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LOGINFive tips for managing parent interaction
WhatsApp groups with parents of young players can be a blessing and a curse. Here’s how to take the angst out of digital communication... we hear from SCW editor and soccer coach, Steph Fairbairn.
Whether it is through instant messaging, email, or some sort of team management app, coaches today are more accessible for parents than ever.
While such close links can often be useful, sometimes it can quickly become overwhelming for the coach.
Here are five things I would recommend to any coach using digital communications with their players’ parents…
01 - TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS
Initially, I felt that I should always be available for parents. The simple fact is that’s not true, nor is it sustainable.
I ran myself ragged by always trying to get back to parents immediately, and even when I did respond, I’d often worry I hadn’t done enough to deal with their query or message.
The answer was to put some boundaries in place. I turn off all notifications for the WhatsApp groups of parents that I run, and carve out specific times to look at them.
Of course, this can vary – in the run-up to a matchday, I might engage with it a bit more - but having a dedicated time to deal with those messages takes the pressure off.
02 - MAKE ALL YOUR MESSAGES CONCISE
Most parents don’t respond well to a drip-feeding of information. They want all the facts in one place that they can refer back to.
With matchday info, rather than messaging to say you have a match, then messaging later on about the opposition, wait until you have all of the information.
Parents now expect match information from me in a standard format: opposition, location, date, arrival time, start time, finish time, which kit
Doing it this way also gives me a message to refer back to in case queries come up.
03 - SET EXPECTATIONS FOR RESPONSES
If you want a response to something, make sure you say what that response should look like and when you need it by.
I’ve got into a routine with my group of sending match information on Tuesday mornings, requiring responses by the end of the day on Wednesday, and sending out the squad on Thursday morning.
I still repeat the requirements at the end of the message, though: ‘Let me know if your daughter is free by the end of the day on Wednesday.’
04 - KNOW WHEN TO TAKE THINGS OUT OF THE GROUP
Looking at it from the parents’ point of view, we’re all in so many group conversation spaces these days that an avalanche of messages can sometimes be frustrating.
Often, you’ll be doing some parents a favour by taking specific conversations into a separate chat with one or two parents.
You also need to keep an eye on what’s appropriate or not in your forum - even though it’s a group of adults involved, some things not suited for the chat can come up, and you’re the one that has to manage that.
05 - MAKE IT FUN
Having said all of the above, there’s still room for these spaces to be fun.
We encourage, with the agreement of all involved, the sharing of images or thoughts from games from parents to get some discussion going.
You will also be surprised by what it is that gets parents talking sometimes – a few weeks ago we were given a fixture against a team called the Piranhas. I made a joke about ’SEAing people soon’...80 messages later, and we’d exhausted all possible fish puns!
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Steph Fairbairn
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