You’re in a room full of people all wearing hats. You look around and listen to the conversations and notice 5 people have green hats on, 5 people have blue hats on and 2 have red hats on. How many people are in the room?
While you’re working that out let me remind you you’re also listening to the conversations in the room with great interest.
Listening is a skill that few have mastered but many lack the understanding or purpose of listening so let me suggest why listening is a skill you need to master and you’ll be surprised at how easy it can be.
Let’s imagine for a moment you’ve got something you just have to share with someone. Something inside your head is urging you to share this emotionally charged news so you call your friend and begin to talk enthusiastically, sharing as much as you can.
When you’ve exhaled all the news you stop and wait for a response, hoping for some kind of recognition or acceptance.
In sports it’s very common for coaches or managers to talk at the players and expect them to carry out those instructions. The coach talks, the player listens.
Yet some of the better coaches approach communication from a different perspective often giving the players the opportunity to talk, and for the coach to listen. Why is this a good strategy?
When a coach is only giving instructions they are missing part of the bigger picture. Through listening to the players, the missing piece is found and solutions to improving performance can be found quickly.
And by the way, the answer to the question of how many people are in the room is 13. 5 plus 5 plus 2 plus 1 (you)
Thanks for listening and remember to Take action, Reflect, Adjust and repeat
Play with purpose
Elite Sports Minds 23 