What are the two kinds of positive reinforcement for employees? What are the benefits of positive reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement is a motivational technique that works by tying desired behaviors to positive outcomes, thereby increasing the likelihood they’ll be repeated. Aubrey C. Daniels asserts that positive reinforcement is the only way to promote discretionary effort.
Read below to learn more about why positive reinforcement garners the best results.
Kinds of Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement creates a clear and rewarding connection between employees’ actions and their sense of satisfaction, motivating them to invest extra effort into their work consistently.
(Shortform note: Positive reinforcement works by leveraging the brain’s natural reward system. When a behavior is followed by a positive outcome, the brain releases dopamine—a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and satisfaction. This release reinforces the behavior by creating a sense of reward, making it more likely that the behavior will be repeated. Research shows that dopamine not only boosts motivation but also enhances learning by strengthening neural connections associated with the rewarded behavior. This is why positive reinforcement is effective in training both humans and animals to engage in desired behaviors.)
There are two kinds of positive reinforcement for employees:
- Natural positive reinforcement: This occurs when the behavior automatically produces a positive outcome (like the satisfaction a writer naturally gets from writing). Daniel notes that unfortunately, most work tasks do not include natural positive reinforcements.
- Created positive reinforcement: When positive reinforcements don’t come naturally, managers must create them. Created reinforcements include social recognition (like praise and celebrations) and tangible rewards (like bonuses and prizes).
(Shortform note: In Flow, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains that when work includes natural positive reinforcements, it induces a state of flow—an optimal state of engagement where individuals are fully absorbed in their tasks and experience intrinsic satisfaction. This state occurs when there is a perfect balance between challenge and skill, with clear goals and immediate feedback. As Daniels notes, however, most work is not conducive to flow because it’s not inherently rewarding. (You probably don’t get much satisfaction from writing emails, for example.) Managers can create external positive reinforcements to make up for this, or they can give employees greater freedom to choose the tasks that do allow for flow.)
Daniels clarifies that to effectively use positive reinforcement, you must tailor your approach to each individual. What motivates one person may not work for another, so as a manager, you need to understand what resonates with different team members. Try various types of positive reinforcement and pay attention to how people respond. The act of showing interest and attention can itself be reinforcing, since it demonstrates that you value your employees. You can also take notice of which activities people on your team willingly take on (they’re more likely to choose activities that are naturally positively reinforcing).
(Shortform note: In Find Your Why, Simon Sinek argues that everyone has an underlying life purpose that motivates them to work and behave in certain ways. For example, someone whose purpose is to help others might seek out opportunities to be of service, while someone whose purpose is to innovate might be drawn to creative problem-solving tasks. Sinek offers an approach for finding your own purpose, or “why,” which you can tailor to discover what motivates your employees. For example, you might lead a purpose discussion where employees share their personal and work-related goals and motivations. Then, you could use this information to brainstorm effective positive reinforcements for each team member.)
Daniels also says it’s important to consistently reinforce the behaviors you want to encourage. If you fail to recognize and reward good behaviors, those behaviors will gradually disappear, even if they were once common. This phenomenon is known as extinction. Extinction happens because when people anticipate a positive outcome that never comes, they feel disappointed; this discourages them from further engaging in the behavior.
(Shortform note: B.F. Skinner, the psychologist who first observed extinction, offers ways to prevent extinction. One strategy is to refrain from rewarding the desired behavior with positive reinforcement each and every time it occurs. This may seem counterintuitive, given Daniels’s advice to use positive reinforcements consistently. However, Skinner showed that when you reinforce a behavior only some of the time, the behavior is less vulnerable to extinction. This is because the brain is highly attuned to unpredictable stimuli, often reacting more strongly to occasional rewards than constant ones.)
