by Steve Adubato, PhD
Recently I moderated an event recognizing the opening of a sports clinic at a major hospital system. The purpose of the event was to talk about sports injuries and how to prevent them, particularly among young athletes. While much of the discussion centered on clinical, medical and health related issues, there was also a major competent dealing with communication and the role it plays in sports injuries. I was struck by one of the physicians talking about the importance of the communication skills of coaches, athletic directors and others who interact with young athletes.
Consider this example. A 16-year-old, highly competitive and driven high school football player is playing in a very important game. He is struck in the head in a helmet-to-helmet collision with a member of the opposing team. He immediately goes down, is groggy and is helped to the sidelines. He sits out for a few plays, and his coach—who is trying to strategically manage the game but is aware that his star player is down—runs up to him and asks a question that is asked by countless other coaches in similar situations; “Jimmy, are you okay?” More often than not, the young athlete’s response is, “Yes, coach, I’m okay.” The coach then follows up with; “You think you can go back in the game?” You can imagine what this highly competitive and loyal team member is likely to say.
The point here is that the quality of the response given by this vulnerable, intense and eager to please 16-year-old athlete is largely predicated on the nature of the question that he is asked by his coach. What’s such a kid likely to say when asked by such an important adult role model in his life with the game on the line? How bad would the kid actually have to be? How much pain would he need to feel in order to say, “No, coach, I’m not okay?” Or “No, coach, I can’t go back in the game.” Once again, the role of quality communication becomes essential in a potentially life and death situation.
Instead of asking such closed-ended and unproductive questions like; “Are you okay?” or, “Do you think you can go back in the game?” the coach should have asked; “Jimmy, look at me. Tell me what the score is without looking up at the scoreboard.” He can then follow up with; “Tell me the team we are playing and what field we are playing on.” Or, “Hey, Jimmy, what are the names of our three co-captains?” The point here is that by asking very direct, but clearly open-ended questions that require young Jimmy to demonstrate his ability to think clearly and communicate accordingly, the coach, athletic director or team physician would have a much better chance of assessing the condition of this young athlete.
Too often, we ask lazy, closed-ended questions that not only aren’t helpful in getting an accurate response, but often can get a response that sends a very wrong and dangerous message. It is similar to a math or science teacher lecturing about a complex equation or process and then simply asking the class; “Does everyone understand?” Or, asking a particular student; “Jane, do you understand?” These types of questions are asked all the time without us understanding how counterproductive they are to effective and precise communication. The key is to hear and understand the difference between these closed-ended questions and those that are more open-ended, probing and useful.
What about you? What kinds of questions do you ask and how aware are you as to whether the response you get is all that relevant to the information you are seeking?