Enhance Your Leadership Skills by Reflecting on the Question, "What Does Our Organization Truly Reward?"

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The key distinction among leaders lies in their ability to listen. Effective leaders not only pose insightful questions but genuinely pay attention to the responses.

Engage your team by asking, “What does our organization REALLY reward?” Listening to their insights could lead to significant improvements in results.

Rewards and penalties are the driving forces of any organization. However, after working with thousands of leaders over the past 23 years, I’ve observed that many organizations tend to reward the wrong behaviors.

While some organizations may claim to reward desirable actions—such as achieving results effectively—what they often truly reward, through promotions and perks, are factors like catering to the egos of top leaders, engaging in political maneuvering, and employing tyrannical leadership styles.

Here’s how to realign misplaced rewards with genuine results:

(1) Inquire within your organization to discover what it truly rewards. You might be surprised by the answers, but refrain from making judgments at this stage. Simply gather the information as an observer.

(2) Evaluate each item on your list against the actual results your organization requires. Does it contribute to achieving results? Does it hinder progress?

To do this: Select one item from your list, outline the associated problem, and identify who can address it. Implement a “stop-start-continue” strategy: what reward should you stop, what should you start, and what should you keep?

Expect gradual progress; many of these incorrect rewards are deeply ingrained habits, and change rarely happens overnight. Consistently ask, “What does my organization genuinely reward?” Over time, addressing these challenges will enhance your results and sharpen your leadership capabilities.

(3) Reflect on “What does your leadership truly reward?” If your leadership focuses on the wrong aspects, you’re limiting your potential results. Identifying and addressing your own shortcomings may be more challenging than recognizing those within the organization.

Conduct a 360-degree assessment. Choose an item from your list and apply the start-stop-continue process. Don’t simply discard the item; it can serve as a valuable learning opportunity. Identify the underlying issue and use the solution as a means to drive results.

You are bound to see improvements. By replacing negative leadership traits with those that drive results, and committing to this process over the long term, you will witness results manifesting in new and often unforeseen ways.

(4) Encourage your team members to reflect on the rewards associated with their own leadership. Pay attention to their responses to your prompts. Do they find this questioning relevant to their roles? Are they interested in involving their colleagues? Would they like senior management to engage in this self-reflection as well?

If team members wish to make this questioning a regular practice, continue nurturing it. If they perceive it as unhelpful, consider taking a break. If employees feel powerless to effect change, such probing questions may only lead to frustration and cynicism.

Moving forward:

-Foster a collective enthusiasm for this questioning among team members. Avoid imposing it; instead, observe and support their reactions.
-Promote the formation of networks where individuals can collaboratively engage in this reflective questioning.
-Occasionally dedicate specific times and spaces for focused discussions, ensuring that they connect their findings to tangible improvements in results.
-Maintain this connection. This isn’t merely an academic exercise or an outlet for frustrations; its primary goal is to achieve MEASURABLE INCREASES IN RESULTS. If results aren’t materializing, encourage a reevaluation of the questioning’s necessity; if results continue to lag, consider pausing the process until conditions are more favorable for success.
-Prevent the questioning process from devolving into blame or accusations. The intent is not to scrutinize individuals or vent frustrations but to leverage this as a powerful tool for ongoing results enhancement.

Remember, the questioning shouldn’t consume excessive time nor be treated as a standalone initiative like an operations or marketing program. Rather, it should seamlessly integrate into everyone’s leadership activities. Regularly asking, “Are we rewarding the right things?” should eventually become second nature.