Leadership Lesson #1: "You Get What You Reward."

In a new anthology, Partnering, the New Face of Leadership (AMACOM, 2002), author Bob Nelson writes, "We know from more than 100 years of research that human behavior is shaped by its consequences. If you recognize and reward behavior, it will tend to be repeated. If you ignore or punish behavior, it will tend to stop. In short, you get what you reward."

According to Nelson, in his chapter entitled "Rub Somebody the Right Way," even though today’s employees are being asked to do more than ever before, with fewer resources, many managers fail to recognize and reward their people. True, employees are paid to do their jobs—and money is a reward for their work. Nelson, however, differentiates between compensation and recognition. He writes, "The money that employees are paid for the job they are to do is compensation, which should be a function of your company’s compensation philosophy and its market and geographic considerations. Recognition is what you do above and beyond compensation to get the best effort from employees... There is a big difference between getting people to come to work and getting them to do their best work."

Even though offering praise should be a natural, common-sense part of every manager’s job, not everyone knows how to give praise effectively. Nelson shares his "ASAP Cubed" guidelines for effective praising—that is, praise should be done "as soon, as sincerely, as specifically, as personally, as positively and as proactively as possible."

Here are the details of Nelson’s system:

As Soon
Timing is very important when praising. To be most effective, the "thank you" should come as soon as possible after the achievement or desired activity has occurred. If you wait too long to thank a person, the gesture will lose its significance. Implicitly, the employee will conclude that other things were more important to you than taking a few minutes with him or her.

As Sincere
Words alone can seem hollow if you are not sincere in why you are praising. You need to praise because you are truly appreciative and excited about the other person’s success, otherwise it may come across as a manipulative tactic—something you are doing only when you want an employee to work late, for example. As the saying goes, "People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care."

As Specific
Avoid generalities in favor of details of the achievement. Specifics give credibility to your praising and also serve a practical purpose of stating exactly what was good about the behavior or achievement. Praise that is too broad tends to seem insincere. However, saying, "Thanks for staying late to finish those calculations I needed. It was critical for my meeting this morning," says specifically what and why an employee’s effort was of value.

As Personal
A key to conveying your message is praising in person. This shows that the activity is important enough to you to put aside everything else you have to do and just focus on the other person. Because we all have limited time, those things you do personally indicate that they have a higher value to you.

As Proactive
Praise progress toward desired goals or you will tend to be reactive-typically about mistakes—in your interactions with others. Don’t wait for perfect performance: praise improvements and approximately right behavior and you will get the results you want faster. In other words, the essence of a good praising communicates:

• I saw what you did. (Others don’t know what you see.)
• I appreciate it. (Place value on the behavior or achievement.)
• Here’s why it’s important. (Always provide a context.)
• Here’s how it makes me feel. (Give an emotional charge.)

Remember, says Nelson, "In the workplace, praise is priceless, yet it costs nothing." Why not start implementing some of his simple strategies today? You’ll doubtless see the benefits—in increased employee motivation and accomplishment--tomorrow.

Read a sample chapter from Partnering, the New Face of Leadership.

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