In any challenge, there will be overachievers, and also those that get annoyed by them! 😅 Good news: On Count.It, there are multiple ways to shift the emphasis of the challenge so that people focus more on achieving the goals, and less on how far the front-runners are ahead. Read on for both structural and "soft" techniques for helping to ease the problem.
Structure the challenge for participation
For your "Total Points" challenge, make sure to create (and focus on) a "Finishers" reward, rather than the rank-driven "First Place" or "Top 3" style rewards. Also, consider adding a Group --> Finish Percentage award. This says: "We're all in it together!"
If your challenges has structured daily or weekly goals, you will have a Consistency view. Your Consistency view shows progress in terms of days or weeks completed rather than total points. The Consistency view levels the playing field because nobody can get too far ahead. Please read this blog article for much more on the topic.
Teams are your friend! The points differential between teams is always less than that between individuals as their score is the average of the participants. Adding teams to a challenge shifts the focus, and bring everyone together.
Add Wellness Goals: Wellness Goals are a fun way to broaden the scope of your challenge. They are less about leveling the playing field than about expanding the activities of the challenge, BUT adding them can give people more ways to earn points and stay in the game.
Communication is key
While non technical, this is perhaps the most important piece. Communicate early and often. Celebrate the leaders, but also consistently point out that everyone can win by crossing the goal line(s), and that "we're all in it together!"
And here's a key tip: Get the leaders involved! Ask them to post images and comments in their activity logs. With leadership comes responsibility. The more they share, the more they go from being scary and anonymous to being inspiring!