The Customer is Always Right

Those of you who follow me on twitter (@gingercoaching) will be aware that with SASP (@SASPSomerset) I have been working on a project to aid less experienced coaches in their reflection and hence to help them evolve and develop as coaches in a more autonomous manner.  The logistics of mentoring coaches through observation are challenging and hence the idea is to develop a toolkit that enables the customers to air their views.  Ultimately what they think is far more important than what a fellow coach or mentor thinks – I know who I’d rather keep happy from a business point of view!

So, we’ve produced a pilot toolkit.  At the end of each session, the coach (at the moment I am trialling this) distributes a voting card to each participant.  They are then instructed to place it by one of three statements which best describes their experience of the session in which they’ve just taken part.  The statements are linked to a specific aspect of coaching.  One being the gold standard, one fair to middling, and one allowing the player to suggest that their experience of the session was lacking in some way.

Here are a couple of examples:

FEEDBACK

1. The coach told me exactly what I was doing well.

2. The coach said good things about what I was doing.

3. I didn’t really know if I was doing well or not.

and:

DEMONSTRATION

1. I could see what I was meant to do from the demonstration.

2. I had a rough idea what to do from the demonstration.

3. The demonstrations didn’t help me to understand what to do.

 

So, I’ve been using this toolkit over the past couple of weeks with mixed results.  Customers have ranged from adult L1 candidates to U11 club players to after school club participants.  Recent tweets include photos of the feedback.  For some sessions the feedback was 100% gold standard and for others there were participants whom had received a less than ideal experience.  Whilst the feedback itself is important, for it to be of real value it must trigger reflection and an adjustment in practice.

Here then, are some reflections!

• Depending upon the aspect of coaching being analysed, 100% “gold standard” feedback may not always be what we seek.  If we consider the comfort-stretch-panic curve discussed in previous blogs, it is valuable to challenge and cause mild uncertainty in order to maximise learning.  Therefore, we may want some customers to be unsure at some points.
• We might sometimes sub-consciously know who we are not fully engaging, yet not act upon it.  In a session last week the feedback showed 33% did not know if they were doing well or not based on my feedback to them.  Upon seeing this, I instantly knew that in the mixed ability group I had focused on the less technically able players and not offered praise and feedback to the stronger members of the club.  This led me to think about my coaching philosophy – which is something I’m battling to define – and also has caused me to realise that those players, whilst they are more autonomous, still need praise and feedback from me.
• Achieving the “gold standard” across all aspects of coaching is hard work!  I have found a tendency to focus on the area upon which I want the players to feedback.  In doing so I may have neglected other aspects.  In fact, given some of the areas around which the statements are based, it might be impossible.
• This form of feedback is very accessible to players and if explained well it will be honest.  Every participant has to provide an answer.  It is anonymous (no handwriting to recognise or face to face conversation) which I think lends itself to more truthful responses.
• It is only as good as the statements.
• We are never too good or too experienced to seek to improve based on customer opinion.  We are, after all, providing a service for which in some cases the customer is paying.

Whilst none of this is rocket science, I’m pretty sure this process has made me think more about how things are perceived by players/students in sessions I run.  The fact that people continue to return (most sessions are extra curricular or community based) suggests that they enjoy it, but I think this greater awareness will help me offer more than just that.  Maximising the impact I have in the short time I see players must ultimately give them more chance of becoming better players and I’d like to think there is an element of helping them develop socially too.

I’m looking forward to guiding other coaches to try out our toolkit in order to see if they find it of benefit.  I’m sure there will be a blog about it in the not too distant future.