In my first post about hallway duty I discussed the importance of duty as it relates to the functioning of a school. I then discussed antecedent strategies that “set the stage” for staff to be successful while at their post. In this submission I will talk about the most important part of the Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence (ABC) formula…consequences, which are the key to increasing and sustaining staff performance. Now to many, consequences are perceived as something “bad” that happens following some sort of misbehavior; however, consequences from a behaviorist’s perspective are simply “meaningful things” that happen as a result of a behavior and make it more or less likely that a given behavior will occur. One hundred plus years of research have confirmed that all behavior occurs as a result of the consequences, or what we commonly refer to as a function. Consider the infant child crying. The behavior of crying allows the child access to a meaningful consequence…perhaps the child is provided foot or her mother’s attention. When the child receives food or attention, the behavior of crying is then positively reinforced and this increases the likelihood that the child will cry again to access food or attention. In other cases, the child cries because her diaper is dirty, so the meaningful consequence becomes the removal of the dirty diaper. In this case the antecedent of a dirty diaper elicits the behavior of crying which is then negatively reinforced as a result of something aversive being removed…make sense? Simply put, behavior occurs as a result of “getting something” or “getting rid of something”.

As adults, we eventually learn complex chains of behaviors that allow us to “get” our needs met…and sometimes we behave in certain ways because the resulting consequences make us “feel good”. For instance, most people help others because they’ve ”learned” that helping others is “good”, and therefore it often provides them the automatic positive reinforcement of a “good feeling”. They aren’t necessarily “getting something” like a tangible or praise, but because they’ve learned to value helping others, the behavior of helping others is automatically reinforced. In many cases our behaviors are actually impacted by a variety potential reinforcers. For example, most folks work in education to access multiple positive reinforcers like helping students achieve, socially interacting with peers, and/or obtaining a paycheck. At the same time potential aversives like a late payments, a bill collector calling, or being evicted is avoided!

For their eyes only

Let’s explore why it’s so important for all leaders to have a fundamental understanding about the concept of positive and negative reinforcement as it relates to staff performance. Sometimes leaders (typically unsuccessful ones) rely on managing by exception, which is essentially “catching people being bad” or not performing up to standard. Under this type of leadership, people tend to behave under contingencies of negative reinforcement. In other words, they perform in order to avoid getting into trouble, and typically only under conditions where the leader is “watching”.

To illustrate this phenomenon, let’s look at behavior of driving the speed limit. Those of us that drive the speed limit typically do so in order to avoid receiving a ticket; however, if you are like most of the population, you might actually push the speed limit until you think law enforcement is watching! Under these conditions you will likely reduce your speed to an acceptable limit, just long enough to avoid the ticket, and just far enough until the good officer is out of sight in your rear view mirror! The problem with negative reinforcement is that it usually motivates behavior only temporarily, and just far enough to keep staff out of trouble…a term most refer to as compliance.  This type of leadership and performance management also leads to low morale and high staff turnover. The only way to gain discretionary effort from staff (going above and beyond) is by getting folks in touch with positive reinforcement! Positive reinforcement is the only means of getting staff to go above and beyond, even when the leader is not looking. Using positive reinforcement also typically results in happier staff and increased retention!

More than just a High Five

A big misconception about positive reinforcement in education or business is that it involves the leader or manager giving staff “pats on the back”, telling them “good job”, etc. While these might be forms of positive reinforcement, they are not typically enough to sustain performance in the work place. The best type or reinforcement is what we call naturally occurring reinforcers. These reinforcers can be found in the natural environment and therefore a leader does not have to be present. For example, a naturally occurring reinforcer might occur as the result of teaching somebody to do something (behaviors) in a way that makes his or her job easier. Supporting a staff member’s need(s) in a way that leads to efficient goal attainment or a reduction in stress will likely motivate him or her to perform whether a leader is providing praise or not! Naturally occurring reinforcement during “duty” at school might involve bonding with peers over the success of a “duty”, or simply recognizing that student behavior has improved.  By recognizing these types of meaningful changes in the environment, attending duty becomes less aversive and even more pleasant as a result of increased positive interactions with students.

Remember, naturally occurring reinforcers typically do not cost time or money. Often times getting staff in touch with these reinforcers might simply be helping them recognize the positive impact of their behavior towards making the school a better place to work and learn. This can occur through simple strategies such as verbal feedback (e.g. “have you noticed how well the students are behaving as a result of you….”) or even graphic feedback in an email that demonstrates improvement in some meaningful result (e.g. a graph illustrating a reduction in behavior referrals or student achievement) as a result of some change initiative or intervention.

Paul has successfully supported multiple struggling schools in the turnaround process. As a certificated behavior analyst who concentrates on organizational behavior management and behavioral leadership, Paul provides administrative teams, teachers, and staff with coaching and consultation in analyzing and developing behavior and performance management systems directly aligned with student achievement.