Say What?

A few years ago my son was selected to be on a “competitive” soccer team. He was eight. This is one where the parents were very involved…maybe too involved. The coach asked us parents to stay away from practice for the first couple of weeks so that they could establish some rapport with the kids. One evening I showed up to pick up my son and the coach had them all gathered around in the center of the field giving a somewhat animated speech (or lecture). I couldn’t hear what was being said, but there were 30 eight year old boys staring at this guy like he was Knute Rockne.

On the way home I asked what the coach was saying and my son said, “It was nothing.” Now I know it wasn’t “nothing” so I pressed him a bit and finally he said, “Well I didn’t really get it. He said we needed to put stuffing in our shoes.”

So far this team had tapped me for uniforms, warm up jerseys, coach’s fees, and about six hours a week. I wanted to know more.

“He said that last years team won the state championship and that we needed to work hard to be as good as they were. He said that we needed to stuff our shoes.”

Huh?

I sat on this for awhile until I finally got it…

“Did he say that you had big shoes to fill?”

“Yeah, that was it!”

Remember your audience. Effective communication is critical, but needs to be tailored and customized for your audience.

Some people say that if they ask me what time it is, don’t tell me how the watch works. Fine, but some people want to know how or why…make sure you know what they really want.

I am happy to report that there were no reported blisters or broken toes.