Coaching Tools of Imagery

In this entry, I would like to describe three of the seven tools of
imagery from he discipline of sports psycology I use when coaching
clients.

The first is the ability to paint a clear picture of what is wanted or
needed. A majority of people, when describing or telling about
something, tend to use language that is vague and general. This allows room for the possibility for misunderstanding or miscommunication to creep into the communication. The best remedy for this is to use language that is specific and concrete.

Remember- people are not able to do something if they can't picture it
in their minds. When we communicate in order to help someone improve
their performance, we need to remember that any performance consists
of an (or a series of) action/behaviors.

If we want our message to be clearly understood, we need to be
specific and concrete. To improve performance, the message should
communicate what he/she should see, hear, feel and do.

For example, if I'm taking golf lessons from a pro and he simply says,
'hit the ball straight' or 'stay on the fairway and out of the rough',
this is too vague and general. At the same time as my frustration is
increasing with his inadequate instruction, the 'how do I do that'
question grows in equal proportion.

If I am to improve my game, a good instructor is going to tell me how
I should see my stance, how I should hold amd feel the grip of the
club, what I should hear when I hit the ball squarely. He uses the
language of imagery to paint a clear picture by specifically telling
me what I should see, feel and hear when I'm swinging the club.

The second tool is the ability to link a current action or behavior to
an end goal. Leaders, teachers and coaches are consistently trying to
motivate their people to increase performance and build skill. One way
of doing this is by painting how a current behavior is linked to the
acheivment of an overall goal.

For example, a boxing coach will mention how training on the speed-bag
increases eye-hand coordination and reaction speed, which makes a
significant difference in the ring by delivering more punches with
speed and snap.

In a business scenario, getting a client to see that practicing
conflict resolution skills with current challenges will increase his
competence as an effective leader and communicator.

It is important to link the 'what' - the present action or behavior-
to the 'why' - the reasoning why what they are doing leads to a payoff
- to the 'where' what the payoff will be in the end.

Another reason to use the second tool is that it allows the employee/
athlete to understand the direction you want to take them. By
communicating the end-goal, it also allows them to be able to map out
the steps necessary to acheive the goal depending on it's complexity.

The third, and final, tool that I'll describe in this entry is getting
the employee/athlete to translate words into imagery. This is critical
when the person is internalizing instructions. To be able to
completely understand the instuction they need to be able to imagine
doing it.

A key part of learning anything is the ability to take new knowledge
and to intergrate it with exsisting knolwedge. To do this the learner
needs to be able to see himself/herself doing/feeling/hearing the
action. By getting the learner to describe in his/her own words what
he/she sees and hears it speeds the intergration of new knowledge.

For example, after teaching a client the appropriate way to give
corrective feedback, I would ask her what I would see and hear her
doing if she was giving appropriate feedback to a colleague. By her
explaining it to me she went through the mental exercise of
translating my instructions into imagery. Again, she is spoke the
language of performance, which her mind and body can very easily
understand and integrate.

The take-home message is this: insure the message you're communicating
is specific and concrete. The listener will precisely understand,
through the language of imagery, what he/she has to see, hear, feel
and do in order to perform at a higher level. If he/she can picture
the behavior/action in their mind, they will be able to perform the
behavior/action.

Cordially,

Jason W Liem
MINDtalk@email.com
www.mindtalk.no