Champions
April 2012
of people
The POWER of POSITIVE Feedback As a champion of people, your number one responsibility is to coach your employees to execu te a winning game plan. Really, you are not that different than an NFL, NHL, NBA, or MLB head coach ! Well, perhaps a little less famous, but still, your goals are the same - execu te championship-level performance. What role does positive feedb ack have in that? In professional sports you can see a lot of “feedbackâ€? is given; however, even in the world of highly paid professional sports, timely, positive reinforcement is power ful. <RX¡YH VHHQ LW WKH ´KLJK Ă€YH Âľ WK H ´ÀVW SXPSÂľ DQG WKH RWKHU QRQ YH UEDO communication between coach es and athletes that say “nicely done.â€? These athletes have hundreds of thousands of dollars available in incentive payment, and yet, you’ll hear them talk as retired player s about the memory and value of that positive word, non-verbal, or gesture . As the champion, you have the opportunity to provide this positiv e feedback to your team, but why should you? You are probably all familiar with the work of B.F. Skinne r, the world famous behaviorist, who taught the world that the performance of a human being can be shaped. Conduct can be reinforced either positively (e.g. praise after a behavior is perform ed) or negatively (e.g. something removed or avoided after a behav ior is performed). Introducing something positive, to UHLQIRUFH SHUIRUPDQFH WKDW Ă€WV LQW R your championship game plan, is not only smart management, its IXQ 7U\ WKH YHU\ VLPSOH Ă€UVW $IWHU you see something that you know is great, immediately go talk to that person, either face-to-face or via phone, and deliver a person al commendation of their perform ance. %H VXUH WR WHOO WKHP VSHFLĂ€FDOO\ what you liked about it, how you feel about it as their supervisor,
and thank them for the hard work they are putting into meeting and exceeding job expectations! That ZLOO GR WKUHH WKLQJV VSHFLÀFDOO \ reinforce the behavior you want to build, 2) personalize and cultiva te the relationship between the two of you, and 3) illustrate a value of gratitude for continued excelle nce the employee exhibits in the future. There are hundreds of other ways to positively reward employees. 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, by Bob Nelson, lists, well, 1001 ways you can do it! This book lists reinforcemen ts that are free, like the idea illustrat ed above. There are also suggestions for low cost reinforcement, compensation strategies to build performance, formal award programs, team building activiti es, and even the most simple of homemade suggestions (choco late chip cookies anyone?). As a champion of people, your number one responsibility is to coach your employees to execu te a winning game plan. It is your JOB to build and develop their skills, and enhance their performance. When an employee fails to achiev e, while it may be easy to blame the employee for that, really, you have WR SRLQW WKH ÀQJHU DW \RXUVHOI DQG ask tough questions about your performance as a champion. Did you provide feedback meant to shape the employees behavior? Were you timely with your feedb ack? :HUH \RX FOHDU DQG VSHFLÀF" 'LG WKH employee understand you? How do you know that? It’s easy to look back and analyz e what went wrong, but it’s much harder to see what helps things go right. Positive feedback is a powerful component of the metho ds that result in things going right. Incorporate it into your every day coaching strategy, and watch your team execute the game plan like champions!
Positive feedback ideas from “1001 Ways to Reward Employees,â€? by Bob Nelson : ‡ Call an employee LQWR \RXU RIĂ€FH MXVW WR thank him or her; don’t discuss any other issue. ‡ Post a thank you note on the employee’s RIĂ€FH GRRU ‡ Buy lunch for the person and three co-workers of his/her choice. ‡ Find out the persons hobby and give an appropriate gift. ‡ When you hear a positive remark about an individual, repeat it to that person as soon as possible.
“Good thoughts not delivered mean squat.� ~ Kenneth Blanchard, Author and management consultant
COMING NEXT MONTH: Did the employee understand you? How do you know? Provided by your EAP provider, REALiving, LLC, a division of Aurora Community Services. www.EAP.AuroraServices.com
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