Elite sport psychology/motivation/token rewards

Token rewards are small prizes that signify achievement.

They are distinguished from other forms of extrinsic motivation such as win bonuses and appearance fees in that they have no monetary value, but are valued by performers and their peers. They are especially suitable for teams, but can be adapted to motivate individual performers as well.

Token rewards can be particularly effective in motivating athletes to do repetitive but necessary training drills where winning a token reward represents both the attainment of a tangible goal and also a recognition of achievement. Examples of token rewards that might be used in training settings include:

• Gold, silver and bronze “medals” (not real medals, just acknowledgement) for the top three athletes in a particular drill.
• A special item of clothing such as a yellow jersey or captain’s armband.
• An Athlete of the Week award.

Activity

Perhaps you have been involved with coaching athletes. Have you used token rewards? Were they effective? Would you use them now?

Please share your knowledge, ideas and insights with others on the forum.

• Post your ideas on the discussion forum

Designing a token rewards system

Token rewards can be effective motivators, but only if they are well designed. Remember that goals should be attainable by all participants or they may actually demotivate. Everyone should feel they have a chance of winning, and so if there is an obvious imbalance of talent, then it may be worth creating teams that combine weaker players with stronger players to balance things out. For token rewards to motivate the greatest number of people, it’s a good idea to reward effort or performance relative to ability rather than best performer. For example, the athlete who achieves a personal best on the highest number of activities during the week’s training might be awarded Athlete of the Week or wear the yellow jersey for the forthcoming week.

SCORE is a useful acronym to remember when designing a token reward system:

• Simplicity (S): Don’t go overboard with the complexity of the system. The process of reward and how to achieve it needs to be readily understood by all involved.
• Consistency (C): As a leader you must be seen to fair. Perceptions of favouritism or inconsistency will kill the effectiveness of any token reward system.
• Observation (O): Everyone needs to be assured that their efforts will be noticed.
• Reward (R): The reward needs to be kept in perspective. Its power comes from what it represents not its material worth.
• Explanation (E): The criterion for winning the token reward should be clearly explained, along with a brief rationale for why it has been chosen.