Coaching, Mentoring and Managing: A Coach Guidebook

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Don’t Reward Improved Behavior

If you don’t reward positive changes in behavior, your team
will be defeated. You will not gain permanent behavior changes.
Every performance improvement, however small, needs some type
of reward. Behavioral scientists continually study motivation, and,
as Dr. Rollo May has taught, the greatest secret for performance is
that what gets rewarded gets repeated. The top two things that
consistently motivate people are achievement and recognition.
Maslow’s hierarchy and Herzberg’s cautions of dissatisfiers both
place recognition and achievement on the highest rungs of
behavioral cause.

If people feel they’re achieving something, they are motivated.
If you go through your day and feel as if you’re getting nothing
done, how do you feel at the end of that day? Wasted. But if you
go through your day and get a lot accomplished, you feel great!
You’re motivated. Similarly, when people are recognized for their
achievement, they feel motivated. Take 10 to 20 minutes at either
the beginning or end of every week and sit down with your team.
In that meeting, review what they’ve accomplished the last week.
Recognize individuals. Tell them how much you appreciate what
Gale has done or what Pat did today. When you do this, you’re
setting up your team to be motivated for the following week.

The Five-Step StaffCoaching™ Model

Every

performance

improvement,

however small,

deserves some type

of reward.