Promoting Staff Learning With Positive Reenforcement

When it comes to staff learning, many managers feel like they need to be strict in order to get people to work hard. They think that the people will work harder to learn all of the things that they need to learn if they are unkind. They think of this as a disciplinary type of action, where they are disciplining the people for not working hard enough at the tasks that they have been given. While it is true that this is sometimes needed, this is not always the best way to approach things. You will find that you will not have the most success if you treat all of your workers in this fashion.

Instead, you should think about using positive reenforcement. Try to pick out the things that the people are doing correctly. Identify the things that they have learned and how they have grown within the role that they have at the company. Tell them that you have noticed this and then tell them that you appreciate the work that they are putting in. You do not have to make an elaborate presentation out of this. Often, a comment that is made in passing will mean even more than a large presentation.

What you will find is that this promotes staff learning because the staff members will like you and they will want to make you happy. They will see that their efforts are actually noticed, and this will make them work harder. Many people do not try to learn things because they do not think that their superiors will notice one way or the other. Why should they put in the time if it will not get them anything? When you show them that you are happy with what they have done, they will be more loyal to you and they will work harder to earn more compliments.

You could even try giving out prices for those who are working hard to learn all of the things that they need to know. These prizes do not have to be very large. They just need to be in place to give those who work the hardest some sort of a reward. People will always put in more effort if they think they can get something than they will put in just to avoid a reprimand. This is the type of atmosphere that you want to create in your company.

If you just choose to be a strict overseer who does not notice anything unless someone has made a mistake, you will cause your workers to resent you. They will not want to make you happy because they will not like you. Instead of trying to learn more, they will put their efforts into trying to figure out how to avoid getting caught. They will not want to improve the company. Their only goal will be to keep from getting fired. This will not help the staff learning process at all, and could really do some harm to the company.