It didn’t take me long to notice something interesting in Ernie’s office. Posted over the side of his credenza was a collage of pictures, each with a person’s name. It wasn’t just five or six pictures, more like thirty-five or forty.

“Quite a display,” I said.

“Yeah, that’s my team,” Ernie responded with a smile.

“All those people directly report to you?” I asked.

“No, I have six supervisors in the mix, but that’s my team, forty-six people. In fact, I have two new guys right here.” Ernie showed me two new pictures, each with their name captioned at the bottom. “When someone starts on my team, we take a digital picture and I photoshop their name at the bottom. I stick it up here on my board, so I get used to the face and the name together. I gotta tell you. I used to be really bad at names, so this is my cheat sheet.

“What I really like to do is, wait a couple of days after someone starts on the line. They probably haven’t seen me up close since their orientation. I walk over, sit down next to them and I am able to call them by name. This place is so big, most people expect that I don’t know they exist, much less know their name.

“Every couple of days, I drop by and do the same thing again. I cannot tell you how important it is to be able to call someone by name.”

I stepped down a short flight of stairs into the coffee shop. Small groups of people were huddled around an assortment of morning elixirs. This was definitely not Starbucks.

Gordon was already sitting at a table and I could tell he had done some thinking overnight. We had been talking about connecting the goals of the company with the unlikely topic of boats and fishing.

“I know I kind of laughed you off, yesterday,” Gordon started. “It sounded a little far fetched, but I started thinking about it and it began to make more sense.”

I poured some cream in my coffee. So far, I had not said a word.

“I remember a sales manager,” he continued. “Every Thursday morning, he would load up his two best salespeople and take them down to a boat dealer and they would spend an hour talking about boats. It was kinda funny, because the owner of the company found out and said the time would be better spent going over sales data and prospect lists.

“He didn’t press it though, because things began to happen, volume picked up, margins were holding. And every Thursday morning, the sales manager would take his guys down to the boat dealer.”

“Did anyone ever buy a boat?” I finally got a question into the conversation.

“Yeah, they all did.” Gordon laughed. “Well, except for the sales manager. Turns out, he didn’t care a thing about boats. I even asked him about it. He said the secret to being a manager is to always talk in terms of the other person’s interests.”

—
Registration for our next sales program (www.workingsales.com) ends on Monday September 25. Registration for our next management program (www.workingmanagement.com) ends today Friday, September 22, 2006.

I was working with a group in New York today, in a sideline conversation of interest.

“I don’t understand,” Gordon said. “I explain the vision of the company, where we are going, the success we hope to achieve. The team shows some polite interest, but I just don’t see the enthusiasm. Maybe, I don’t have the right people on the team.”

“I am sure this is all very exciting for you,” I responded. “How did you make the connection for them?”

“What do you mean?” Gordon’s mood changed, almost suspicious.

“I mean, I know what’s in it for you,” I continued. “But what is in it for your team members?” Gordon almost answered, but stopped. His automatic response was interrupted.

“Well, they are mostly interested in boats and fishing. I am talking about the company,” he said.

“I understand.” I wasn’t in a hurry. “Gordon, if you could connect boats and fishing to the growth of the company, what would happen?”

He chuckled. “Connecting boats and fishing to the growth of the company? There would be no stopping us. But, boats and fishing don’t have anything to do with the company.”

“I understand. But if they did, what would be the impact on your company?” Gordon was beginning to get the drift. “What if you could talk in terms of what your team members want?” I closed my briefcase.

“I have one more day, here,” I said. “Let’s meet for coffee tomorrow morning and continue this.” -TF

—
Registration closes this Friday, September 22 for our next Management Program (www.workingmanagement.com). Registration closes on Monday, September 25 for our next Sales Program (www.workingsales.com).

Kurt, one of our readers from Belgium responded to our post Appreciation Feels Goofy.

In our country, we’re not educated to give positive feedback, not even at school. And it’s so much easier to see faults than to see strengths. Hopefully the next generation of managers gets their people to smile in a more natural embedded way. Out of experience, I know I perform better when people give me positive feedback rather than being a bully.
I don’t believe appreciation is taught in any country, at least not as a subject in school. Yet, positive reinforcement is one of the most powerful management tools.

What gets reinforced, gets repeated.

In my class, I often ask, “Who, here, has been getting too much appreciation from their boss at work.” It draws stifled laughter.

Rule number one. The appreciation must be honest and sincere. Honest and sincere appreciation contains two parts.

The first part is to tell the team member specifically what you observed (as a strength, a desirable behavior, a positive attitude). The second part (the sincere part) is the tell the team member why. Why was your observation remarkable?

That’s it,

A specific what.

A remarkable why.

A team member shows up for work early. It sounds like this:

I see you arrived ten minutes early for work today. It’s important to be on time. I just wanted you to know that I noticed.

What gets reinforced, gets repeated. -TF

Justin greeted me at the front door. His energy level was up and he had that telltale smile.

“Justin, how can you tell the difference between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement? In terms of response from the team member?”

Justin was searching for the answer. He was retracing his steps, thinking about interactions he had with his team members. I interrupted his thought.

“Let me ask the question differently,” I said. “How can you immediately tell the difference between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement? What is the immediate response to positive reinforcement?”

Justin was still thinking way too deeply for the answer.

I continued my interrogation. “Yesterday, you were describing yourself as politically incorrect and I said ‘I appreciate your honesty.’ Do you remember?”

Justin cracked a smile. “Yes, I thought you were going to give me a lecture on negative reinforcement. Instead, you started talking about my honesty.”

“See, you did it.” I observed.

“Did what?” Justin responded.

“You smiled. The immediate response to positive reinforcement is a smiling face. Many managers think they are delivering positive reinforcement to their team members, but I see scowls in return. Positive reinforcement invites a smile. If you don’t get a smile, you didn’t connect.” -TF

“But I am not the kind of person who is all warm and fuzzy,” explained Justin. “If someone does a good job, that is what they get paid for. Why do I have to get all blubbery? It just feels goofy.” We were talking about the difference between positive and negative reinforcement.

“As a manager, when someone makes a mistake, do you have to correct them?” I asked.

“Well, yes. That’s what a manager does.”

“And when you correct them, do they do it right, or do they just do it well enough not to get yelled at?” I prodded.

“It’s strange, in the short run, they do better, but it doesn’t take long for them to backslide, take a short cut on a process, skip a step. It keeps me pretty busy, checking their work.” Justin wasn’t being defensive, just very matter of fact.

“So, it feels funny, giving honest and sincere appreciation, but it feels okay providing a little negative feedback?”

Justin grimaced. He didn’t like the way that sounded. “I suppose you are right,” he agreed. “But that is just the way I am.” In a way, he felt justified, even sat up straighter when he said it.

“I appreciate your honesty, Justin.” I smiled.

Justin couldn’t help it and cracked a smile back. “I thought you were going to tell me I was politically incorrect.”

“I am looking for something much more than political correctness. Being politically correct won’t make you a better manager. That’s why I focused on something more powerful, your honesty. Honesty will make you a better manager. Honest and sincere appreciation. Meet me here tomorrow and we will make that connection.” -TF

I was walking the floor. The drone of the saws was dampened by my ear protection. The conversation with Lloyd could barely be heard above the din.

“What’s with all the green shirts?” I yelled.

Lloyd looked around. “It’s green shirt day.”

I nodded as we ducked around a corner where the noise wasn’t so bad. I popped out my earplugs. “What’s green shirt day?”

Lloyd smiled. “It’s like the difference between a light bulb and a laser light. 100 watts from a light bulb will light up a room, but with all the light beams focused together, a 100 watts of laser light will drill a hole in the wall. Same thing works with my team.”

“Positive reinforcement isn’t money. Don’t think that they only element you have as a manager is to give someone a bonus, or a spiff, or a raise. Don’t get me wrong, money is important, but it is not the only touch you have, nor is it the most powerful.”

Travis and I had been talking about shaping behavior using positive reinforcement. Shaping behavior, as in training, as in getting team members to follow a process or sequence.

“See that production line over there,” I asked, pointing toward three lone workers alongside a bank of automated machine presses. Travis looked; he was familiar with that work area.

“Did you ever wonder why those three workstations still exist?” Travis knew that seven other stations in the line had been replaced with the automated presses.

“Yeah, sometimes, it’s like why do we still have people doing that?”

“Initially, that’s what we thought, but when we benchmarked the automated production with the manual production, we found one worker not only kept up, but exceeded the output of the automated machine. We started asking questions. How could this be?

“Turns out the workstation on the end, Rochelle’s station, is right by her supervisor’s office. Every time the supervisor comes out, he stops, looks at Rochelle’s production and smiles at her. It’s the only station he stops at. He never says a word to Rochelle, yet she has the highest production rate.

“Do you think she has the highest production rate because she thinks she is going to get a bonus? I don’t think so.” -TF