Leaders in our Executing Change classes often struggle with how much positive reinforcement to give to their team. They say things like, “Aren’t people paid to do their job – why do I have to tell them they are doing it right? If they have been doing well for a long time, won’t positive reinforcement seem patronizing? Don’t we want to keep them trying to do even better?”
A picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, a video from last week’s Shuttle Landing.
We know from various research studies that high performing managers give at least 2, and up to 8 times, more positive feedback than corrective. It makes perfect sense. Especially during high stress situations like implementing change. When the pressure is on and results are critical, people need to know that they are on the right track and that we, as leaders, are on their side.
This is exactly what NASA does. A highly trained pilot is flying – and yet within the 4 minutes of critical performance, they give 16 positive reinforcements. They also give 8 corrective feedback comments (this makes the ratio of positive to corrective actually 2 to 1). Additionally, they are 17 neutral comments (instructions, status, etc).
It is a 6 minute video. Scroll the time bar to 2 minutes when you begin – that is where it starts to get interesting. The results are truly amazing! They literally land from outer space and stop on a predetermined spot on the runway.
After you watch it, go do it! Tell your people what they are doing right. Twice as much as you are correcting them. You will be on your way to high performance.
Feel free to send this to other leaders as a reminder. And let us know how it is going out there in the trenches…
