03.05.14Annals of Coaching: More on Positive, Motivating Critical Feedback (Video)
The second in a series of profiles I did of top soccer coaches appears in SoccerAmerica magazine today. It’s based on an observation of a great training session by Chris Hayden of FC Dallas’ youth academy in which I try to analyze how Chris gives his players lots of constructive feedback but does it in a way that’s positive and motivating. That’s a critically important skill. It’s easy to oversimplify praise and criticism and to spend time thinking about how much of each to give. Great coaches and teachers like Chris remind me that the affective tone is as important as the content in thinking about feedback.
In other words, if all we did was worry about whether we were “giving enough praise” we might miss the fact that praise isn’t always that motivating and useful and that we want our good players to thirst for critical feedback. So more important than whether feedback is “positive” or “corrective” in content is how it’s framed.
Positive Framing |
Negative Framing |
|
Corrective Feedback |
Positive Framing“I know you can do it with your right, David. Now show me that you can do it with your left.” |
Nagging, deflating“Stop avoiding your left, David. You’re afraid of your left.” |
Positive Feedback |
Precise Praise“Yes, David. Excellent first touch. And look at your cross! Your first touch made that.” |
Sarcasm“Hey! David can cross with his left.” |
Anyway, Chris’ session was so strong in this regard that I “geeked out” on it pretty hard in the profile, but of course there’s nothing like seeing actual video so if you want to know more you can click here to watch Chris in action. You can also read a bit more on Chris’ training sessions here and (with more video) here.
A huge thank you to US Soccer and to Dave Chesler, by the way, for both providing me with video of Chris’ session and for the ongoing partnership in thinking about how to make teaching guidance useful for coaches.
