Motivation - You Get What You Reward

There's a programme currently running on BBC Television in the UK called - "Little Angels." It's a series that offers help and advice to parents who're experiencing behaviour difficulties with their children. I'm sure there are similar programmes in other parts of the world. The children are often out of control, won't do what they're told and generally dominate the family.

Part of the programme shows the parent dealing with the child while receiving instruction from a clinical psychologist through an earphone. The psychologist watches what's happening and constantly tells the parent to reward the child, with words of support, when they do something well. When the child misbehaves, the instructions are to ignore and leave them alone.

There is a huge temptation for the parent to reprimand the child but this is not permitted by the psychologist.

There isn't a whole lot of difference when dealing with adults who misbehave. If you're a manager of people, think for a moment about that "difficult" employee who never seems to do things quite right and takes up so much of your time and attention. Maybe that's just what he or she wants - your time and attention; and as long as they continue to get what they want - they're going to continue being "difficult."

If you have a "difficult" team member or employee, try concentrating on what they do well and tell them about it. Spend less time with and even ignore them when they misbehave. It's not uncommon for managers to invest 90 percent of their energy responding to negative performance and only 10 percent strengthening positive performance. If you "reward" good behaviour - you'll get more of it. If you "reward" bad behaviour - you'll get more of it.

Discover how you can generate more business by motivating your team! Alan Fairweather is the author of "How to get More Sales by Motivating Your Team" This book is packed with practical things you can do to get the best out of your people. Click here now http://www.howtogetmoresales.com and http://www.alanfairweather.com

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Palestinians survey a kindergarten destroyed after an Israeli air strike in Gaza January 8, 2009. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)AP - The U.N. Security Council called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, but an intense bombardment of missiles from Israeli jets and helicopters early Friday and a barrage of Hamas rockets indicated there may be no quick end to the fighting.



Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) votes to recommend the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the House during an Illinois House Impeachment Committee hearing Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, in Springfield, Ill. The committee voted unanimously to recommend impeachment putting the matter before the full house.  (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)AP - Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces almost certain impeachment by the Illinois House, a historic step that would trigger a trial to determine whether the Democratic governor should be tossed out of office.



President-elect Barack Obama speaks about the economy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.,  Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - Lawmakers are under orders to finish action on President-elect Barack Obama's nearly $800 billion economic recovery plan by mid-February. But already it is plain that a set of serious fissures need to be bridged if the bill is to be completed within five weeks.



Pay Equity pioneer Lily Ledbetter addresses the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008 file photo. Democrats are ushering in what they believe will be a new labor-friendly era in Washington with House votes on two bills aimed at helping women fight pay discrimination in the workplace. The House was to vote on the bills Friday Jan. 9, 2009, and they could reach Barack Obama's desk soon after he enters the White House.  One of the bills, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, is a response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it more difficult to sue over past pay discrimination.  (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, FILE)AP - Democrats are ushering in what they believe will be a new labor-friendly era in Washington with House votes on two bills aimed at helping women fight pay discrimination in the workplace.



A sign instructs job seekers at the California Employment Development Department in Sunnyvale, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. The country lost nearly 2 million jobs through November and more bad news is expected this week when the government releases data on weekly jobless claims and December unemployment. No matter how bad those numbers are, and economists expect at least another 500,000 jobs were lost last month, the pain is stretching into 2009.  (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)AP - Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon.



In this Monday, Dec. 29, 2008 file image provided by Greenpeace, coal ash slurry left behind in a containment pond near the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant is shown  in Harriman, Tenn., after the dyke at left broke Dec. 22, 2008. Millions of tons of toxic coal ash is piling up in power plant ponds in 32 states, a practice the federal government has long recognized as a risk to human health and the environment but has left unregulated. (AP Photo/Greeenpeace, Wade Payne)AP - Millions of tons of toxic coal ash is piling up in power plant ponds in 32 states, a practice the federal government has long recognized as a risk to human health and the environment but has left unregulated.



In this Dec. 5, 2006 file photo, Leon Panetta, then a member of the Iraq Study Group, walks into a Washington hotel.    (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)AP - President-elect Barack Obama is completing his national security team by announcing his unusual choices for CIA director and a national intelligence director who may face tough Senate confirmation questioning over how he confronted the Indonesian military when civilian massacres were occurring in East Timor.



In this Dec. 1, 2008 file photo, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, second left, speaks as Vice President-elect Joe Biden, left, President-elect Barack Obama; and Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton, far right, listen at a news conference in Chicago.  (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)AP - Just minutes after George W. Bush took the oath of office eight years ago, he signed papers formally nominating 13 Cabinet-level officials. Several hours later, the Senate, meeting in a special Saturday session, confirmed seven Cabinet secretaries, including the heads of the key posts at State, Treasury and Defense.



Florida's Tim Tebow celebrates during the fourth quarter of the BCS Championship NCAA college football game against Oklahoma in Miami, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. Florida defeated Oklahoma 24-14. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)AP - Tim Tebow enjoyed the battering-ram runs. He liked the old-school jump pass. Drawing a rare penalty, that really made Tebow's day. With No. 1 Florida about to finish off No. 2 Oklahoma 24-14 for the BCS championship Thursday night, Tebow was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.



Freida Pinto backstage with the best picture award for 'Slumdog Millionaire' at the 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards on Thursday Jan. 8, 2009 in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)AP - The critics have spoken, and "Slumdog Millionaire" is their final answer.



Jaclyn Holt (R) fills out an application form at a job fair organized by the New Hampshire Employment Security agency in Salem, New Hampshire December 17, 2008. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. employers probably cut the most jobs in at least 34 years last month as the global economic crisis gathered pace and moves by policy makers took time to filter through to struggling companies.



Egyptian citizens look at rising smoke during Israeli strikes at the Gaza Strip, in the Egyptian border city of Rafah January 7, 2009. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)Reuters - Israel pushed ahead with its two-week-old offensive in the Gaza Strip, ignoring a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.



Reuters - A report being released on Friday alleges that the U.S. Treasury has failed to reveal its strategy for stabilizing the financial system, not answered questions asked by a government watchdog, and has done nothing to help struggling homeowners, the Wall Street Journal said.

A pressure gauge is seen at a Ukrainian gas compressor station in the village of Boyarka near Kiev January 9, 2009 (Konstantin Chernichkin - UKRAINE/Reuters)Reuters - Europe sought a swift restoration of gas supplies on Friday after striking a deal with Moscow on monitoring gas shipments via Ukraine that have been halted by a pricing dispute with Kiev.



People taking the Long Island Foreclosure Tour arrive at a foreclosed home for sale in New Hyde Park, New York in this May 17, 2008 file photo. Citigroup could soon agree to principles that would let troubled borrowers save their homes through bankruptcy, sources familiar with the talks said on Thursday, while industry groups are easing their opposition to the plan. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc will support a proposal in Congress to rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday.



Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich gestures as he announces former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris as his choice to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama during a news conference in Chicago, Illinois December 30, 2008. (Frank Polich/Reuters)Reuters - A legislative committee on Thursday recommended the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.



Timothy Geithner (R), pictured in Chicago, November 24, 2008. (Jeff Haynes/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is urgently overhauling the $700 billion financial rescue package to broaden its scope beyond Wall Street, The Washington Post reported on Friday.



Usama al-Kini, Al Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan, is pictured in this undated FBI Most Wanted photograph. Al-Kini, also known as Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam, and a top aide are believed to be dead, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on January 8, 2009, in what appeared to be the latest results of a campaign targeting the militant group's leadership. Operations chief al-Kini was thought responsible for attacks, including the bombing of a Marriott hotel in Islamabad that killed 55 people in September, and an unsuccessful attempt to kill former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was later assassinated in a separate attack, the official said. (FBI/Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Al Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan and a top aide are believed to be dead, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Thursday, in what appeared to be the latest results of a campaign targeting the militant group's leadership.



US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks to an unidentified aide during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations. Israel and Hamas have launched heavy air strikes and rocket attacks on each other, ignoring a UN Security Council order on the warring rivals to end their conflict.(AFP/File/Timothy A. Clary)AFP - Israel and Hamas launched heavy air strikes and rocket attacks on each other Friday, ignoring a UN Security Council order on the warring rivals to end their conflict.



A man carries firewood in the suburbs of Sofia, Bulgaria. The European Union demanded that Russian gas supplies to Europe resume immediately now that details of a mission to monitor the flow through Ukrainian pipelines have been agreed.(AFP/Dimitar Dilkoff)AFP - The European Union demanded Friday that Russian gas supplies to Europe resume immediately now that details of a mission to monitor the flow through Ukrainian pipelines have been agreed.




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