumptions for Approachinga Confrontation

-All parties' needs are legitimate and must be attended to. -There are enough resources to meet all needs. -In every individual lies untapped power and capacity, and people in conflict know what they need.

Confrontation

-Although confrontation (a face-to-face discussion among people in conflict) is often seen as negative, when properly used it is a part of effective communication. -Communication training can increase one's effectiveness in confrontation.

Communication Keys

-Communication is used for many purposes: Persuasion, evaluation, information, motivation, and problem solving. -All communication contains content (what is said) as well as relational (how we felt about the person's message) information.

Individual Communication Stylesand Managing Conflict

-Competing (dominating) --is best used when decisive action is necessary and the best outcome is sought for the person making the decision. -Collaborating (integrating) --is effective when both parties have positive contributions to make to solve the problem. -Compromising -- effective when time is short and one needs a quick solution or an interim step toward resolving a more complex issue. -Accommodating (obliging) --involves people viewing relationships with others as more important than satisfying their own needs. -Avoiding --used either to ignore the conflict and hope it goes away or as a deliberate strategy to control the situation.

Tips for Improving Communication

-Convey rationales. -Express empathy, not sympathy. -Use a communication style that is comfortable for you. -Learn how to become more empathetic by placing yourself in the shoes of your athletes or students. (Convey rationalss: explain why things are the way they are "im the coach and that's why"=bad Im starting this person today because the other is injured! empathy+=understand where the other person is coming from) -Use the positive approach when communicating. -Always acknowledge the greetings of others. -Have an open-door policy for your students and athletes. -Be consistent in administering discipline.

Dos and Don'ts of Confronting

-Do convey that you value your relationship with the person. -Do go slowly and think about what you want to communicate. -Do try to understand the other person's position. -Do listen carefully to what the other person is trying to communicate. -Don't communicate the solution. Rather, focus on the problem. -Don't stop communicating. -Don't use put-downs. -Don't rely on nonverbal hints to communicate your thoughts.

When to Use (or Avoid) Confrontation

-Don't confront someone when you are angry. -Do confront someone when you are in control, can express your feelings constructively, and have a well-thought-out reason for doing so.

Athletes' Guidelines for Improving Communication

-Don't interrupt. -Confront issues right away. -Don't make assumptions about what others are thinking. -Ask for help from teammates. -Voice opinions to those who intimidate you. -Make eye contact when communicating.

Ways to Improve the Accuracyof Coaches' Empathy

-Gather information -Avoid biases -Maintain appropriate levels of empathy -Be reflective

Benefits of Communication Training

-Improved team morale -Better cohesion -Enhanced performance

Types of Communication

-Interpersonal communication (at least two people in a meaningful exchange) -Nonverbal communication -Intrapersonal communication (self-talk, the communication we have with ourselves) (Interpesonal-between atleast two people Intrapersonal-what we say to ourselves inside our heads)

Nonverbal Communication

-People are often unaware of the many nonverbal cues they use in communicating. -Approximately 50% to 70% of the information conveyed in a communication is nonverbal (Burke, 2005). -Components of nonverbal communication: --Physical appearance: a person's general appearance (other team has amazing equipment SCARY but if none of them match its less intimidating) --Posture: how someone holds themselves (holds yourself up, ready to win more intimidating) --Gestures --Body position: how close one is to another while you are communicating (the closer you are to them the closer you are as friends) --Touching: a touch on the shoulder --Facial and vocal characteristics: if I have a shaky voice and say I want to go in the game he could see me as nervous and not put me in

Sending Messages Effectively

-Physical appearance, posture, and gestures are important components of nonverbal messages. -Do not underestimate the importance of nonverbal communication. --50% to 70% of all communication is nonverbal. --Nonverbal messages are harder to hide. --Nonverbal messages are powerful. -Be direct. -Own your message. -Be complete and specific. -Be clear and consistent. -State your needs and feelings clearly. -Separate fact from opinion. -Focus on one thing at a time. -Deliver messages immediately. -Avoid hidden agendas. -Be supportive. -Be consistent with nonverbal messages. -Reinforce with repetition. -Make messages appropriate to the receiver's frame of reference. -Look for feedback that your message was accurately interpreted. (Last one: next tine you execute the play, do this! And the player doesn't understand then the outcome wont be what you want. Watch the player and see if they changed and if they did not, try to communicate with them in a different way. "You need to set" and the child doesn't know what that means then she will not change! Explain the term)

The Sandwich Approach to Constructive Criticism

-Positive statement: "Shelby, you are really working hard out there." -Future-oriented statement: "Next time try to move to the ball." -Compliment: "You're getting there; keep up the good work."

Barriers to Effective Communication

-Receiver not paying attention to the sender -Lack of trust between the individuals attempting to communicate -Differences in socialization and heredity, causing misinterpretations between the sender and receiver -Differences in the mental set or perception between people -Embarrassment (creates interference) -Tendency to tell people what they want to hear -Difficulties in expression or reluctance to communicate -Belief that silence is safer -Inconsistency between actions and words

Breakdowns in Communication

-Sender failures: Poorly transmitted messages (ambiguity, inconsistency) -Receiver failures: Failure to listen carefully (misinterpretation)

Communication to Improve Team Coordination

-Use multiple sensory modes (drawing on whiteboard, showing a video, providing a written handbook). -Use redundancy. -Use an enduring representation (supplement verbal instructions with handouts, recordings, videos). -Explain why. -Enhance team members' listening skills. -Encourage questions. -Check that plans are received.

Six Cs of Communication

1. Clear 2. Concise 3. Courteous 4. Correct 5. Complete 6. Constructive (Constructive: don't tell coach that a drill sucks, tell him/her that you don't believe the dirll will benefit from the team. However, another drill helps us more! Could we do that one?)

Process of Communication

1. Decision to send a message about something 2. Encoding of the message by the sender 3. Channel through which message is sent to recipient 4. Decoding of message by recipient 5. Internal response of receiver