Rewards
In a recent Dilbert cartoon strip, an employee is given a raise because she threatens to quit. She then announces to her colleagues that their employer is rewarding disloyalty, which brings everyone else out to give the same message to the boss. Dilbert once again reminds us to think before we act, to think about how others will view our actions, to think about whether our actions will produce the intended result. It's obvious that most people will behave as they are rewarded to behave and, equally obviously, if we want to discourage behavior, we shouldn't reward it. As simple as this seems to be, we sometimes forget it under the pressure of our daily decisions.
Every day we confront decisions about how to treat other people. And every day we risk rewarding bad behavior, we risk failing to encourage good behavior. How many times do we give oil to the squeaky wheel rather than rewarding our hard-working but quiet colleagues, the colleagues who go unnoticed because they're simply doing their jobs? How many times do we try to bribe an unruly child to be quiet rather than rewarding the obedient child who doesn't disturb us? How many times do we coddle an angry acquaintance to calm him or her down rather than walking away and dealing with the pleasant alternatives?
This is one of those issues where thinking before acting will make for an easy decision. If we realize that we have a choice, we'll make the right choice. If we ask ourselves what behavior we want to encourage, we won't encourage bad behavior. If we recognize that we don't need to deal with miscreants, we won't strain to make them comfortable.
Reward good behavior and discourage bad behavior. In that way, we'll be happier and, once our message is given, we'll make others happier as well.
6-26-06
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