“Leadership technique: Don’t give rewards regularly!”

🌟 Scientists conducted an interesting experiment on the reward mechanism. They conditioned two pigeons so that after pecking a rod, they would receive food — but with one difference: The first pigeon received food after exactly three pecks. The second pigeon sometimes received food after two pecks, sometimes after three, sometimes after five, or even more.

🌟 Then the scientists stopped giving food altogether. What happened? The first pigeon tried a few times with its usual three pecks, and when nothing appeared, it quickly gave up. But the second pigeon — which had never received food on a fixed schedule — kept pecking for much longer. It tried two pecks, then five, then three, and so on.

🌟 Through many experiments on pigeons and later on humans, scientists tried to identify the best reward system in workplaces. The conclusion of all these studies was: “Give rewards irregularly.”

🌟 Naturally, rewards should be given for an employee’s excellent idea or action, but behavioral scientists say rewards should not be tied to a fixed number of excellent actions. Nor should excellent actions go unrewarded. In the first case (rewarding after a fixed number of good actions), two things happen:

🌟 First, what you give today as a reward — something exciting and motivating — soon becomes an expected entitlement and loses its motivational power.

🌟 Second, if there is any delay in giving the expected reward, the employee conditioned to a fixed reward schedule stops their positive behaviors.

In the second case (giving no rewards), it is obvious that there will be no motivation to continue positive performance.

🌟 Therefore, managers are advised to make their reward system irregular. For example, an employee may receive a reward once after five positive actions, next time twice in a row for one positive action each time, and another time after three positive actions, and so on. This way: – The boundary between salary and reward becomes clear. – And if a delay occurs in the reward system, the employee will not stop their positive behaviors.

🌟 Remember: As a manager, you must motivate your team — and irregular rewards are one scientifically proven way to do so.

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