We Are Always Communicating with Our Team*

All opinions expressed within the blog are solely my own. The blog is not an official publication of any City of Melrose institution. 

*Adapted from my basketball blog

Know your audience. In a book, article, or interview, you address a variety of 'constituencies'. Do you want to inform, educate, correct, raise questions, or have some other intent? 

Be aware that we are always communicating with our team. 

The "Bully" Pulpit

Don't be a bully. "Listen, Dummy, you have no right to criticize me or question my decisions." Remember Chuck Daly's advice, "never get in an argument with a guy who buys ink by the barrel."

You want to address the reporter's question, but not to insult either the questioner or possible targets of the question. If someone asks a "gotcha" question like, "Is it true that there's a morale problem on the team?" find a way to answer respectfully. "On any given day, in any family or organization, we have ups and downs. And we communicate about them within the family because that's what families do." 

Fandom

Bobby Knight had it right, "If you listen to the fans in the stands, soon you'll be up there sitting next to them." As a messenger, don't be dismissive or question their intelligence. "It's always a difficult decision to assign minutes to a given player against a certain lineup, depending on the matchups, player strengths and limitations." 

The Team

"It's true that we didn't play our best tonight. We've worked hard to prepare them to compete every night. Maybe we overworked them recently and they didn't have as much "stuffing" tonight." Rather than blame them for a lack of effort directly, you're shifting the responsibility off them and onto yourself. 

Your Opponent

Give credit to the opposing team, their coaches, and their administration. "Those guys work hard, prepare hard, and competed hard in tonight's game. If we didn't play well at times, their players and scheme had a significant role." 

The Volleyball Community

Every game has meaning. "When we play well and succeed, we want to understand what we did and why we won. We also want to understand where we didn't do well and find ways to be better in the future." Win or lose, engage the process of teamwork, improvement, and accountability. "We won tonight and we're pleased but we're not satisfied. We want to be harder to play against every time out." 

Colin Powell shared perspective in "It Worked for Me." Here are a few of his suggestions:

1. They get to pick the question. You get to pick the answer.

2. You don't have to answer any question you don't want to. 

3. Never lie...beware of being too open.

4. Never reveal private advice you have given your superiors.

5. Answers should be directed to the message you want readers/viewers to get. The interviewers are not your audience.