Think back to your sports days, or if you didn’t play sports, think back to a teacher who was great at communicating new skills and lessons to you. What made that person easy to learn from? Communication is the key to helping you learn effectively, and there are five steps to help you be better instructors with people on your teams.
I remember in my first real job out of college, my manager would go on sales calls with me to teach me how to sell copiers. He would always tell me I need to ask better questions, and then not teach me what those questions were! And then he wouldn’t step in to demonstrate how to go through the sales process and close a sale. Did or do you have a manager like this?
As a fitness professional, my job depends on instructing my clients how, what, and why to perform various exercises. They trust me to communicate to them vital information to help them achieve their goals and avoid injury. My current clients are not professional athletes, they are professionals in their respective fields and working out is what they use to stay healthy and active.
Teaching others is vital to the success of your organization. How they perform dictates your profitability and growth. Let me take you through the Coach’s Communication Loop (CCL) the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) teaches through its Sports Performance Coaching certification to guide you in becoming a better instructor for your line of work.
Step 1: Describe It
You don’t have to be an eloquent public speaker to tell someone what to do and why do it. Speak to them with words and examples they can understand. Be clear and concise, don’t overload someone with jargon and excessive talking. Give them the basic idea first at a level they can understand.
Step 2: Demonstrate It
People learn best from watching, which is why YouTube is so successful for the DIY fans in our world. Giving a clear and concise demonstration of the skill, technique, or job you are teaching partners well with the words you used in the description. Have the person you are teaching mirror your demonstration, if possible, to help with memory. In essence, the brain circuits used to perform the movement are the same ones that fire up when someone watches another person perform it (Calvo-Merino et al., 2006).
Step 3: Cue It
Word pictures are the best way people can remember to perform after you demonstrate. Give them something simple they can relate to, so each repetition is the same and committed to memory. For learning sales calls, giving relatable cues after demonstrating can reduce learning time considerably. I learned sales techniques best from simple cues my managers gave me to move prospects through the process.
Step 4: Do It
After you have done the previous steps, allow the person to complete the entire movement or process on their own. Do not interrupt them in the middle of it the first time through, allow them to get the feel of what to do and not to do. Refer to the cues and use them minimally as they practice. They will have to do it many times to become adequate, then perfect what you’re teaching. If there is a rhythm to be followed, cue that to keep them on pace.
Step 5: Debrief It
Talk to the person about how the cues worked or didn’t. Figure out together what can be improved with the cues, so they perform the task correctly and remember all the steps. Change the cues as necessary for positive reinforcement and relatability for ongoing success.
If the person you are instructing is brand new, use all of the steps. If the person is familiar with what you’re teaching and learning new techniques or a refresher, use the last three steps instead of the whole process. Continually work on the cues for ongoing instruction and mastering the skill you’re teaching. The cues are what keep a person on track and allow them to become the teacher next time. There is no set length of time to do each step, make sure you do each step each time you teach.
At some point, everyone is the teacher. When you’re a great teacher, it translates to being a great student because you can communicate with the instructor on how you learn best. The CCL works when you put the effort in!