Feedback and positive reinforcement in the workplace

A few points to pull and push teams towards success

Building a team takes effort, and it is only half the work. Maintaining and managing a team need care, empathy, and support so they achieve greater heights.

I have had a mentor who had given positive reinforcement on successes and failures, and that has been the single most act of leadership that had an impact on me. Discussing this in a focus group recently, I thought through the work done with our teams, and how things turned around. The most encouraging fact is that this can be done with a little bit of effort and it's a target really hard to miss!

Feedback is not a way for managers to tell people reporting to him/her when they have done something wrong. Nor it is a checkmark for your organization’s performance review process. On the contrary, it has always worked better when each other starts to reinforce good behavior and recognize an attempt.

Feedback is a conversation between 2 parties.

If someone tries to innovate a solution, takes a risk, but the end goal is not attained. How do you react?

• Your feedback is that of an appreciation to acknowledge the effort, discuss the pros and cons of the effort. So the said team member continues to bring new ideas, work alternative solutions learning from this experience.
• You either ignore or give him feedback to point the mistakes, provide your opinion on what was wrong and give pointers to correct it. Worse, you blame for no ROI on the effort and jibe about not following tried and tested methods. So the team member does not “risk” it next time onward!

Appreciation is not a natural instinct. When we are unhappy about something, we have a tendency to write a review, call customer care to complain, or tweet about that. However, if we put ourselves in that “uncomfortable” position to appreciate others, sooner than you realize, it becomes a ripple effect.

Why Appreciation Matters So Much

Appreciation need not only come from a manager. Appreciation to acknowledge an attempt, good or bad, success or failure, can happen at multiple organizational levels.

Positive reinforcements is possible at different organizational levels

Individual reinforcements: This is the easy one. If you see a colleague or your supervisee burn the midnight oil finishing the presentation for a deadline, do you take the effort and acknowledge? Are you the one who brings a venti latte the next morning and say — thank you? More often than not — you will see that you slipped.

We work in environments where, often, our collaborators are our competitors. However, teams who self-organize better are the ones who build a cooperative relationship to achieve a common goal and then add in competition to reach their fast. Teams who are engaged in competition without collaboration often tend to have a negative organizational impact.

Team reinforcements: When teams collaborate, they tend to reinforce positive behavior with appreciations, cross-skilling, and empathy. All of a sudden, teams are cohesive units working in tandem, pulling and pushing each other towards departmental and organizational success.

Professor David DeSteno has covered in his book Emotional Success: The Power of Gratitude, Compassion, and Pride how positive reinforcements by leaders at different levels can help the development of individuals and teams to overcome short term hurdles and focus on long term gains.

The ripple effect of appreciation and positive reinforcement is simple, inexpensive and easy to maintain. It is important to keep a few points in mind for building and sustaining a recognition culture in your team:

1. Make it personal: Do not hand out gift certificates. It’s the easiest thing to do, and in most cases, ineffective. Individual interviews have shown that personal thank you note from a leader can have more impact on employees, though different geographies, work cultures, and socio-economic conditions impact the preferences, and leaders should have an ear on the ground.
2. Celebrate first downs, not just touchdowns: Appreciate quick wins. Performance reviews, quarterly recognitions are all good but acknowledging an effort shows investment, interest, and involvement.
3. It is your leadership DNA: Appreciation, positive feedback, and encouragement are your own leadership skills, and you do not need to be a manager to recognize someone. Recognize colleagues, supervisee, supervisor, teams, leaders from your individual or organizational capacity.