Browsing Posts in Communication

Student Centre Coaching

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If you’re a coach or are interested in how you and others learn you may have come across the terms ‘Student Centred’, ‘Coach Centred’, ‘Student Led’ and ‘Coach Led’.

Coach education courses often recommend we should learn to shift from one option to another and be flexible with our coaching to bring out the best in our students. We can only do this once we understand the terms and how they are structured.

These terms are metaphors, and this video shows how we can take these metaphors literally and start to think about them in a way that allows us to use them with ease.

For more information about coaching and to find out about coaching courses contact Kim on Kim@kimbull.co.uk

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‘Utilisation’ for Coaches….

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….or what to do when students don’t come up with the answers you expect!

When questioning students or setting guided discovery tasks, sometimes students come back with unexpected answers. One strategy to use here is ‘Utilisation’. Have a look at the video to find out more.

For more information on coaching techniques and courses contact me on Kim@kimbull.co.uk.

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Do You Take The Learnings From Your Mistakes……

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……Or Just Give Up?

“I failed!”, “that’s wrong!”, and “that didn’t work!” are all potentially negative ways of perceiving an experience – but they are frequently heard terms when people are learning new canoe and kayak skills.

‘Failure’ can be repackaged as another way to describe learning what not to do. ‘Failing’ and making mistakes provide valuable information.

‘Failure’ is another word for understanding and gaining knowledge about what did not work on this occasion. And by a process of elimination, the more mistakes we make the closer we must be to a solution – so we never really fail until we give up, we just find lots of ways of not doing something yet!

For more information on trips, coaching and courses please contact me at Kim@kimbull.co.uk

Open canoe, sea kayak and white water courses and coaching, 1:1 and group workshops, BCU Training and Assessments in Northumberland and the North East.

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Using Language to Inspire Confidence

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Effective Language for Canoe and Kayak Leadership

We all know that confident leadership can inspire the rest of the group and help canoeists and kayakers perform at their best – but what can we do to come across as being confident?

We need to be confident in our decisions, and confident in our instructions. We need to have clear aims and objectives, and communicate them effectively to the group. And there’s a simple way for us to achieve this – we can do what great leaders do and eliminate the word “try” from our vocabulary.

When we use the word “try”, we introduce the possibility of failure. We plant seeds of doubt in the minds of our group. And yet “try” is a word I so often hear when assessing leaders for their 4 or 5 star awards.

“We’ll try to get that eddy”, “I’ll try to hit the line”, We’ll try not to capsize” – these are all common phrases, but they don’t inspire confidence in either the leaders or the groups ability.

In fact, “try” does not exist in the real world. We either do something or we don’t – there is no try. Many people think of Winston Churchill when we think of great leadership. For him, trying didn’t exist either. Imagine the effect on the morale of the people if he’d broadcast this speech before our ‘finest hour’-

“we shall try to fight on the beaches,
we shall try to fight on the landing grounds,
we shall try to fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall try to fight in the hills;
we shall try not to surrender”.

-the effect’s not quite the same is it? It’s almost as if the word ‘try’ gives us permission to fail! So when you’re out paddling, let’s stop trying – let’s just “do”.

For more information on leadership, coaching and courses please contact me at Kim@kimbull.co.uk

Open canoe, sea kayak and white water courses and coaching, 1:1 and group workshops, BCU Training and Assessments in Northumberland and the North East.

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Briefing Check List for Leaders

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For the BCU Four and Five Star Leader awards, candidates need to have a simple and effective brief for the group they are leading.

Sometimes, it seems like there are so many things to remember that it can help to have a mental checklist to make sure that everything is covered.

One way to remember and check you have covered everything is to use the acronym My ABCDE.

M.Y.A.B.C.D.E. stands for-

Me – Introduction and a bit about me.

You – Introductions from the group.

Area – the plan for the day, the water we will be on, and the ‘type’ of trip we will be undertaking.

Boats and kit – safety checks and also who has what kit and where.

Communication – how will we communicate, what signals will we use.

Doctor – an invitation for anyone to let me know any relevant medical needs and a reminder for people to carry any relevent medication.

Emergency – what to do if an incident occurs – a swim brief and what the rest of the group should do.

For more information about Four and Five Star Leader training you can contact me at Kim@kimbull.co.uk

Open canoe, sea kayak and white water courses and coaching, 1:1 and group workshops, BCU Training and Assessments in Northumberland and the North East.

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Shaping a Positive Outcome From a Negative Statement

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“But….I Can’t!”

The word ‘but’ has only three letters, but is has a significant effect in directing our attention and behaviour.

It’s also one of the most commonly used words people use to stop themselves doing something. This is because the word ‘but’ deletes from our attention the part of the sentence before it, and directs our attention to the part of the sentence after it.

Take this example-

“I really want to paddle grade 3, but I’m just not confident.”

It uses this common structure-

“Positive statement……BUT…..Negative Statement”

We make a positive statement about something we want (“I really want to paddle grade 3″) , we then use the word ‘but’, then we make a negative statement giving a reason why we can’t do it (“I’m just not confident”). Now, as the word ‘but’ in effect deletes the first half of the sentence, this is what we hear-

“I really want to paddle grade 3, but I’m just not confident!”

-and this is what we base our behaviour on.

Many sports psychologists know this, and have learned that the word ‘but’ can be replaced with the word ‘and’. This can work, especially when giving feedback. For example, if a coach gives the following feedback,

“You controlled the edge of the boat well, but you lost your boat angle in the flow. Next time work on this.”

The student will often unconsciously delete the first part of the sentence and miss the praise, and only hear the second half-

“You controlled the edge of the boat well, but you lost your boat angle in the flow! Next time work on this!”

However, by replacing ‘but’ with ‘and’ the whole sentence is perceived more positively -

“You controlled the edge of the boat well and you lost your boat angle in the flow. Next time work on this”.

BUT, how does this change our original sentence? Now it becomes,

“I really want to paddle grade 3, and I’m just not confident.”

Well, the ‘but’ has gone, but the use of the word ‘and’ doesn’t really add much. So let’s go back to the word ‘but’, and think about how it can be used to our advantage.

At the moment, the sentence is structured-

“Positive statement……BUT…..Negative Statement”

If the word ‘but’ deletes the part of the sentence before it, what happens if we change the order of the statements within the sentence? If we put the negative statement before the ‘but’, and the positive statement after it, we can change which part of the sentence gets deleted. The sentence would now be structured-

“Negative statement……BUT…..Positive Statement”

So now, our sentence becomes,

“I’m just not confident, but I really want to paddle grade 3!”

Suddenly, the whole sentence has a different emphasis. And smart coaches can use this structure to empower their students. So if you have students who doubt their abililty, listen out for ‘but’ sentences when talking to them and reverse them!

The conversation might go something like this -

(Coach) “So we’re going to paddle a new river today, I think you’re ready for a new challenge. What would you like to do?”

(Student) “I really want to paddle grade 3, but I’m just not confident. ”

(Coach) “So, you’re not confident yet, but you really want to paddle grade 3!”

(Student) “mmmm, yes.”

(Coach) “OK, let’s go and do River X (insert your local grade 3 river here!)”.

For more information or training in how to use NLP in your coaching please contact me at Kim@kimbull.co.uk

Open canoe, sea kayak and white water courses and coaching, 1:1 and group workshops, BCU Training and Assessments in Northumberland and the North East.

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Learning Something New to Overcome Bad Habits

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Language and Communication for Canoe and Kayak Coaches

It’s a lot easier to learn something new than to re-learn something and overcome bad habits or inappropriate schema. Coaches know this, and students know this too, so the very mention of ‘re-learning’ means an uphill challenge before we even start coaching. So how can coaches use this to their advantage?

We can reframe the situation, and utilise the curiosity and eagerness our students possess. Instead of going through the long and painful process of re-learning, invite your students to learn how to do things in a different way.

It’s a lot easier to learn another way of achieving something – and it gives us more options!

For more information or training in how to use NLP in your coaching please contact me at Kim@kimbull.co.uk

Open canoe, sea kayak and white water courses and coaching, 1:1 and group workshops, BCU Training and Assessments in Northumberland and the North East.

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Using Questioning to Increase Self-awareness Within our Students

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Questioning Skills for Kayak and Canoe Coaches

‘Questioning’ is widely used by coaches and has many purposes. However, questioning needs to be used carefully. Poor use of questioning can be a bit like shooting in the dark. I use a model of questioning to allow students to recover information from autonomous (unconscious) actions and bring it into their conscious awareness. In this article, I will outline this model of questioning and give some practical examples.

This model of questioning is useful to us as it builds intrinsic feedback loops within our students, moves their performance up the improvement cycle from “unconscious competence” to “conscious uncompetence” (necessary to move from competence to mastery), allows us to coach skilled performers (who may be technically more competent than us) and encourages reflective practice by our athletes.

The model borrows techniques from Neuro Linguistic Programming, utilising aspects of “clean language” linguistic patterning. A sound understanding of this model of coaching will allow you to use a style which can unlock an athletes performance and take their learning to a new level.

What is Clean Language?

Clean Language is the use of questioning in a way that allows the athlete to explore their own experience and recover the detail of specific unconscious actions taken within their sport – be it to develop technique, tactics, strategy or mindset. This allows the athlete to develop a model of their own performance and once recovered, skillful athletes will often ‘self coach’ and identify ways to improve themselves without imput from the coach. It fits well within the current thinking and use of the ‘Fundamentals’ within paddle sport as it directs the athletes attention towards ‘feel’ with direct links to posture, connectivity and power transfer.

Aims and Objectives

The process starts with the athlete stating the intention to change some aspect of their performance in a beneficial way (goal setting and deliberate practice).

The Questions

The next stage is for the coach to ask questions designed to allow the athlete to gather information and assemble a model of their performance. Very often, the athlete can provide a model of their behaviour in general/macro terms, and the quesions are used to recover the specific subtleties, actions and sensations which the athlete is unaware of at a micro level.

In their simplist form, the questions are designed to illicit information from the athlete about three things- a description of what they do, a sequence and order of event and a location of where things happen.

A description – We direct the attention of our athlete to a particular area and ask questions to allow the athlete to become more familiar with their actions by describing them.

The questions are -

“And x, and what kind of x is that x?”

“And x, and when x, x like what?”

A sequence – we direct our athletes attention to the order in which events take place. The questions are -

“And when x, what happens before x?”

“And when x, what happens next?”

A Location – we direct the attention of our athlete towards specific locations. The questions are -

“And when x, where is that x?”

“And when x, whereabout is x?”

There is no set order in which to ask these questions, and some time will be taken following leads and perhaps going down blind alleys. The aim is to gather enough information to allow the athlete to construct a detailed model, bringing information from their unconscious to conscious awareness. If the athlete does not know the answer to a question, you can ask them to go and find out.

Using the information

The information is now reviewed, examined, explored and probed for relevent connections and detail. The experience of the coach and the response of the athlete will help guide this process.

The Change

At some point within this process the athlete experiences the ‘lightbulb’ moment, and wonders how they ever missed something so obvious. This leads to an adjustment in the athletes model and the role of the coach is to now guide this adjustment and help explore how appropriate it is.

What is meant by ‘Clean’ Coaching?

The ‘clean’ aspects refers to the fact that the questioning directs the athletes attention within themselves and is not contaminated by presuppositions made by the coach. In all of the questions the first part (” And x, and when x…”), the x is the use of the athletes own words feeding back their own experience to them. This is particularly important as many people answer the questions using metaphor. Metaphor has particular meaning to an individual, and even a small change to this metaphor can change the experience considerably. If the coach uses their own words rather than those of the athlete they can ‘contaminate’ the athletes experience – using ‘dirty’ words!

For example, clean coaching would be ( ‘A’ denotes athletes words, ‘C’ the coach’s)-

A “I want to improve the wind up and my power stroke”

C ” The ‘wind up’, and when the ‘wind up’, that’s ‘wind up’ like what?” (seeking a description)

A “Like a coiled spring”

C “And when a ‘coiled spring’, whereabouts is that ‘coiled spring’?” (seeking a location)

A ” In my torso”

C “And when a ‘coiled spring’ in your ‘torso’, what happens next? (seeking a sequence)

A “I take a breath”

C ” And when you ‘take a breath’, then what happens?” (seeking a sequence)

A ” I drive out of the eddy”

C ” And when you ‘drive out of the eddy’, what happens just before you ‘drive out of the eddy’?” (seeking a sequence)

A “Uuuur, oh, I’m not sure….”

C “Ok – go and find out and come back when you know.”

After finding out

A “I feel for the paddle gripping the water”

C “And what kind of ‘feel’ is that ‘feel for the paddle’? (seeking a description)

A “It’s like a jerky check – I know, I need a more solid pull, I need to pull more steadily”

C “OK, let’s do some exercises to experiment with how to pull more steadily…”

So the athlete has ‘filled in the blanks’ and developed sufficient self awareness of their skill to be able to self coach and identify a useful change in their performance.

This style of questioning is particularly useful when coaching skilful performers who have the knowledge to decide how to change their performance. I am now increasingly using this model with cognitive learners too (relative beginners). I find that these people do not have the ‘eureka!’ moment, but the quesioning style develops feel within paddlers very early on in their learning.

For more information or training in how to use Clean Language please contact me at kim@kimbull.co.uk.

Open canoe, sea kayak and white water courses and coaching, 1:1 and group workshops, BCU Training and Assessments in Northumberland and the North East

All Articles, Canoe and Kayak Articles, Coaching Articles, Using Questioning to Increase Self-awareness Within our Students Communication, Questioning skills

Canoeing and Kayaking Leadership – is that all a group needs?

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White Water Canoe and Kayak Leadership

I’ve taken part in numerous canoe and kayak training and assessment courses – skills courses, coaching courses, BCU courses, update courses – and all stress the importance of good leadership in outdoor adventurous activities. Leadership is the topic of articles and chapters in books – it almost seems that as long as we have a good leader in our group when we go out canoeing or kayaking then everything will be fine.

But leadership is only one end of a continuum. At the other lies “followership”. A good leader can do so much – and for the group to work really well together everyone else needs to demonstrate good followership behaviours.

So what is good followership? Here is a list of some followership behaviours that are useful-

Follow instructions, particularly safety instructions
Observe and monitor other group members
Pass on signals and information efficiently
Contribute to plans, and follow the plan once it is agreed
To be open and honest about aims, objectives, limitations, experience and ability
Contribute to developing two way communication
Contribute actively to the pursuit of group objectives
Contribute to the creation of a positive environment that supports other members of the group

One interesting point is that as I observe successful groups, the group members often move backwards and forwards along the Leadership – Followership continuum. Everyone has a role to play if the group is to be successful, and everyone has some responsibility.

If you would like further information on leadership or personal skills coaching, in kayaks or canoes, or for information about the range of BCU training and assessment courses running throughout the North of England (Northumberland, Cumbria, Newcastle, Yorkshire and Durham) or the borders of Scotland then please contact me.

Email – kim@kimbull.co.uk

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The 4MAT System – the Easy Guide to Learning Styles when Kayak and Canoe Coaching

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Canoe and Kayak Coaching Learning Styles

The 4MAT System – the Easy Guide to Learning Styles when Kayak and Canoe Coaching

Introduction

The 4MAT system allows you to easily meet the learning styles of your students. Many people find it useful because it is an easy structure which you can incorporate into all of your coaching sessions. One reason for doing this is to allow you to keep more students engaged for longer and make your coaching even more effective. This article will explain what the simple steps are so you can use them straight away whenever you coach. I’ll explain how to use the system with practical examples. And when you apply the 4MAT system you’ll be amazed at the effect it has on your coaching and your students – and you won’t have to worry about meeting the needs of people with different learning styles anymore as the system incorporates these for you.

The 4MAT System and Learning Styles

The 4MAT System comes from a study of learning styles by Bernice McCarthy. She noticed that people with different learning styles learnt by asking particular questions.

Some people asked Why? Why are we doing this, why should I participate?

Some people wanted facts – they wanted information – and asked the ‘What’ question. What are we going to do? What’s happening? What’s this for?

Others were interested in asking ‘How?’ How does this happen? How does this work?

The last group wanted to explore future consequences, and asked What If? What would happen if I did this? What would happen if I did it that way?

There is clearly a relationship between these 4MAT categories and Jung’s psychological types, Kolb’s learning styles and the work of Honey and Mumford. These links are shown here-

4MAT	Kolb	Honey and Mumford	Jung
Why?	Abstract	Reflector	Introvert
What?	Concrete experience	Activist	Extrovert
How?	Active experimentation	Pragmatist	Feeler
What if?	Reflective observation	Theorist	Thinker

So how can canoe and kayak coaches use this? When coaching, we can build the answers to the 4MAT question categories into our sessions to ensure we meet the needs of all of our learners and therefore all the learning styles. Here’s one way of doing this when you coach-

Start by answering the question ‘Why?’, because until you give reasons answering the question “Why should I bother learning this?” the Why groups won’t engage in the learning. Until this question is fully answered, Reflectors won’t be ready to participate further.
Then give the ‘What?’ information. Let the What group know there’ll be plenty of action. This group will also be satisfied by an activity – they’re Activist so let them loose.
Thirdly, answer the ‘How?’ question and let the How group experiment with the content of the session. Pragmatists want to know how they will use the skill in a range of practical situations.
Finally, answer the ‘What if?’ question by putting the skill in context. You can also engage the What ifs by inviting questions – “What did you discover? What questions do you have?” The Theorists will open up and ask questions as they build theories for the future.

So, for every major section of learning-

The first thing to do is introduce it and then say “This is why you would want to know this”, and then give some reasons.
And then, give the knowledge and information – “This is what you do, this is what it looks like, and these are the key points.”
And then, invite your students to go away and learn/experiment with how to do it in different contexts.
When they come back, tell them what will happen if they use it in real situations, and invite questions and feedback.

In your coaching, by taking your students through this simple process you are giving them experience of every learning style, and everyone in the group, whatever their learning style is satisfied.

In Summary

I’ll finish with a practical illustration-

The reasons why you need to know this are that you want your students to be fully engaged throughout your coaching. In the past, you may have had some people switch off, or at some point half way through ask ‘Why are we doing this?’, and it would be good to avoid such situations again, wouldn’t it? This is why you need to know this.

What this is all about is that people have different learning styles and assimilate information in different ways. These learning styles are generally satisfied when certain information or questions are answered. Each of us has a preference for one of these questions. This is what you are learning.

Think about how easily you can use this structure in your coaching and engage with all of your students because you are answering the question they are thinking about (either consciously or unconsciously) before they have to ask it. How you will do this is by following the simple steps above. This is how you will actually use this in a practical sense, and how you will implement these ideas into your coaching.

And what if you’re thinking, “What if I started structuring my coaching in this way? What would be the consequences if I did this from now onwards?” One of the consequences would be that all of your students would have been presented with the content of your coaching session in a format that most suited them. As well as allowing them to assimilate the information they wanted in the way they preferred, you have helped them learn easily and given them experience of the other learning styles too. This is what will happen if you do this.

If you need another example, go back and read the introduction again.

For more information about BCU coaching courses, training in NLP and learning styles please contact Kim. Canoe coaching, kayak coaching, BCU training courses and assessments are available in the north of England, Cumbria, the borders of Scotland and beyond.

Email - kim@kimbull.co.uk

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