Everyone wants to be happy whether they are explicit about it or not. People in your team are no different.
Consider what American Psychologist Hull said:
- Happiness or pain comes quickly after the behavior;
- The result of either is repeated frequently;
- Either is significant for the recipient!
Here’s how you can leverage this human behavior and manage/lead your team well.
- When your team member’s behavior is apt, make the reward as specific as possible;
- Make sure that there are no delays in rewarding them after acceptable behavior has taken place;
- Deliberately neglect inferior (+ irrelevant) behavior unless there is a serious impact;
- Consistently reward the behavior once it has been learned by the individual;
- Once the expected/apt behavior is converted into a habit, the rewards can be step by step discontinued!
The rewards may be financial or non-financial which can boost the individual’s morale. Here is how you can motivate your people without giving financial rewards.
When you are required to manage other people’s work and be responsible for their outcomes, deep understanding of human behaviors plays a prominent role in management.
If you understand human psychology well, as a project manager, it is more likely that you will not only be loved by your team and your superiors but you will be able to produce the desired results.
