| Want to improve compliance with safety rules? |
Try a compliment!
We all know that positive reinforcement works
more effectively than negative reinforcement. But when it comes
to safety, it is the infringement that gets noticed.
Workers are hired to do it right and work safely. Most of the time,
no one even notices it when they perform satisfactorily. But when
they break a safety rule, it sticks out like a sore thumb. It's
easy to notice bad habits. It's much harder to notice good habits.
This takes special effort. Yet aren't good habits what we are looking
for and trying to encourage?
Unfortunately, compliments remain a rare commodity in many workplaces.
Studies have shown that managers and team leaders who report they
are unable to influence or change actions of their associates, are
almost always slow to praise. They want to change others' bad habits,
but they are slow to change their own!
That is just it. For compliments to work, they have to become a
habit.
Making compliments habitual
Acclaimed business trainer and author Charles B. Roth suggests that
we try making it a habit to compliment all we meet—family,
acquaintances, the guy who fills our car at the gas pump, shop assistants.
Apart from adding a little warmth to the day and building a store
of goodwill with people who have the power to make life a little
less or a little more pleasant, we will be on our way to building
a habit. When we compliment a team member, we will be practicing
something that is habitual and natural. It will sound natural and
sincere because it is natural and sincere.
A compliment comes across as sincere when it is accompanied by an
explanation as to why you are pleased. "I really like the way
you keep this aisle clear; every time I come up here it is spotless."
Praise works for at least three reasons—
- When you notice, people feel good. They
would like the feeling to be repeated, and they look out for further
opportunities to earn praise. Praise reinforces the behavior you
compliment.
- Those complimented feel just a little
more goodwill towards you. They have no choice! They become more
cooperative, more apt to include you in things. They think and
speak a bit more highly of you than they would otherwise.
- Compliments give you more influence
in the world around you.
Just how valuable are compliments?
Charles Schwab was probably the first person in history to earn
a salary of a million dollars a year. He believed that Andrew Carnegie
paid him this salary largely because of his ability to deal with
people. He explained, "I never criticize anyone . . . if I
like anything, I am hearty in my approbation and lavish in my praise."
“Give me a lever long
enough . . .
. . . and single-handed I can move the world."
Leaders throughout history have used praise as just such a lever.
Praise has been used to rally small groups, villages, cities and
whole nations to a cause. "Hunger for applause is the source
of all conscious heroism," Napoleon wrote.
We are helpless in the face of praise, Robert Cialdini, author of
Influence, the Psychology of Persuasion observes. "Tell an
associate to whom you've given a tough assignment, 'I'm asking you
to do it because I know you can', and he will walk fifty miles through
a snow storm to prove you right!" |
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