Page 122 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

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Recognition

something, however, doesn’t relieve you of responsibility in
learning how to do it. If this applies to you, fortunately, by
the end of this chapter you will have the skills!
9. “I never seem to catch the good behavior.” Manag-
ers or supervisors are generally quite good at identifying
problematic behaviors but not nearly as good at recognizing
employees’ desirable behaviors. There is actually a simple
explanation for this bias toward the bad and oversight of the
good. Our brains have evolved to constantly scan our envi-
ronment for behaviors and events that are out of the ordinary.
If we come home and our door is wide open or the lights are
on when they aren’t supposed to be, we tend to notice.
In terms of supervising employees, no mental “red flags”
pop up when we see employees working as they should.
Imagine supervising an office staff of ten people. You come
in one morning and see nine people at their desks working
and one missing. Where does your attention go? Since good
behavior does not elicit a natural prompt to get your atten-
tion, you must actually create physical prompts to remind
you to catch desirable behavior until doing so becomes
a habit. I’ve tried many different ways to help supervisors
remember to praise good behavior. Here are the two that
have worked the best. The first involves placing five pen-
nies in your left pocket at the beginning of the work day.
Each time you praise an employee, move a penny into the
right pocket. You can’t leave for the day without all the coins
being moved over. The second strategy involves setting
three alarms using either a program on your computer such
as Outlook or a mobile device such as a cell phone or Black-
berry. Set these alarms for midmorning, lunch, and midaft-
ernoon. Each time an alarm goes off, get up and start looking
to catch and reinforce good behavior. I recommend that you
do not rely on a sign or note on your desk as a reminder.