Yesterday, I saw B.F. Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory in action. I was sitting in our agile team room with about half of our team members. One person commented on another’s good posture. The complimentee smiled and said, “Thanks for noticing. I’ve been working on it.” The interaction was very nice and I observed its positive effect on both the giver and the receiver of the feedback.

What was just as encouraging was what happened in the rest of the room. I saw three other people adjust their posture and I too sat up straighter. That comment, however brief, had a positive effect on the entire room even though the compliment was only given to one person.

There is tons of academic research on the great benefits of positive reinforcement, but I had never read much about its effect on bystanders. So, I spent some time on Google. It was certainly not an exhaustive search but a cool article popped up from psychcentral.com. “The new study found rewards were strongly associated with compliance and cooperation. As such, this approach could help in developing solutions for problems requiring the cooperation of large numbers of people to achieve a greater good.” I think this has huge implications for how we interact with each other. So, I encourage you to sit up straight and point out something one of your colleagues is doing well and see if it benefits you’re entire team. 

How do you get restful, guilt-free slumber the night before, the night after deed is done, or in the nights to come?  It's simple - do everything in your power to change the situation and be sure the employee can't or won't meet the job requirements.

When you're firing someone for something egregious, like defrauding your customers or stealing, it's easy.  The employee got their hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar and they know it is warranted.  

When you're furloughing someone or laying them off, it's heart-wrenching no doubt, but you're not telling them they did a lousy job.  You're telling them the company did a lousy job and cannot support them anymore.

But, if you're letting someone go for performance and haven't done your job, you're telling them you're firing them because you're lousy.  That can lead to serious consequences for you and your organization.

So, what's in your power?*

1. Set clear expectations up front
   
2. Correct the behavior/mistake the first time it happens; ask if s/he is clear about the expectations; ask what you can do to help; jot down the conversation for posterity 
   
3. Correct the behavior/mistake the second time it happens and then discuss consequences; ask what you can do to help; document the conversation for posterity; if appropriate inform your manager and/or HR
   
4. Correct the behavior/mistake the third time; invoke the consequence (perhaps this is the point of termination - perhaps you need to give them one more strike)
5. And so on...

Next time someone on your team is a consistent performance problem and there's only one solution, do all in your power to change the situation and then sleep well!

* I am NOT advocating progressive discipline here!  Depending on how serious the infraction, this checklist may need to be modified.  Seek legal council before you terminate someone.