4. Reward
Finally, “what gets rewarded gets repeated” is an adage of mine and it works with team members just as well as it works with Sharnie my dog. When I want Sharnie to do something I reward her and continue to do that when she exhibits the desired behaviour so that it soon becomes a habit. The same applies to our team members because, when we ask them to change the way they do things, the unasked question to which they want an answer, is “Why should I do this, what’s in it for me?”
Without being cynical, once a team member has started in a job and is doing it to the boss’s average expectations, they are rarely prepared to do more unless they can see a reason to do so. Now those rewards do not necessarily just be monetary— they can be recognition, responsibility, authority and all the other human needs on Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs.
Conclusion
I hope that this perhaps provides some food for thought and underlines the fact that no-one as far as I know has all the answers. It certainly boils down to employing all of the tricks, tactics and techniques that will work effectively for you.
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