Introduction and guidance

This free badged course, Communication and working relationships in sport and fitness, lasts 24 hours, with 8 ‘sessions’. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete a further study session. The eight sessions are linked to ensure a logical flow through the course. They are:

1. The purposes of communication
2. Impact and getting your message across
3. Effective communication enhancing relationships
4. Connecting with others
5. Becoming more influential
6. When does harsh feedback become bullying?
7. Power and its impact on the communication process
8. Topical aspects of communication.

The course will boost your ability to vary your communication approach according to the situation and the needs of the people involved. You will accelerate your learning by placing yourself in other’s shoes during vivid video examples. These film clips show effective and ineffective communication in action, including spoken and non-verbal behaviour. You will examine a range of communication practices which will help you to build rapport and to deal better with a range of situations, including written communication.

There will be numerous opportunities to check your learning. This includes interactive quizzes, of which Sessions 4 and 8 will provide you with an opportunity to earn a badge to demonstrate your new skills. You can read more on how to study the course and about badges in the next sections.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• recognise the importance of effective communication in the sector in benefitting sport and fitness participants’ experiences
• evaluate your own communication skills
• demonstrate an awareness of being able to build and sustain working relationships
• use observational skills and new knowledge to interpret work interactions and relationships.