What Gets Rewarded Gets Done, But...

WHAT IS MODELED GETS DONE BETTER!

You have to reward what you want. Change your strategy about what you want, and it will change your performance.  If you want better performance, ask people to do the tasks and obligations that result in performance.  don't expect real change from the mere motions people go through.

John E. Jones said, “What gets measured gets done, what gets measured and fed back gets done well, what gets rewarded gets repeated.”  So the tasks you decide you want people to do should result from the actions or attitudes you put into them in the first place.  Don’t expect productivity without defining what inspires productivity to your people. Don’t force morale at the expense of mere performance behaviors.

Peter Drucker said, “Your organization is either forming or deforming people.”  If you expect immediate change, good luck. No one sees an immediate change in your behavior so they are wary to change because you simply order it.

You can’t make people change when you don’t model the changes in your own visible routine.  For instance, a company had an inattentive boss who decreed that everyone should start behaving different and be diligent about morale.  But the long-term employees told the new hires not to expect those changes to last.  They had seen initiative after initiative fall flat in a matter of days or weeks.  

He also wanted to build morale so he told everyone they could no longer work from home at any time.  The problem with this initiative was that some worked better out of the office.  AND the new emphasis not only didn’t build morale, it built contempt… for both him and his company.  By the way, he never showed up to supervise the changes he ordered. You can’t build morale or productivity by encouraging more activity.

What gets rewarded and modeled gets done.  What are you doing to bring about change?