There’s an article in December 19th’s Forbes magazine about a new burger chain that started in Denver in 2007 and now has 143 locations. In it, CEO Dave Prokupek says: “We overinvest in the things that matter most”. The article goes on, ‘If a line cook fills orders in under six minutes on average, he gets an extra 50 cents per hour. Store managers can earn monthly bonuses…based on monthly revenues and customer reviews’.

This reflects the reasoning in the feedback model: the reason for the feedback model is to encourage effective behaviour – in other words, we use feedback to incentivise the behaviour we want to see in the future. Reducing the cook’s pay by 50 cents for being slow would be much less effective.

It’s much more effective to give positive feedback for the behaviour you want than to give negative for what you don’t want. AND, reasons for positive feedback happen much more often. That’s why we recommended a 9/1 ratio for positive behaviour. Look for the things you want to continue, and give feedback about them.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2011/11/30/meet-americas-most-promis…