In the example describing punishment and punishment systems, as well as positive reinforcement and reinforcement systems, several reasons exist for why these systems are not as effective as the organization would wish. The reasons include the type of consequence being used, the timing of the consequence, and the probability the consequence will occur.
Type of Consequence
• Positive—as perceived by employee. The consequence, positive reinforcement, is seen as desirable to the employee and their behavior improves.
• Negative—as perceived by employee. The consequence, punishment, is seen as undesirable by the employee and their behavior stops.
Timing of Consequence
• Immediate—while the behavior is occurring or immediately afterward.
• Future—any delay, the longer the delay the less impact the consequence has on behavior.
Probability the Consequence Will Occur
• Certain—always follows the behavior. Consequences are promised, and the employee can count on receiving the consequence after their task is completed.
• Uncertain—may or may not follow the behavior. Consequences are promised but sometimes happen and other times do not happen.
Using the criteria above, we can evaluate the effectiveness of any consequence or systematic application of consequences in the workplace. The chart in Figure 11.1 outlines the relationship between these factors and the effectiveness of any system of consequences.
Figure 11.1 PIC/NIC model
Evaluate Impact of Consequences
Enter in the boxes to the right first, is the consequence positive or negative (P/N); second box, is the consequence delivered immediately or in future (I/F), and third box, is the consequence certain to occur or uncertain to occur (C/U). For example, in the first situation, slicing fruit, N would be written in first box, I would be in the second box, and U would be written in the third box (Figure 11.2).
Figure 11.2 Consequence eval tool
After completing this exercise you may understand why many systems used in organizations experience limited effectiveness or are completely ineffective! The example discussed earlier of the company effectively using punishment considered its impact on behavior. Originally, assessment of their system of punishment was NFU as with most companies. The management was trained and committed to changing their system to NIC with resulting success.
We have defined and reviewed the impact on behavior of both punishment and positive reinforcement. Because punishment is difficult to use and works for a short time, it is helpful to understand how to optimize positive reinforcement (PIC) to motivate and innovate.
Tangible positive reinforcement: This is something we can touch, see, and feel and usually costs money. For example, providing pizzas to celebrate meeting a milestone would be a tangible form of positive reinforcement. A magazine subscription or trip paid by the company serves as other examples.
Intangible positive reinforcement: This is something that does not cost money and is written or verbal in nature. For example, sending someone a text message or note thanking him/her for help on the project would be an intangible form of positive reinforcement. Recently, someone recognized their electrician on Facebook for help at their home.
Guidelines: The guidelines for using positive reinforcement apply to both tangible and intangible forms of reinforcement (Figure 11.3).
Figure 11.3 Reinforcement guidelines
To be effective, the individual and/or team should know exactly why they are receiving positive reinforcement. Otherwise, they will not know what you want and may not continue the behaviors you intended to maintain or increase. This also means your reinforcement is contingent on specific behaviors. If you cannot explain clearly and specifically why you are recognizing an individual or your team you risk reinforcing alternative behaviors. If coffee and bagels are provided one morning at work use the time to thank the group for meeting their goals on time, or reducing the time taken to serve clients as examples. Be certain not to say, “this is to thank you for your hard work.” They have no idea what they have done to please you or meet expectations with such an explanation.
• Immediate
Reinforcement is produced by the behavior. For that reason, it is critical to recognize an achievement as close to the activity as possible in order for it to be effective. A director of consulting had developed a solution for his consulting team. He bought tickets for events such as plays, sporting events, symphony performances, and movies and kept these tickets in his desk drawer. He would usually know from clients who had done exceptional work installing software that week. When his consultants would come into his office to debrief, he would pull out tickets from his desk and hand them to consultants receiving customer compliments. He explained that in the past he would obtain something for reinforcement after talking with his team. The time delay made it difficult for him to align performance with the reinforcement he explained. This new arrangement gives him the ability to reinforce as immediately as possible.
• Personalized
Several years ago I was flying to see a client. The person sitting next to me was reading a magazine and we began talking as she put the magazine aside. She was on vacation after completing a major project having demanding time lines and problems to solve. She told me her boss called her in before leaving on this vacation and handed her the latest edition of the Harvard Business Review (HBR). She was given a two-year subscription to show appreciation for her achievements. She explained that the vacation, paid by the company, was nice but what she appreciated most was her boss taking the time to learn about her and how much she enjoyed HBR.
• Proportional
This means the reward is in relation to the magnitude of the performance being required. For example, the director of consulting provided tickets with various levels of value to recognize various levels of achievement. The project manager who worked long days and weekends to bring in a demanding project on time received company paid vacation. The group described earlier who innovated the construction process and the facility designs was promised a trip to Hawaii if they met their challenging goal. The achievement meant greater market dominance and the reinforcement was in proportion to their achievement.
Understanding what motivates people is important for creating an innovative culture. It is based on the premise that people will do what you want them to do as long as they know your expectations and are recognized for their efforts. Every generation has similar expectations. If you challenge your staff to collaborate and create new ways to produce a product, they should know their extra efforts will be recognized. Additionally, if we want to complete new initiatives and establish a culture of collaboration and creativity, it is imperative we do so.
Feedback, Telling It Like It Is
The CEO of a Fortune 50 company recently explained the secret to her success was overcoming the reluctance of giving bad news. She became more successful when she began “telling it like it is.” Feedback is a way of providing both the good and the bad news. It is information provided about past performance that guides future performance. Any leader’s success is tied in large part to the manner and frequency of feedback provided to his/her team. If the leader is guiding a project consisting of team members representing all areas of the enterprise, it will be important that project members are provided frequent feedback to guide them and maintain their participation on the project. If this is a permanent work group or individual, the same principle applies as well.
Effective Feedback
Feedback can be positive, it can be negative, it can be verbal or written, and can be represented by data on charts and graphs. For an organization to innovate, it is critical that everyone be fully informed about their individual performance, their work group’s performance, and their organization’s performance. Several considerations are important to keep in mind when establishing feedback systems (Figure 11.4).
Figure 11.4 Measurement
• You can’t change what you can’t measure.
In other words, if you wish to change the way a health care emergency room (ER) operates, it is important to collect data that measure ER performance. If your strategy is to create an integrated healthcare model, data should be collected that measure the innovations required to create the new model. For example, the percent completion of a project plan could be a measure, revenue income during the change and afterward, the number of integrated services developed and implemented, and patient wellness measures could be considered based on the goals of the organizations strategy.
Data-based feedback and personal verbal feedback needs to be provided on a regular basis. The Manage by Exception philosophy will not work to improve performance around innovation of any sort. Plot data weekly in order to have the most impact on performance directed toward monthly goal achievement.
If the people doing the work learn how they are performing at month’s end, they have no chance to affect the data and accomplish their goals. On the other hand, if members of the work group know their progress daily and weekly they have a much better chance of modifying their work in order to attain monthly goals. Golfers do not wait to count their strokes when they get in the clubhouse, baseball teams don’t wait to calculate the score at the end of the game. In both examples, the performers know how they are doing after every effort to perform. The same consistency and frequency applies to any organization’s strategy for innovation and market dominance.
• Define performance using data.
People don’t argue with their own data. Discuss with your group what performance data would be most meaningful to them. There is also the matter of control. They may feel like they can control some data but not other. For example, they can’t control enterprise wide product design initiatives. But they may control wasted time and materials and the assembly process for new products coming on line. Encourage associates to collect and graph the data along with setting goals and sub goals for improvement.
People own the data they collect and review. I worked with a client not long ago and took them on a benchmarking trip to visit a company that had implemented Kaizen. Each department had graphs posted on their outside walls highlighting key performance goals. The manager of each department presented their charts. I learned later the managers decided on the data and performance to be graphed and updated the charts in order for them to look consistent and present well. Department employees had no participation in decision making or graph development and had little interest or ownership in the outcomes.
Positive feedback: This is the feedback on past performance that shows approval of the performance. If someone or the group has improved turnaround time in their department, positive feedback might come in the form of a letter from the director, a note on charts posted in the work area recording turnaround time or it could be provided during a team meeting. As part of their lean initiative, a real estate department was merged with construction project managers and organized into cross-functional work groups aligned with geographical areas of their market. Each week each geographic subgroup met to review activities and their performance charts. Each month the whole group met, reviewed performance charts measuring total group performance noted individual contributions, and celebrated their progress by having lunch together.
These groups working in their silos in past years had never build more than seven units in a year. The following year, working together with a clear focus and frequent feedback they produced more than 20 units. These groups innovated the manner in which work was performed and the design of units being built resulting in greater dominance of their marketplace.
Negative feedback: This is the feedback on past performance communicating disapproval of the performance. Please note, it conveys disapproval of performance not disapproval of the person. Data-based feedback facilitates the communication of such performance. For example, rather than the coach we described earlier shouting “Stupid” he might have shouted instead, three turnovers! A maintenance manager in a hospital was having difficulty getting department personnel to complete a service request form. They would just come by and ask for help. One day he greeted them holding a golf counter. If they did not submit a work request he held up the counter and clicked it. “What is that,” they would ask. “I am just counting,” he would say. Within a week, everyone provided work orders when requesting assistance.
Verbal feedback: This is provided for both positive and negative feedback. As discussed earlier, such feedback should happen immediately after the person’s behavior and be corrected or recognized accordingly. Many times the only feedback needed is the performance count. For example, a supervisor was frustrated with an employee frequently arriving to work late. One Monday morning, he stood by the front door and when the employee entered late the supervisor said, “one.” The following day he was at the door and when the employee came in late he said, “two.” The following day the employee came to work on time and the supervisor said, “one” and began a new count for on time behavior.
Visual feedback: We discussed earlier the importance of posting charts reflecting performance toward goals. The chart in Figure 11.5 illustrates a creative way a Head Nurse used to increase punctuality of her staff.
Figure 11.5 Feedback system
My client explained that she had given verbal warnings and written warnings to no avail and did not know what to do. I suggested she take positive measures since punishment was not making needed changes. After some discussions, she engaged her staff in designing a feedback chart and symbols.
The nursing staff designed the chart, picked symbols to indicate punctual or late behavior and agreed to post it in their lunchroom. Staff members volunteered to update the chart each week. The staff and Head Nurse determined positive reinforcement for accomplishing their goals. Their reinforcement was having lunch together every month they achieved their goal of 100 percent.
January was baseline data before they initiated their project. In February, the department began experiencing 100 percent of staff coming to work on time with the additional benefit of 100 percent attendance. The department maintained higher levels of performance and improved patient satisfaction for the rest of the year as the Head Nurse practiced Positive Thinking and Celebrating Success.
Do’s and Don’ts
Earlier in this section, we discussed guidelines for giving feedback. Of critical importance is being Specific by using measures of performance. Providing the feedback as Immediate as possible is also critical to the effectiveness of your feedback. There are two other considerations worth considering:
1. Do not mix positive feedback with negative feedback.
When an employee hears you tell them something nice and then spends the rest of the conversation giving negative feedback, imagine what the employee will be thinking the next time you offer positive feedback. She will not hear the positive as she considers what she did wrong waiting for the negative feedback to follow. Some training tells managers offer comments to make the person feel good before correcting them. This advice makes the manager feel better but does not help the relationship with the employee. The only time to mix positive and negative feedback is either when the employee is in training or receiving annual performance reviews.
2. Four to one feedback.
Several years ago, a management magazine reported research indicating the highest performing and creative organizations experienced a ratio of 3.95 times more positive feedback than negative feedback. The ratio was rounded up to 4 to 1. Other data indicated the ratio in human service organizations to be even higher, 5 to 1. Using positive feedback to catch people doing good works is the backbone of creating a positive culture encouraging risk taking for greater levels of creativity and innovation.
Assignment
Develop and implement a plan to improve performance in your program (Figure 11.6).
Figure 11.6 Behavior improvement plan
Performance Improvement Plan for: (Name of Person)
Individual Behavior:____________________(Specific Behavior)
Goal:__________________________ (Goal for Personal Improvement)
Calmly Correct in Private
Praise in public and correct in private is a message we all hear. Yet it tends to be overlooked more times than not in many organizations.
I watched a true leader who calmly smiled while asking an employee why the error occurred and what the employee might do to correct the situation. The employee responded and left feeling intact and feeling motivated to perform better for someone who showed trust in her.
As you may recall from the chapters on communication, there is a formula for correcting behavior referred to as the Helpful Correcting Model. The leader described above used a similar process (Figure 11.7).
Figure 11.7 Correcting model
If you are having multiple conversations with an employee, it may be helpful to consider how you might use Positive Thinking and Celebrating Success as alternative behaviors you can use to influence behavior. For example, if your employee continues to submit projects late you may have more success using cause analysis to determine what is getting in the way of his submitting work on time. Recognizing work that is completed on time would also be important to encourage more of this behavior.