Negative reinforcement
Recently, while trying to understand incentives, I came across negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is not the same as punishment. The focus of negative reinforcement is the removal of something unpleasant in our experience that aims to reinforce the desired behavior. I realized negative reinforcement on many occasions unconsciously influenced my actions. For instance, the ability to skip the traffic was the biggest motivator for me to reach the office early. FedEX’s story of paying the staff by shift instead of by hour and they get to leave early if the entire operation is done motivated them to complete their operations on time. Sometimes removing pain points can be equally rewarding in itself.
“Perhaps the most important rule in management is ‘Get the incentive right’.” – Charles Munger, Vice Chairman Berkshire Hathaway.
Negotiating salaries
I was helping someone, who is returning to work, with their salary negotiation. It gave me an insight into how they were thinking about their pay with their future employer. Their assumptions made it difficult for them to negotiate
(1) If I ask for more, they will not like my candidature and will reject me
(2) Because I have asked for more, they will expect me to clock more hours at work
(3) It is unfair to me to ask without showing any value
Our value is not only determined by our past results and efforts but is also based on our future potential. Compensation is not connected to expectation and is forgotten by the boss once the negotiation is done.
“Salary negotiations are particularly important because people are testing you as both a co-worker and an ambassador. They don’t want you to be a pushover, and they don’t want you to be a jerk.” – Christopher Voss, Author of ‘Never Split the Difference’
False expertise
One who popularizes a subject need not be an expert. They may be people who can memorize the key concepts and communicate eloquently to a larger audience. This creates an illusion that they are experts. They also easily become haloed celebrities in the social media world. We may be at risk of blindly accepting their views as expert advice. One way to save from this pitfall is to answer these two questions
1) Whatever is being shared, has it got depth?
2) Is the topic in the area of the person’s domain?
“Authority can exert a tremendous influence over our actions. We tend to follow those who we perceive as experts or figures of authority.” – Dr. Robert Cialdini, Author of Influence