Tyler was curious. “Let’s say I buy this positive reinforcement thing. Exactly how do I do that? I mean, do I just walk around all day giving attaboys?”

“Is an attaboy meaningful?” I replied.

“Well, not really. It’s not a real attention grabber.” Tyler flashed a hint of a smirk.

“Positive reinforcement doesn’t have to be earth shattering to be effective. But it does have to be meaningful to the individual to have the behavior repeated.”

“So, give me an example.”

“Have you ever watched a teenager completely absorbed in a video game, relentlessly pushing buttons.” Tyler’s brow furrowed but he was still listening. Now, you would think that, for a bright young gamer, repetitively pushing buttons for three or four hours at a stretch would become hopelessly boring. Yet, every time a button is pushed, something on the screen glows or a bell dings, or a spaceship blows up. When you play games at sites like The Island Now, so much positive reinforcement occurs, the gamer can become addicted. And if you want to gain excellent cash rewards, you can place a bet in delhi satta king.

“What gets reinforced, gets repeated.” -TF

“No, I gotta tell you, the only thing that means anything to these guys is money. If I want them to do something, I have to create a spiff, a little kicker. But you know what, even that’s not working anymore.” Roger was just trying to get one of his guys to pick up the pace, take some responsibility that might be a step up from his current responsibility.

“Have you tried lecturing?” I asked

“I don’t get it, I don’t lecture my guys. Sometimes I have to tell them what to do.” Roger was a bit defensive on this one. I knew I struck a nerve.

“So, this guy says he wants to be a supervisor?” Roger nodded, so I continued. “Have you asked him what being a supervisor means, what he thinks a supervisor should do?”

“No, but I have told him what I think. He just doesn’t listen.”

“Roger, I want you to take a different tack. Go back and talk to him again. The starting point is asking him if he wants to be supervisor. Then, ask him what the major responsibilities might be. You will be surprised at the list. It might be the same as yours.” -TF

“I am ready to throw up my hands. I have come up with eight ways to Sunday for our route technicians to do a better job on their service calls. I am ready to do a Flutie drop kick and just let them deal with it.” Russell was commiserating, hoping I would be sympathetic.

“Well, I think it’s a good idea,” I said.

“What do you mean?” replied Russell, still looking for sympathy.

“I mean, I think you should call your technicians together and let them deal with it. Look, the problem isn’t that your ideas are bad; the problem is they are your ideas. If you want your technicians to do a better job on service calls, the ideas have to come from them.

“One of the biggest mistakes young managers make is thinking that you have to solve all the problems of the world. You don’t. Spread the burden. You will be surprised at how your technicians will step up to the plate.” -TF

“Andrea, tell me, at work, do you think you receive too much appreciation?” We had been talking about motivation and her team. This question cracked her up.

“What, are you nuts? Nobody even notices me unless something is going wrong. My boss thanked me for something almost a year ago at the holiday dinner thing we have.”

“Andrea, one of the most powerful things you can do with your team is to give them honest and sincere appreciation, and do it frequently. When your boss thanked you last year, how did it make you feel?”

“It felt nice, nice to be noticed. But it wore off pretty quick. By the next Monday, it was business as usual,” Andrea replied.

“Your job, as a manager, is to create that environment constantly, so your team understands their contribution is important. This is something that you have to consciously think about. It does not happen automatically. You have to focus on it. Sincere appreciation is one of the most powerful things you can do to bring your team to higher levels of performance.” -TF

“Andrea, what is the critical factor between poor performance and superior performance?” We had been discussing her team issues about motivation.

Andrea pondered for a minute. “I guess it would be attitude.”

“Exactly, everyday, your team shows up with an attitude. That attitude is based on their experience the day before, the way they feel about their teammates, the way they feel about you, as their manager. It has to do with the way they feel about themselves. This attitude is a pure emotional choice. It has very little to do with logic.

“Each day, your team chooses their performance. That emotional choice determines their energy, enthusiasm and focus. It determines their cooperation and support of the team. Your job, as a manager, is to create an environment where that choice is a positive choice.

“Creating that environment is like creating Home Field Advantage for your team.”

That’s today’s question. What can you do, as a Manager, to create Home Field Advantage for your team? -TF

“I really have to find a way to motivate my team,” said Andrea. “Sometimes they are so slow, I just want to scream.”

“Andrea, have you ever heard of Home Field Advantage in sports?” I asked.

“Well, yes. I know it is important, especially in the playoffs.”

“So, what are the real differences for a home team? Is the field any different? Are the rules any different? Is the ball any different?”

“No.” Andrea thought for a minute, then continued. “The crowd, the cheering crowd. The home team usually has a crowd cheering for them.”

“Do you think people perform better when they have a cheering crowd around them?” I asked.

“Of course. It’s kind of like showing off for your Mom.”

“Andrea, here is the bad news. As a manager, you cannot motivate anyone to do anything. Your only play is to create an environment where your team’s performance is like showing off for your Mom.” -TF

“It felt a little strange. I am not normally a nosy person,” reported Nicholas. We had been working on the most basic communication skill, talking to one person.

“It’s not being nosy. It’s being a supervisor,” I replied. “Nicholas, you supervise four field technicians. On any given day, what is the biggest issue you have to deal with?”

“I don’t know. A difficult project?”

“No, that is the easy part of supervision. You love to help with difficult projects. The most difficult part of being a supervisor, often, is knowing whether your technicians are going to show up for work, whether they show up on time so you can get the crew started, and what kind of personal baggage they bring to the workplace that is going to influence their attitude.”

“You’re right, especially on Monday.” Nicholas lamented.

“As a supervisor, can you afford to be surprised? If you have a crew of four and two don’t show up for work, you just lost 50 percent of your workforce for the day. If you are the supervisor, you need to know your people well enough to anticipate. At the same time, you need to know what gets your guys jazzed up about things. What motivates them? What interests do they have? What does get them to work on time? What is important in their lives?

“As a supervisor, it is your job to get to know your people, their work habits, their reliability, things going on that will impact their performance on the job. It’s not being nosy. It’s being a supervisor.” -TF

Jessica was talking about her boss, Matthew. Matthew is one of those special people who, in the midst of a problem always seems to see a solution. In a meeting, where an idea may be shot down, Matthew reverses the energy. He says, “I know it is impossible, but if it weren’t impossible, how would we do it?”

What she finds interesting about Matthew is that when he walks in the room, she feels an uncanny ability to conquer any difficulties in her current project.

Stay away from naysayers, and surround yourself with people who are pathologically positive. In this time of national difficulty, we each have to find the energy to make things happen, to solve the problems around us. Find that person who gives you the uncanny ability to conquer difficulty. -TF

PS. I’m-OK.org continues to grow. On Wednesday around 4:30pm MSNBC.com posted a link on their site and our traffic immediately jumped. Lots of people are still looking for people. If you can help by volunteering some time to register evacuees on the site, all you need is an internet connection, a laptop and a sign that says, “I’m-OK.” We will be posting suggestions on the site that might be helpful. Groups of evacuees are landing in different places all over. Please help. For more on this incredible story, check out Tuesday’s post.