Special Delivery:

This article reproduced from Athletic Management Aug/Sep 1998 Issue and is based on information currently being published in the Coaches Communication Playbook.

I'll guess that sometimes you'd rather bury yourself in paperwork and ignore that knock on the door. Maybe it's a coach stopping by to see if you met that new recruit or a player who's having academic problems endangering his or her eligibility or maybe it's a booster who doesn't understand why someone isn't getting enough playing time and why haven't you got rid of coach X? Worse yet, maybe it's the media looking for a quote on a recent run-in with the NCAA. Never mind that you're scheduled to speak to the Young Republicans—on the role of leadership in college athletics—in less than an hour.

Athletic Directors wear a variety of hats. And today, more than ever, AD's and coaches must be skilled communicators able to address large groups, talk to the media, negotiate contracts and settlements and raise new funds. Essentially, you have to conduct yourself and your business with confidence and power. Frankly, everyday you have to sell ideas with conviction, confidence and in a style that is uniquely your own. Making the job more difficult, you have to know how to identify and relate to varied audiences, using a language they understand and relate to.

Selling ideas is a competition as surely as an athletic contest is. Why? Well consider that there's never enough time to do anything anymore and yet there are millions of ideas regularly vying for our attention. It's those people who can make their information the most concise, vivid and relevant to us who will get our focused attention. When you want to talk to an audience or an individual, your words are competing against worries and tasks left unfinished, the next challenge they face or seemingly more important or valuable issue they need to contend with. Or maybe your audience is just plain hungry for lunch and the growl in their stomach is all they can hear. Anne Morrow Lindburg once said, "Good communication should be like good coffee, strong and just as difficult to sleep after."

Effective Communications
Anybody can be a wonderful communicator if they choose to make it a priority and recognize it more as a skill than a talent…something that needs to be learned and practiced the right way. And frankly, there's no one right way because being genuine and cultivating a personal style are critically important. For one person, eye contact may be the source of their communication power, for another it can be their incisiveness, and someone else may discover that persuasive voice is their communication power source. Find yours and work with it. Few people have to make themselves over. Just enhance your strengths and camouflage your weaknesses. Learn how to develop a more consistent and intentional delivery. When you're consistent you become more comfortable. And when you're more comfortable, you're better able to focus on helping your audience understand rather than your own nagging concerns.

No matter who your audience is, to effectively communicate with them, remember to:

• Have a clear objective and repeatedly communicate it.
• Project confidence—in yourself and your message.
• Maintain consistence—visually, vocally, and verbally.

Eight Steps

Here are a few suggestions, which can make the previous 3 essentials a reality and are part of our newly released, Coaches Communication Playbook. They'll help you focus and be a polished communicator with any group, whether welcoming the new freshman class or saying a few words regarding your school's winningest season ever. Whether it's a big deal or just some casual off-the-cuff remarks, it always helps to have a plan. While these tips were written for dealing with groups of more than one, they also apply when talking to individuals. They fall into two groups: preparation techniques and those that will help you deliver your message with greater impact.

Preparation:

• Put into one concise sentence, the main message you want the audience to walk away with. It improves focus and the listeners' chances of remembering your most important idea. The test? If they remember nothing but this, will you be satisfied?
• Tailor your message to the audience. Craft comments to answer:
  • What does your message mean to them?
  • Why should they care?
• Relate to your audience and appear genuine. There's no "right" style or even source of communication that will work for addressing everyone. Tailor your style to fit your audience.
• Craft your open and close to grab attention and reinforce the message.

Delivery:

• Look at individuals not the whole audience. Hold eye contact for 3-5 seconds before moving on to someone else. Make sustained eye contact with as many people as possible.
• Increase energy output with larger audiences. Speaking in front of a small group usually requires 3x the energy used than when talking one-on-one…additional energy is needed for impact with larger groups and in larger rooms. For those who are particularly low-key, energy level may need to be boosted even more.
• Gesture for greater impact. Reach away from your body to make the gestures more powerful, visible and for greater variety. Make your gestures paint a picture and reinforce your spoken ideas. Use gestures only to strengthen your verbal message. This means no repetitive or meaningless gestures.
• Physically command the room. It's your stage. Move strategically to redirect nervous energy. Avoid using podiums that restrict your movement, physical impact and limit the connections between you and your audience.

Position Yourself for Success

While you don't need to be 7 feet tall and wear a pinstripe suit to project power, the verbal cues and body language you project largely effects how the audience reacts. Have you ever been in a situation where you're listening to someone who doesn't look you in the eye or someone who passes into your personal space with their gestures? It's not pleasant and you shouldn't put anyone in the same situation. Your facial expressions also should be congruent with the message (i.e. don't smile when giving bad news!) Your voice should be controlled, clear, appropriately paced and well projected. Standing up straight implies confidence—even if you're not. Perception is reality, so position yourself for success.

Using these tips allows you to command a room so people listen. Your coaches, players, media and other interested parties look to you for direction. Fine-tuning your speaking skills helps solidify your role as a leader and an authority. Taking control of your university's athletic department was the first step, take the next step and take control of your speaking ability.