I remember being taught very early in my career that supervision is a must in managing people because everyone needs to be supervised. This makes good sense and managers are taught that supervision is to ensure that things are done right. Supervision often means finding mistakes, fixing mistakes, and ensuring they don’t happen again. Managers are conditioned to constantly be on the lookout for mistakes and to find fault.
Remember that Managers do things right and leaders do the right thing.
If we believe in inspiration and motivation to drive performance, how inspiring or motivating is it for someone to be constantly anticipating that they are watched for the mistakes they make, the negatives? It is true that we have to correct mistakes. However, how about spending some time to find the positives in someone? Successful leaders spend more time and energy in finding positives in their staff than negatives. When they find or see a positive, they acknowledge it and recognize the staff for it. We all like to be recognized, to be appreciated, and to know that others see our strengths and contributions.
Recognition equals motivation.
We do not do this enough. The most wonderful word in any language to an individual is his name. It is what we want to hear every day, more and more. Yet, we regularly see the name omitted in conversations and interactions. Addressing by name is perhaps one of the strongest ways to recognize someone. Let your staff know that you are addressing him and no one else. If it follows with an encouraging message, that is positive recognition.
In the animal world, we train animals through a process called “operant conditioning,” recognizing a behavior with a reward. While we do not train humans in that manner, the concept is exactly the same. We encourage, recognize and reward positive behavior in our staff. Our rewards are different from those of the animals but nevertheless, they are rewards that serve the same purpose.
Conclusion: instead of looking for faults, go out and find positives in your staff, encourage those behaviors and results, and recognize their successes. Spend more time with this goal and the results will speak for themselves. People do what they are inspired or motivated to do, not necessarily what they are told to do.
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