Q: I started rewarding my employees
for their accomplishments first by buying them coffee and pastries.
The next time I bought them lunch. When I started thinking about
what to do next, it caused me to consider where this would end. Is
it dinner for two at a fancy restaurant? A cruise? Where do I draw
the line?
A: You are facing what I refer to
in my book Bringing Out the Best in People: How to Apply the
Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement as
"escalation of the reinforcer," or the "escalation
trap." This is a common problem. Many managers and business
owners fall into this trap because they think each reward must have
greater monetary value than the previous one.
In order to avoid this quandary, you must remember that positive
reinforcement is not synonymous with money. Positive reinforcement
is whatever a person will work to get. Generally, a positive
reinforcer is any way we communicate to a person that we like,
value or appreciate what he or she has done. It can be done with
money, but it can also be done with a smile, a conversation or even
a note.
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I suggest you think in terms of "celebration," not
"reward." A celebration may or may not be associated with
some tangible recognition. A celebration is simply an opportunity
to relive an achievement. A tangible item is simply a way to anchor
the memory of the achievement.
A celebration can be with one person, or it can be with 1,000.
It begins with the simple question, "What did you do to
accomplish that?" The purpose is to let the employee or
employees tell someone how difficult the job was or how clever or
industrious the person or group was. The manager's role in a
celebration is to help the employees recount all the details of the
accomplishment. Often, people just like to be assured the boss
knows who did what.
The purpose of the tangible item is to prompt the person to tell
the story again. A coffee mug with some relevant phrase or logo on
it often leads to the question, "Where did you get that?"
The employee is then given the opportunity to relive the
accomplishment. In this way, the tangible item keeps on giving.
Choose an object or activity that will prompt your employee or
employees to retell their story. Remember, it doesn't have to
be expensive to be memorable. Certainly from time to time you want
to do things that have monetary value, but do this only
intermittently. It is certainly appropriate on occasion to tell
your employees, "If you get this job out by noon, I'll buy
lunch." That can be very effective. However, you would not
want to do that for every tough order.
You are certainly on the right track, because you recognize the
importance of rewarding workplace accomplishments. The most common
complaint from employees is, "No one notices what I do around
here." You have not made that mistake. If you use the approach
to celebrations mentioned above, I think you can avoid the
"escalation trap" and have happier employees as a
result.
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., founder and CEO of management
consulting firm Aubrey Daniels & Associates (ADA), is an
internationally recognized author, speaker and expert on management
and human performance issues. For more about ADA's seminars and
consulting services or to order Aubrey's book Bringing Out the Best in People: How To Apply The
Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement, visit www.aubreydaniels.com, or contact Laura Lee Glass at
(800) 223-6191 or lglass@aubreydaniels.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are
those of the author, not of Entrepreneur.com. All answers are
intended to be general in nature, without regard to specific
geographical areas or circumstances, and should only be relied upon
after consulting an appropriate expert, such as an attorney or
accountant.