Reinforce what you want repeated

If you only respond when work goes wrong, you can gradually lose the high performance you want. Someone checks their work carefully and hears nothing. They take a shortcut and still hear nothing. Eventually, a mistake gets your attention. They may learn the minimum effort that avoids correction. Payam describes this pattern in Stop Extinguishing High Performance.

Choose an action that helps the team do its work well, such as raising a delivery problem before the deadline. Confirm that the person understands the action and has the skills and resources to do it.

When you see it, recognize the specific behavior as soon as practical: “You checked the supplier’s date before confirming Friday’s delivery. That gave us time to adjust the order.” Ask how the person prefers to receive recognition, including whether to share it publicly.

When someone raises a problem, help them resolve it and follow through on the support you agree to provide.

Check whether targets and work routines support that behavior. If a speed target leaves too little time for required checks, revise the target with whoever owns it.

Watch whether the behavior occurs more often in comparable situations. Recognition functions as reinforcement when it increases the behavior. If it does not, review what the person values and what else follows the action.