Let's face it, the modern world is incredibly distracting.
In fact, there is a trillion+ dollar industry fighting tooth and nail to steal our attention -- think ad targeting, social media, text, email, group chat, Netflix, Youtube, just to name a few.
We're all guilty of being sucked into the content void. But, as coaches/trainers, we have to do our best to not only protect our own attention, but our athletes as well.
In my ten years as a trainer, I have found that DISTRACTION is one of the top coaching killers. A distracted mind hurts performance and, as a result, will hurt your business.
That's why at CoachNow, we have focused on creating a private, distraction-free platform. There is nothing "extra" thrown into the mix, everything is focused exclusively on connecting you to your athletes and helping them reach their goals.
The more you minimize distractions, the better you will be as a coach and the happier your athletes will be.
Which brings us to the second coaching killer… RETENTION.
Now, I don't necessarily mean retention in the marketing sense (though that is also important), I mean ensuring that your clients retain information from your coaching sessions.
Believe it or not, the average person forgets 40% of what they learn immediately upon leaving the learning environment. After a week, you lose closer to 90%. See the below graphic, commonly referred to as the "Forgetting Curve".
When someone is paying for coaching, it can be hard for them to feel good about their ROI if you don't give them easy access to their coaching session info or progress over time.
If they aren't retaining the information from a session, time is then wasted reviewing and repeating, rather than progressing.
At CoachNow we often say "Retention = Retention". In other words, if you can help your athletes remember more, they'll practice more effectively, and get better faster. In turn, this means they will stay your client longer and your business will thrive as a result.
My advice for avoiding this coaching killer?
Always record a 1-2 minute post-session recap - ask the athlete what they learned that day, what they want to improve, and what they will do to reach that goal. Post that video in their CoachNow space so they can always reference back to it and see their progress.
Additionally, you should always keep the camera rolling during a drill or a technical movement - ask the athlete questions about the feel, their thoughts, etc. Use CoachNow's video analysis tools while you are coaching and leave the video in their space to analyze and dissect on their own time.
If you can avoid distractions and focus on helping your clients retain information,you will see noticeably happier athletes and parents.
Here's to always improving!
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