Positive reinforcement in coaching is extremely powerful in both team and player development. When it comes to providing feedback, most coaches vary in how they praise their players. Even within positive reinforcement, there are multiple types of praise. And one may have a more lasting effect than the other.
Types of Praise
How often have you found yourself or others making any number (and variation) of the following statements:
- “That was a nice play in the neutral zone.”
- “Good move there on the breakout!”
- “Smart decision to get the line…”
If I had to guess, I’d say pretty often. Coaches and players commonly use these phrases throughout the course of practices, film sessions and games. What these all have in common is they are commenting on, and praising, the behaviors and actions of a player. A nice play, good move or smart decision. What we are saying is that the behavior this player just made was positive and we noticed it.
Now ask yourself how often you say or hear statements that sound like the following:
- “You’re a smart player, that move was a great example. Nice job.”
- “A player with your ability and IQ sees things develop before they happen. Really well done there.”
If I were to guess again here, I would say these are phrases that come out less often and are more likely to be said during individual meetings than in a practice or game. What links these comments are that they focus on the character/identity of the player, more than the individual behavior of the player. They are statements about who the player is and what makes them effective on a general level, as well as within the individual play that just occurred.
Why It’s Relevant
As a coach, parent, or teammate, we want to empower players to be the best version of themselves possible. Specifically as a coach, our goal should be to enable every player to play to the best of their potential. This will allow our team to be as successful as humanly possible throughout the course of a season. While focusing on praising behaviors is by no means negative, it still leaves a lot on the table. Focusing on praising character will get the most return on investment, or in hockey terms, get the most out of our players.
An Experiment Showing Character Praise’s Effectiveness
Pulling from Adam Grant’s book, Originals, we can see this idea in action through a study conducted by psychologist Joan Gruse. In Joan’s experiment, children were asked to share marbles with their peers. After sharing, they were randomly assigned to receive either behavior or character praise. The behavior praise sounded something like “It was good that you shared some of your marbles. That was a nice and helpful thing for you to do.” The character praise sounded more like “I guess you’re the kind of person who likes to help others whenever you can. You are a very nice and helpful person.”
A few weeks later, these same children were encouraged to give some of their own personal craft materials to children in hospitals, in an effort to cheer up the sick children. A whopping 45 percent of those children who received character praise were willing to share their craft materials, compared to a meager 10 percent of the children who received behavior praise. This seems to signal that the children given character praise began to consider sharing and being helpful as part of their identity. Instead of seeing their actions as a potentially one-off behavior, they began to form a sense of self with being a sharing and giving person. So how does this apply to hockey?
Applying Character Praise to Hockey
Imagine a forward on your team is having a hard time adjusting to a new level. Maybe the player is making the jump from U18 to junior hockey or junior hockey to college. At the previous level, he was accustomed to being the best player on the team, relied upon for all situations – both offensively and defensively.
Now that he has moved up a level, his game needs to develop and grow in order to be successful in all facets. Where he was used to getting 18-20 minutes of ice time a night, and producing with relative ease, he finds himself getting less ice time and struggling to produce. It’s likely that his identity as a player is suffering now as well, searching for what he can do at this level to succeed. For the sake of this example, let’s say he is a smart, hard-working player who simply needs more time to develop, adjust and grow. Which course of action would be more effective in the long run – praising behavior or praising character?
It is our belief that praising this player’s character will enable him to achieve success quicker than praising just his behavior. Letting this player know that you see him as an intelligent and competitive forward who can make a difference with his IQ and work ethic will give him a sense of identity. He can now begin to see where he makes smart plays and how his work ethic impacts the game in a positive way. Even if it’s not happening right away, he has something to work towards. Just as those children who saw themselves as givers were more likely to share weeks later, this player will likely continue to see himself as a smart player who competes hard. Even when results are not instantaneous, his commitment to his identity will not waiver.
Conclusion
As we enter the summer months, many coaches and players will reflect on their past seasons. Take a minute to jot down some notes about the type of praise you generally give (if you are a coach) or hear (if you are a player). Think of times where you gave (or received) behavior praise vs times where you gave (or received) character praise. Are there times where both were present?
To give character praise takes more effort and intention. This forces us as coaches to be more thoughtful with our words and how we use them. There are times where it may not be as easy or possible. For example, in the high-stakes environment that most games take place in. Start with practice, film sessions and team meetings. Work your way up to mastering character praise in these settings and then bring it to the game. It takes time, but it is absolutely worth the effort.
Great coaches are able to pull the most out of their players. They enable them to accomplish more than they ever would have on their own. Creating an environment where players feel they have an identity that is true to their game and helpful to the team will only increase their impact on the game and season as a whole. The return on investment will be worth your time and most importantly, will help you serve your players better. This is the ultimate task we have as leaders – to serve our players to the best of our abilities.
Post image attribution: By mark6mauno, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
