Like most managers, Brian Reynolds believed that his team had its strengths and its weaknesses. When asked in an employee satisfaction survey “Do you recognize good performance in your team?” he answered with a resounding “Of course I do!” However the following question stumped him. “How frequently do you make a point of recognizing good performance face-to-face?” His answer had to be “Never”. “Surely they already know they are performing well? What would be the point of me adding my comments?”
Recognition and reward for role-model performance and behavior is, perhaps, one of the most motivational acts that anyone can do for another human being and it is worth spending a little time to analyze the mechanism that converts recognition into the self esteem, high morale and motivation that results.
In everyday life we describe people who are fretting or upset as being in a “state”. Although, in psychological terms, this is a very true statement, being emotionally troubled is only one of a vast array of “states” that we transition through as we live our lives. The “state” of...