What Gets Rewarded...
Dr. John Terry
Creating Black Belt Leaders in Life who lead world-class organizations to even higher levels of success. Motivational Speaker, Trainer, & Coach
It's a simple, but compelling truth...
What gets rewarded gets repeated!
It's Human Behavior 101.
Our brains are hard-wired to release chemicals in response to external stimuli. One of the most powerful is dopamine. It's the "feel good" chemical that our brain releases as a reward for something that is pleasurable. Anytime we are encouraged in some way for the actions we've taken, our brain releases dopamine and we experience a feeling of pleasure or euphoria.
This reinforces in our minds this is a behavior we want to repeat in the future.
When an action is rewarded, good or bad, the brain releases dopamine and we experience those "feel good" emotions that encourage us to repeat this behavior.
Over time, these behaviors are internalized, becoming habits we do by default.
You see this played out in the animal kingdom when we're training our pets. We reward a dog for learning to sit, fetch, stay, lay down, or rollover with a treat. The dog associates the reward with the behavior and repeats it until it is internalized.
We see this also played out with our children. Teaching them to eat from a spoon, potty training, feeding themselves, learning to sit or walk, all of these are reinforced as behaviors to repeat as we encourage our children with words of affirmation and encouragement, and physical actions, such as hugs and kisses.
There's also a negative side to this. Anyone who is addicted to tobacco, alcohol, drugs, pornography, or other vice experiences a similar chemical release that reinforces the behavior they are engaging in, strengthening the addictive hold that vice has over them.
The more a behavior is rewarded, the more it is repeated.
One of the things leaders learn early on is to define (and model) what is considered acceptable behavior (actions, attitude, and beliefs) that is consistent with the values of the company they want lived out and share those with the team. This moves the organization forward, serving its customers at the highest level. Once those values and behaviors are defined, a leader should then initiate a system to incentivize (reward) the behaviors they want to be repeated and disincentivize wrong (or bad) behavior.
Parents wonder why their children disobey when they get older. As I talk with them and ask questions, a common theme I find is they failed to (1) define family values and what is considered acceptable behavior and how that would be rewarded, and (2) they failed to create a system to disincentivize (correct) unacceptable behavior that violated these values.
While they may have encouraged certain acceptable behaviors, they often overlooked, ignored, or tolerated behaviors that didn't serve the child or the family well and allowed unacceptable behaviors to be internalized. This allowed the family values to be violated without consequences.
When values and the corresponding behaviors that support them are not consistently reinforced, they aren't seen as expectations to be adhered to but suggestions that can be overlooked or ignored.
What is not deterred is deemed acceptable. And it is human nature to continue to push the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable to get yet another dose of the "feel good" dopamine release in our brains.
We see it in the workplace as well. While an employer will reward certain behaviors that serve the business and its customers well, they tend to overlook, ignore, or tolerate attitudes, actions, and beliefs that (if unchallenged) will be deemed acceptable, even though they violate the values of the business and what the business wants to be known for.
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When values and the corresponding behaviors that support them are not consistently reinforced, they aren't seen as expectations to be adhered to but suggestions that can be overlooked or ignored.
Human Behavior 101 also reminds us that we get more of what we fail to disincentivize (or correct), and over time those unacceptable behaviors tend to become even more unacceptable. It's why we see what are often referred to as "career criminals" who started stealing candy bars in a grocery store, to breaking and entering, to armed robbery.
What is not deterred is deemed acceptable. And it is human nature to continue to push the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable to get yet another dose of the "feel good" dopamine release in our brains.
Without a strong deterrent system that disincentivizes bad behavior, the brain believes this behavior is acceptable and continues to reward it.
So, what's the remedy for this?
It's the leader's job to define reality. There are three important steps in this process.
Whether you're leading yourself, your family, coworkers, employees, or team members within a volunteer organization, the same rules apply.
What gets rewarded gets repeated.
What are you rewarding?
2X martial arts Hall of Fame inductee, John Terry (The Black Belt Leader) is passionate about helping others become Black Belt Leaders in Life. He is the founder of Black Belt Leadership and is a motivational speaker, leadership, sales & communication coach, and trainer.???John is also president of?Real Life Management, a human behavior intelligence training company.
Jessie Terry, John's daughter, is a Certified Speaker, Coach, and Trainer with the?John Maxwell Team?and is actively involved in the JMT Global Youth Initiative. She is also a Real-Life Management trained coach and a certified Women-Safe Self-Defense Instructor.
For more information, schedule John (or Jessie) to speak to your organization or to book a personal, group or corporate coaching session, visit our website at?www.beablackbeltleader.com.??
If you are a faith-based organization, learn more about John and Jessie's outreach to churches, para-church organizations, or faith-based volunteer groups by visiting?www.DunamisFactor.com.
Why just be a leader, when you can be a Black Belt Leader?