I love the post-season time of year. players are reflective about the season just gone and, in the UK, we see this as a hugely important development phase leading up to Christmas.

As always, we start with a good review that puts things into a stark light. The immediate period at the end of a season is the perfect time to do this. Here is how I go about it with my players.

Our post season review meetings have 5 elements to them:

1. Review: What did I learn last season? How did I perform? What are my super strengths? What are my development areas?
2. Identify Long Term Goal. Test debut by 2019, be top wicket taker 3 years running by 2018.
3. Identify Medium Term Goal: What are my goals for next season?
4. Identify Short Term Goal: These goals are split into two phases. Firstly, a Repair Phase (in the UK this is October to December) and then a Preparation Phase (January to April).
5. Identify Potential Barriers: What are the things that can get in the way of me reaching their goals?

This is a vital phase of the process as you can get into tough areas here. If the player has a history of slacking from their S&C work during the summer then this can be discussed at this point to prevent re-occurrence. If the player is known for "beating themselves up" mentally when they fail, to the detriment of future performance, then this can be addressed.

Your role as coach is to open up conversation, get the player to be honest and ask them to commit their potential barriers to paper.

This process often leads on to excellent conversations about strategies to prevent history repeating itself. And that's a great thing.

The role of the coach: Detail, specifics, detail

One of the most important roles for a coach when players are setting their goals through this process is to get the player to dig down into levels of detail.

My boss, Olympic Hockey Gold Medalist David Faulkner, has a saying which is "the devil is in the detail" and it's one that I apply when setting and reviewing goals and targets.

Detailed goals and targets act as a roadmap and/or guide for coaches and players alike. They tell us if we are on track, if we are ahead of schedule or if we need to apply our time towards a specific development area.

I often find myself asking questions starting with "how", "why", "which", "what" or "when". Here are some examples:

Player: "I want to be able to hit the gaps better"

Coach: "Which gaps specifically? What type of bowler? Which shots would you like to develop in order to hit that gap off of that specific bowler?"

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Player: "One of my goals is to learn to play the sweep shot this winter?"

Coach: "Why do you want to develop that shot? What benefit will this give you over what you do presently? How can you develop this shot outside of our sessions in order to accelerate your learning and make this shot an natural option? When would you like to be in a position to play this shot effectively in scenario sessions?"

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Player: "I want to stop squaring up on the back foot vs pace"

Coach: "I understand what you are wanting to stop yet what exactly is it your aiming to achieve?"

Player: "I want to be able to stay sideways for longer against the bouncing ball on the back foot?"

Coach: "Have you thought about how we can do this, what drills can we use to develop this body shape? What drill progressions can we use to test the robustness of your new technique on the back foot?"

When we get into detail, we establish a checklist that the player can tick off as he or she moves along the skill development road.

The player also feels responsible for their own development rather than leaving it to the coach to come up with all the ideas. This develops self reliance and the ability to take control of their destiny. That you as coach become a consultant, rather than a "crutch" for players to lean on.

Use this detailed goal setting approach to develop your own self reliant, independent thinking cricketers.