Bringing Out The Best In People, “How to apply the astonishing power of positive reinforcement.”By Aubrey C. Daniels

This is not a new topic by any stretch, but many of us still haven’t seen the power of reinforcement work in our lives.  Dr. Daniels wrote this book in 1994.  I re-read it since I’ve been consulting and coaching.  His message is much more significant to me now.  We may all hear his thoughts differently now since traditional management styles are changing rapidly.

We hear leadership wisdom from many gurus, but we don’t  implement these proven methods because we are not determined enough to change our style.  We eventually forget or fall back into our “traditional” leadership styles

Reinforcing good human behavior is still a crucial management tool.  Aubrey Daniels states that “The behavior of people in business is not another issue to be considered—it is the center of every business decision.”  This is bottom line stuff.  Let’s not ignore its importance.  Daniels approaches human behavior as a science and “flies in the face of common sense”.

Consequences

People must understand the consequences of the work they do to have sustained, good performance.  Behavior is a function of its consequences.  The consequence is defined as positive or negative by the performer, the person who receives it.  Bringing out the best in people requires that all performers get the right consequences every day.

Our role as leaders is not to find fault or place blame, but to analyze why people are behaving as they are and modify the consequences to promote the desirable behaviors. 

Sustained Behavior

Positive reinforcement is a tool to achieve sustained behaviors and positive consequences or outcomes.  Negative reinforcement can get things to improve, but its use can never sustain high levels of performance.

“Attaboys” or “Employee of the Month” are shallow reinforcers.  These accolades don’t help the performance to  reoccur.  “Positive reinforcement is any consequence that follows a behavior and increases its frequency in the future.”

No-No’s

Failing to reinforce productive performance is tantamount to extinguishing the performance.  Motivation will drop off in even the best people.  The good employee will eventually go away.  Also, when we hear things like, “We’ve got to get back to basics”, or “We’ve got to try harder”, we are just pushing toward extinction.  Doing the same thing harder is an indication that the behavior is undergoing extinction.

Timeliness

If we don’t reinforce the desired behaviors immediately, we risk failing to reinforce them at all.  We lways think we can get to it later.  Don’t wait. Reinforce behaviors while people are performing.  Peers and team members are the best people to provide immediate positive reinforcement.

Caution:  Never say “but”.  “You did a great job, but…”  These kinds of statements are more punishing than not reinforcing at all.  “But” is a verbal eraser when used in an attempt to praise.

Results

It is critical for business to achieve results.  You can’t truly manage by results alone.  If the correct behaviors are not reinforced, we may only get short-term results.  Sustained results require pinpoint, precision management.  Precisely what outcomes are required and what are the precise behaviors that produce the results?  Always pinpoint the results before you pinpoint behaviors.  By doing this you will prevent wasted process activities, a common trap.  When you can pinpoint results and behaviors that are active, measurable, observable, reliable and under the control of the performers, you will have taken the first step toward being able to bring out the best in people

Effective Measuring

Measurement alone will not change behavior.  Some measures punish performers and even limit their potential performance.  (Bud’s thought)  The problem  in measuring comes from the way it’s used.  Before introducing the new measures, increase the frequency of reinforcing the desired behaviors and pair reinforcement with existing measures.  Use simple measures that count results and avoid percent changes.  Raw data provides more information to analyze and make corrections.  Also, rate the performance, don’t rank the performers.

Feedback

Display the measures publicly  for everyone to see.  Set goals for the capability of the individual.  The fastest way to change individual behavior is to set small goals, reinforce effort and celebrate attainment.  Positive reinforcement accelerates the rate of improvement.  The rate of change is directly related to the number of reinforcers received.  Using these methods is called “shaping”.  Shaping is at the heart of bringing out the best in people.

The biggest complaint about Total Quality programs is that they bring about only short-term gains. To achieve total quality:

Teams

The individual expert counts within the team. It’s a myth that the team always comes up with a better solution. The team process can dilute the expert’s knowledge and experience. Teamwork is always desirable. A formal team structure isn’t always necessary. Teamwork is accomplished by making sure that cooperative behavior is positively reinforced. The team process can become more important than teamwork. Human behavior is the single greatest cause of team-implementing failure.

This summary is compliments of Roth Consulting Group