Perceptual Positions
Perceptual Positions
“Think of the situation or an incident through the eyes and ears of others; and you will soon find better ways of managing similar occurrences. The steps are easy.”
Have you ever been in a tense situation in a game, or a player made a mistake in a game, been in a difficult situation in a game and wondered how you could have done it better? This tip will help you to look at an incident from different viewpoints. This should help you to find ways of managing similar future situations in a much better way.
Consider a single difficult situation that you have been in recently, by thinking about it from three different perspectives:
(1) Yourself (the coach).
(2) The Player.
(3) An Observer (perhaps an Assessor, manager or a spectator).
These are called Perceptual Positions. When you explore perceptual positions, you will start to develop an ability to experience interaction in a new way.
You will learn to see and to hear, and to feel the relationship through the eyes and the ears and the emotions of the player. You also develop the ability to explore the relationship through the eyes and ears of a neutral observer (a fly on the wall, a hidden video camera, a spectator etc).
When you add these new dimensions to your current self-assessment, you will learn new ways of behaving that will enrich and enhance each and every relationship you have with players. You do this by putting yourself in their shoes, and by asking yourself how you would have felt in the same behavioural situation.
Developing Perceptual Positions:
Step 1 of 6: History:
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As you think about a difficult situation or a specific situation in a game or whilst coaching, you begin to remember other times when things did not go quite as well as you would have liked them to. As you mull this over in your mind, you start remembering the interaction (history) in greater detail.
Step 2 of 6: Through Your Own Eyes:
First, you see the experience through your own eyes, becoming aware of what trouble the player gave you. You hear the experience through your own ears, listening to what the player is saying, what you are saying out loud, and what you were thinking to yourself at the time. You experience what it is like to be with this player, what you feel about the player, and also about your behaviour during the interaction. Then you freeze the interaction and notice what you have learnt about yourself. It is here, that you can perceive better ways of dealing with the situation, such as; controlling (or hiding) your emotions; better positioning; ways to be stronger or more polite, and making your instructions clearer for the listener etc.
Step 3 of 6: Through the Player’s Eyes:
See the experience through the player’s eyes, becoming aware of what you look like from his perspective. You hear the experience through the player’s ears, listening to what you are saying. You feel what it is like to be the player, what you feel about yourself from here. Then you freeze the interaction and notice what you have learned about yourself and the player. It is here, that you can imagine what the player thought about you, as you were dealing with him. Would it have worked better if you had been calmer; or had used different words; or perhaps used more authority; or by being more friendlier and polite etc? Did you really need to embarrass him? These are the questions seen from the player’s perspective. Next time this incident happens, you should now be able to temper your approach to eliminate the things that did not originally work.
Step 4 of 6: Through the Eyes of an Observer:
See the experience through the eyes of an observer who might be neutral. You listen to the coach and the player talking to one another. You become aware of how they have interacted together previously in the game and notice any patterns and repetitions. Then you freeze the interaction and perceive what you have learned about yourself (the coach) and the player. Was there a clash of two strong characters? Who was in charge of the situation? Was the situation resolved in a satisfactory way? How was the situation managed? Etc.
Step 5 of 6: Using the new Perceptions to Improve
As a result of looking at things from a different perspective what will you different?