Welcome back to The People Equation. Oh, that tricky, tricky task of “motivating” people. . .

It’s so hard to know what will “motivate” someone to go that extra mile in advance. I think the best leaders strive to create an expectation of excellence, then reward it when they see it. It creates a positive cycle.

Of course, we could also debate the merit of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivators, couldn’t we? Perhaps that’s a separate blog post.

I’ve long admired Dave Ulrich’s work, especially in the area of competency development. It appears that his latest research supports what I learned many years ago during my undergraduate study of behavioral psychology: positive reinforcement yields more positive outcomes than does punishment.

To see a fun explanation of this concept, check out my post:

http://people-equation.com/boo-or-yay-manager/

Thanks for stopping by!

To your question—If a leader sees both “good” and “bad” performance, which to address first?

First of all, for either type of performance, the general rule of thumb of giving feedback is “the sooner the better.” In this case, you’re asking about the order in which you would address an employee’s performance, in the event that both desireable and undesireable performance is occurring.

If the “bad” stuff is severe (safety infractions, gross misconduct) then clearly a leader needs to act quickly and that means addressing it first. By the same token, if someone really exceeds your expectations, act promptly. You’re enthusiasm will be most sincere “in the moment”. Not to mention that you’ll be less likely to forget to give the positive reinforcement.

Most leadership experts agree that it’s best to separate feedback into the “encouraging” (encourage more of a good thing) and the “developmental” (re-directing undesireable performance.) There’s an old saw called the “sandwich rule” (“sandwich” the bad news in between two pieces of more positive news.) I’m not a fan of that approach.

Jason Seiden just had a great blog post about giving feedback not too long ago: http://jasonseiden.com/seidens-16-rules-for-giving-feedback/, so I won’t repeat his advice. I concur with all of it.

To me, it’s less about the order in which a leader gives feedback and more about being sure TO DO IT.

Thanks for a great question, Dee, and joining us at The People Equation. It’s always such a pleasure to have you here

Do you look for the good AND the bad? And if you see both, which do you address first?