What Gets Rewarded Gets Repeated

Encourage more good things

You might have heard the term “quiet quitting” to describe people who do their jobs, but only their jobs. Some people lament this, but many leaders recognize this as an opportunity.

If you want your people to go above-and-beyond, you and the company need to go above-and-beyond for them in return. A one-sided “you do all this extra stuff for us for free, and we won’t do anything extra for you in return” is an unhealthy interpersonal dynamic.

Communicate your expectations... and what they can expect from you. People who go above and beyond should know that you notice, appreciate, and reward their extra efforts. Show your people this respect, and let them see an example they will want to emulate. People who do their work well but don’t do more than the job description can be shown the next level and how to get there. Younger hires might still have an “academic” mindset that they just need to pass the class to be promoted. They might need some mentoring to understand that, if they keep doing merely competent work at their current level, they will STAY at their current level. People who would like to advance need to build their skills and experience levels and prepare themselves for that next promotion.

For some people, staying at their current level might be fine. Let them know that they can stay there, but if they want to move up, you would like to see more of X, Y, and Z. And make sure that, as a leader, you are looking for those extra efforts, noting them for performance reviews, and mentoring your team members on opportunities to grow, and what you would like to see from them to get them ready to take up those roles.

Finally, give bonuses where bonuses are due. But don’t make it a competition, so that only the top salesperson gets a bonus every quarter. Offer a “benchmark” bonus, so that everyone who makes over X dollars in sales will get a bonus that quarter (Pro tip: there can be more than one level, with higher levels getting bigger bonuses). This cuts down on team-members undermining colleagues, poaching accounts, or giving up trying because “no one is going to beat Vanessa,” etc., and other forms of unhealthy competition.

(Photo by Piret Ilver on Unsplash)