Sir Alex Ferguson's 'hair dryer treatment' is well known around the world, it refers to the ferocity in which he spoke to his players when they were not playing the way they should, or to the standard he feels they can. Despite this, Ferguson was not always worked up when communicating with his players, many who have played under him compliment his sense of humour and ability to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome. He uses the right words and tone depending on the situation at hand.
There is an excellent passage about the way Sir Alex communicated verbally with players in chapter 18 of his autobiography. On page 253 he writes;
"First of all, you must tell the truth. There is nothing wrong with presenting the hard facts to a player who has lost his form. And what I would say to anyone whose confidence was wavering is that we were Manchester United and we simply could not allow ourselves to drop to the level of other teams.
Faced with the need to confront a player who had performed below our expectation, I might have said: 'That was rubbish, that.' But then I would follow it up with, 'For a player of your ability.' That was for picking them back up from the initial blow. Criticise but balance it out with encouragement. 'Why are you doing that? You're better than that.' Endless praise sounds false. They see through it. A central component of the manager-player relationship is that you have to make them take responsibility for their own actions, their own mistakes, their performance level, and finally the result."
There is an excellent passage about the way Sir Alex communicated verbally with players in chapter 18 of his autobiography. On page 253 he writes;
"First of all, you must tell the truth. There is nothing wrong with presenting the hard facts to a player who has lost his form. And what I would say to anyone whose confidence was wavering is that we were Manchester United and we simply could not allow ourselves to drop to the level of other teams.
Faced with the need to confront a player who had performed below our expectation, I might have said: 'That was rubbish, that.' But then I would follow it up with, 'For a player of your ability.' That was for picking them back up from the initial blow. Criticise but balance it out with encouragement. 'Why are you doing that? You're better than that.' Endless praise sounds false. They see through it. A central component of the manager-player relationship is that you have to make them take responsibility for their own actions, their own mistakes, their performance level, and finally the result."