How to better connect with your students - COMMUNICATION

Recently I presented on this topic at our staff meeting for the John Webster Golf Academy. As a female golf professional, I am often asked if I change my instruction or communication when working with women. Originally, I thought maybe there are learning differences between men and women but after much research online and in my experience, I discovered that there really aren't many differences. The only clear difference I discovered is that men tend to learn better in a competitive environment and women enjoy building relationships. This is important to know as an instructor or coach because it can help you to tailor lesson to better communicate with your students. I try teach each lesson to help the student in front of me, not necessarily based on if they are male or female. What I have begun to discover as I progress as a teacher is COMMUNICATION is the most important aspect to being a great instructor and helping your students. The BEST communicator will be the MOST successful teacher/coach. You can have all the info on any of the many teaching topics/methods out there but if you can't communicate them to each student you see, you are going to struggle with helping your students. Most recently, the thought of "active listening" has been at the front of my instruction. I believe knowing, understanding and practicing this listening skill this will make you a better communicator. Let's start with the definition of active listening.
ACTIVE LISTENING - a communication technique that requires the teacher to provide feedback from what they hear from the student back to the student by way of re-stating what they (teacher) have heard in their own words, to confirm they (teacher) has heard and understands what the student is saying.
So as a teacher, when you ask your students why they are there taking a lesson, you can listen to them and repeat back to them the reasons they are there, to confirm you are understanding of what they have said and re-phrased it your own words. Often as teachers we may "listen to speak" instead of being active listeners. When I start a lesson, I ask a few questions to get what I find to be relevant information to help them and to build a relationship with them.
They are:
How long have you been playing golf?
Have you taken lessons before? How often?
What other sports have you played? (from childhood to present)
Do you have any injuiries or aliments?
What are your goals for your game? or Why are you here?
Then I ask them to hit a few shots with their favorite club. I ask for feedback when they are hitting so that I can better gauge their expectations as a player.
They are:
What shot do you like to see?
What shot do you hope to never see again?
Where do you tend to miss (right or left)
What club/shot do you love?
What club/shot scares you the most?
While I am evaluating them, I am listening to hear the words they use, such as I feel, I see, I hear, these words give me an idea of the what learning style they going to respond to best. These are styles are kinestic (feel), verbal (speak), and visual (see). Having this information is a must for me to successfully communicate to my student on what they may need to do to improve their game/swing.
More to come....