Arno,
Rewarding learning is less complex than we tend to make it. When I was
raising my kids, I noticed when they learned something, either positive or
negative. I rewarded the learning by noticing they had learned it, and
immediately giving some kind of "reward" perhaps as little as simple
verbal confirmation, "you know, I noticed how you approached that conflict
with your friend, and I was proud of the way you expressed yourself
without yelling." Or, "you know, I noticed that when you got mad at your
friend, he got even madder and yelled even louder than you did. I wonder
how else you might have tried to talk to him?"
It is actually a lot easier than adults because once they get in the
habit, they love learning. However, as a manager, you have to be willing
to do a couple of things. 1 - NOTICE that learning is going on, and
COMMENT. 2 - Be non-judgemental, enable reflection. These are skills
anyone can learn, but they have to want to. The biggest impediment to
encouraging others to learn is management's unwillingness to learn.
You are right, the purpose of such behavior by a manager is to try to
influence. Mostly, that's all we can do. We can provide training,
education, testing, but day-to-day, we can influence. American managers
tend to look for simple answers to these questions. That's why recipes
like TQM, etc are always so popular until they don't work. The answer to
this issue is truly simple, but it is also time-consuming. It is highly
tactical. No strategic statement is ever going to make a difference. It
is largely one-on-one, or in small groups. Model the way.
--Rol Fessenden
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>