As an admin, you don’t want to bother athletes and parents with announcements, but some things need to be announced. Communication tools, such as our team messaging app, are an awesome way to send custom emails or texts to groups quickly from one place.
Just because we have access to tools that make communication easier, doesn’t mean they need to be used to relay every message. A parent with one or more children involved in a sport can get multiple messages a day relaying messages, and if these platforms get used and abused, then we run the risk of having parents unsubscribe from messages and then miss important deadlines.
So, here are some suggestions to help you efficiently communicate to your team, league or club members.
- Determine the clearest message before you send anything
Your message to parents and athletes needs to include, in the most concise way, all of the pertinent information they need so that they don’t have to come back to you and have you answer a bunch of follow-up questions. Make sure you determine what needs to be included in your message—break those messages up with numbers of importance if that clarifies things, and make sure they have clear instructions to follow if they need to follow up.
- Don’t duplicate efforts
The parents and athletes or your team, league or club, etc., will appreciate this. If you send a message via text, don’t immediately follow up with an email, or a phone call.
Certain communication platforms might be better depending on the message you send. For example, a message with a document that needs to be signed electronically might work best as an email, while a two-sentence message about a location change might work best as a text.
Pick a method that works for you and use it. The full responsibility doesn’t fall on you to make sure people check and respond to messages, just that you communicate them.
- Have a strategy of when to communicate and don’t abuse it
Every message isn’t of equal importance. Determine the importance of your message before sending it. Think of the best instances when you should use a communication tool, such as:
- When the day-of event’s schedule or location has changed
- When you, as a coach or admin, have an emergency you need to communicate
- When athletes and parents have important deadlines that are approaching and need to be met to participate
Determining these best practices and worst-case scenarios that require immediate communication will help you communicate efficiently—and parents will appreciate not being bombarded with messages.
Learn more about the best team messaging app for your league here—and reach out to us if you want to get set up with a demo!