Strategy #4 / Reinforcement - Using the basic reward system to maintain your progress

At the crack of the bat, Coach Ames groans. A sharply hit liner flashes through the hole between first and second. “Oh, no, that’ll bring in two runs.” Not yet – Alexis charges in from short right field, picks up the ball on first bounce, and throws a strike to Connie, who has come over from the pitcher’s box to cover first. “You’re out!” calls Umpire Jake Abrams. “That’s 3 outs – let’s go, in and out.” The first one to reach Alexis as she comes in off the field is Coach Ames, with high-fives and “Great play! Fantastic throw!” She then high-fives Connie, “Heads up play! That’s the way to cover first base!”

Comments – The sooner you tie the reinforcement to the incident, the stronger it is. Coach Ames did it right. However, there is another good way to do it. After Alexis and Connie get the good stuff from their teammates and Coach Ames, Coach Garcia, who has been working with Alexis, sits down with her and says, “You just made all the hard work you did in practice pay off. That was a terrific play – you are getting to be a terrific asset to our team.”

Coach Garcia did three things and did them well. First, she gave Alexis a verbal reward for her actions just as the other coaches and players had. Second, this reward would have been less intense than the others because of the time lapse between the incident and the response, but she made up for that by giving her comments more intensity and by tying it to her work in practice. Third, in addition to reinforcing what she did, she reinforced Alexis for who she is as a person. The reinforcement model is very simple to use – in fact, we all use it all the time. We use it with our children, our pets, our employees, our friends. We most often don’t realize that we’re using it. We also most often use it honestly.

We reinforce people for what they do but we often forget to reinforce and appreciate them for who they are.

Negative Usage of Reinforcement What happens to your pitcher when all you do is holler at him for not backing up the catcher on the throw to the plate from the left fielder? Does he remember that you also wanted him to remember to backup the catcher? These are experiences that they are ready to forget. And what they may forget may include what you told them to do to improve their performance. That is what you wanted to reinforce.