Bringing Out the Best in People: How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement

by Aubrey C. Daniels

Maximize employee performance with this updated edition of the classic bestseller In Bringing Out the Best in How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement, renowned thought leader and internationally recognized workplace expert Aubrey Daniels takes a look at today’s rapidly changing work environment, providing a timely update to his seminal book on performance management. As one of the foremost speakers and writers in the human performance field, for nearly 40 years Daniels has worked with organizations to apply scientifically-based behavioral tools and principles to effectively address workplace issues―particularly as they relate to management, leadership, culture, innovation, safety, engagement, and collaboration. Bringing Out the Best in How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement, presents Daniels’ proven strategies that have been successfully adopted by hundreds of organizations worldwide―ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies―and delivers step-by-step instruction and positive practices to help you implement and sustain positive change. With a behavioral foundation and new chapters on employee engagement and the impact of the exponential increase in technology, this latest edition features all new examples, updated approaches to effective recognition and rewards systems, tips for stimulating and fostering innovation and creativity, and productive ways to embrace and empower the multi-generational workforce, including Millennials and future generations. This timely update tackles the changes in the contemporary work environment, while providing step-by-step instructions and proven practices that have been adopted by Daniels’ global clients, from startups to Fortune 100 companies. Learn how • Create effective recognition and rewards systems that are positively reinforcing to employees
• Stimulate innovation and creativity in exciting new ways
• Understand fluency as an efficient way to reduce training costs and increase training effectiveness for all employees
• Engage employees in ways that lead to improved performance and a stronger culture
• Motivate and empower the multi-generational workforce
• Understand and shape how technology is affecting employee behavior―for better and worse

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Psychology, Management, Self Help, Communication

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 22, 1993

Reviews

[Lukasz Nalepa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gave me a headache. On one hand I still feel dissatisfied with the scientific approach to managing people presented mostly in the first half of the book, and on the other hand it seems that I agree with with a lot of conclusions suggestions presented in the second Half.

After reading about 1/3 of the book I was so repulsed that I immediately posted a review with one star. To be fair though I had to add another star after a while, and now it is a third time I do so. Lessons learned for me - never ever again post a review until you actually finish a book.

But as for the review itself.... I was biased a bit towards this book from the beginning. I knew that the presented approach is purely behavioral, and I disagree that that's all in terms of human relations and motivation. First part of the book deeply ensured me that this is the approach in this book indeed and because of that I would be very hesitant to recommend this book to anyone who deals on daily basis with the creative work. There are some specs of wisdom, there are some usefull tips, but i still have a feeling that this book was written to targer the different workforce that I have contact with. If you are running the cotton plantation, or a factory and you have to deal with repetitive, uninteresting tasks and/or uneducated workforce, you may find the approach presented in this book as useful. Or perhaps you are absolutely terrible at working with people - than you will find some progress here too. But in any other case... to it at your own "risk".

This book basically leaves the impression that it teaches you how to exploit people and how to treat them as cattle or trained monkeys. This is in fact the problem with behavioral approach to human behavior at all (and that book depends on it heavily). Behavioral training is in my opinion good to develop and enforce habits... and not much beyond that. Behavioral approach in my opinion is not a viable way to treat people and their work on daily basis. Yes - it might work some time (or even often), but it is very hard to do it right, and in the end it requires constant attention and analysis of one's behavior. I wouldn't want to participate in such worker-manager relationship - not as a worker, nor as a manager.

This book was written originally in 1985, and heavily edited for the second and third edition and yet it completely ignores intrinsic motivation and self-determination theory that is being studied since 1970. Author deliberately puts other scientific and non-scientific approaches to the same basked, labeled "na-ah, some seasonal mambo-jumbo" right at the beginning of the book, and presenting "only mine work!" attitude. That self-righteous tone pisses me off in the first place, but the sole intent is bad as well. Intrinsic motivation is being studied from around 1971 and author had a lot of opportunities to incorporate that at least as some form of mention to correct that, since he also added additional chapters to next editions. He did not, and it is understandable, as it might render the entire concept presented in this book as wrong. Because of that I would at least recommend complementary study the Edward Deci experiments and what followed after (i.e. famous "Drive" written by Daniel H. Pink).

On the good side, there are some good hints, such as the fact, that positive reinforcements are better than negative, that not every one is motivated by the same things, and so on. They may drastically improve performance of a manger who does his job very poorly, but they are fairly common-sense (yes - I am using that term deliberately, exactly to counter the author's statements about common sense in the beginning of the book) to anyone who is interested in motivating people.

To be completely fair I need to add that some remarks here are very important. For once I could name the "reward the behavior not the results" attitude, and the notion that not all of us are incentiviesed in the same way, and if something is positive reinforcement for me, it does not necessarily mean that it will be to you. Also I completely agree with the notions about the annual performance review being used widely in the business today, and the overall criticism of what is happening in the HR nowadays.

In the end, I had to rate this book a stars. I disagree with the approach and philosophy used to get to the "dos" and "don'ts" in the book, but they are too important and to precise many times to ignore it.

But seriously, broaden your knowledge with the intrinsic motivation theory, after reading this book.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy cow, this was a short book! There's no doubt that Aubrey Daniels is an accomplished and knowledgeable expert in behavior analysis/OBM. This book also demonstrates what a fine science communicator he is.

There are a few nit-picky places I disagree with, specifically stating that NCR can induce psychoses and stress, and that the 'Nintendo generation' are somehow altered from everyone else. For the first, it seems like his reasoning is more about indiscriminable contingencies than noncontingent ones, unless he's referring to superstitious behavior. Perhaps I am misunderstanding his point. For the second, I had to roll my eyes quite a bit. It isn't Millennials that are skewed by growing up with vidya games. It is everyone adjusting their behavior as new contingencies are introduced. Again, I don't think it was meant that way, but it came off more as "Kids these days want instant gratification because of video games" more than (what I feel is a more accurate and reasonable) "People's behaviors and expectations are changing with changes in technology." Boomers are not immune at all. Lastly, I know there's a lot of pushback against the use of reinforcement. Daniels addresses this, discussing what is and is not reinforcement and that it isn't bribing people with tangibles and monetary rewards. I would have liked to see a more thorough take-down of the objection based on "intrinsic motivation," as folks who espouse it often fail to see that reinforcement IS intrinsic motivation.

But again, those are nitpicks, and I don't think they are big enough ones to lose starts over. The book is written with passion and clarity, with great examples. For those not in behavior analysis, its a good introduction to the science of learning and how using that science is an improvement over the fads and fumbling methods so often used. For those already in the field, its a great model for how to speak during training, workshops, and dissemination.

[WIZE FOoL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book! Really helps with understanding how and why positive reinforcement works better than scare tactics for humans.
Filled with detailed information this book has helped me become a much better manager and a better parent!
I've had great results from the techniques I have used from this book!
Comes highly recommended and I hope more managers learn this style of management.
Must read for parents too!
Enjoy!!!

[ian without an e · Rating 3 out of 5]

“If the consequences and events we had experienced in our family life had been different, we would also be different. This knowledge tends to make us a little more humble and a little more willing to take people as they are, without judging and condemning them.”

Really insightful but some of the points and scenarios didn’t resonate with me that much. This could’ve been shorter since some of the points were repeatedly mentioned throughout the book but I guess that’s just how self help books go.

5/5 would give this as a gift to my previous boss 💯

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always good to read again! It’s been a few years...needed this.

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on applying ABA to business structures. I particularly enjoyed Daniel's description of reinforcement and PIC/NIC - positive, negative/ immediate, delayed/ certain, uncertain. Definitely want to bring that forward for teachers to contemplate as they build the habit of providing feedback to their students!

[Brent Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of this seemed like common sense - of course you should reward people for doing well, everyone knows that, right? This book goes a little deeper, though, talking about how rewards motivate (or don't motivate) people. Some of his ideas go against a lot of what is commonly practiced in business. I've been trying out some of the principles in this book, and it has helped my team acheive success while greatly improving morale.

[Barbro Kinnunen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that gives you not just the words and thinking, but techniques and methods to apply in day to day life. About how you mirror things that happens around you and make you see your own impact on how others act and react. To work with the full scale from reinforcement to punishment and see the instant effects is so rewarding! Though you have to remember that it's all about a change in you.

[Martha Gabler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent discussion of the many ways that positive reinforcement has been used in business settings to increase performance and create superior management teams. Most management change is based on giving instructions to "change," and does not include structured plans for providing the positive reinforcement necessary to create and sustain new behaviors.

[Malaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

good people management type of book.

[Lenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for any manager, new or old

[Firas Alnaimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very revealing book about motivating yourself and others.

[Paolo Tormon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book's title is a stretch—it should instead be named "How to Get People To Do What You Want".

It focuses largely on increasing others' productivity, but productivity alone does not necessarily bring out the "Best" in someone. Helping someone be the best person they can be is a holistic endeavor—going beyond just output and efficiency.

With that being said, Aubrey's book shows how we can apply positive reinforcement to its fullest extent, and it challenged me to the point that every time I opened a page, my brain threw a little cognitive dissonance party. The biggest learning for me is how we can achieve great organizational results without delving into other people's feelings or childhood traumas or any psychoanalysis. I love it.


What I loved

- The book is based in science so it is the opposite of Simon Sinek's works

- Going into the depths of operant conditioning including the explanation on how punishment is extremely counterproductive and we should almost always prefer positive reinforcement

- How low performers' problems are not their innate ability, but motivation and reinforcement, which means it is something that can be improved

- Idea that an org should aim for everyone to thrive (instead of putting people in a bell curve), and—more importantly—how to implement that in an org

- How rote-learning, which has a bad reputation these days, can actually be a valuable tool because reinforced repetition plays a crucial role in building the foundation for more advanced learning.


What I think the book got wrong

- "stocks, annual raises, and bonuses don't motivate people".
> They actually do motivate some people because that includes myself.

- "The celebration of attainment is what makes goals motivating".
> We know that the dopaminergic system is that it's the pursuit that is motivating, not just the attainment.

- When discussing conditioning, Aubrey provided an example about ignoring crying babies with the goal of them eventually stopping the crying.
> While the author doesn’t explicitly endorse this approach, the lack of a cautionary note about the harms could leave readers to think it's a good idea.

- There's a non-trivial amount of people that have mental issues wherein a manager will lack the tools to give them a positive reinforcement they will respond to. The book completely misses out on this

[Earl Grey Tea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Big Takeaway: Immediate certain positive feedback will reinforce the behaviors that a manager wants from their employees. Forget to encourage the desired activities and they will start to disappear. Employee of the Month is not a good motivator.

The author of this books does a good job of laying out the big picture of what techniques you can use to reinforce the behaviors you want to see from your employees. In the big picture it comes down to the following three factors in a manager's feedback:

1) Is it immediate or future?
2) Is it certain or uncertain?
3) Is it positive or negative?

From this list, if the feedback is immediate, certain, and positive, a manager has a greater chance of reinforcing the behavior they wish to see in the workplace. An end of year bonus is positive, but future and uncertain. The nice bump to the paycheck is always appreciated, but it there is no timely and direct connection to accomplishments of employee that year that management would like to see continued in the future. In contrast, a simple 'Good job' from management or colleagues when one sees the desired actions or results has a greater impact. However, this praise is not a one and done activity.

In addition to this, another item that stuck out to me was the Performance Matrix. My more analytical and objective mind gravitated towards this since it helps removes some of the subjectivity in end of quarter or year reviews. By listing out the type of activities and their quantity, an employee has a nice map of what they need to accomplish. Instead of leader or employee saying, "I feel that I Exceeded Expectations this quarter," both parties can clearly define the actions and behaviors needed receive a higher mark on the review.

Overall, the material in this book is high level and very broad. A bit more depth and detail in certain places could have been beneficial for internalizing this information. While there is a good presentation of material, I feel that many of these types of books are lacking in activities or exercise for the reader to help facilitate the application of this knowledge to their own personal situation.

[Stephen Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who likes to take a scientific and analytical approach to everything that I do, Aubrey's way of breaking down behavioral management really resonated with me. Some of the book seems so simple and obviously, but it's actually not commonly applied in the workplace. Which is why this book(and others like it) are necessary for anyone managing people to read.

Even though it's nice to get some of the concepts hammered in, I will agree with other readers and say that it was slightly drawn out. I think the length is only justifiable when considering readers who are skeptical about incorporating a scientific approach to performance management. But for someone like me who already agrees to the concept, I didn't find some of the chapters very enlightening or informative.

The theme of the book can be stated in just a few short lines. The only way to truly maximize performance is to tap into employee's discretionary effort. This extra effort can only be accessed by using often and immediate positive reinforcement.

I enjoyed reading this book and there was plenty of awesome nuggets of information that I will take with me as I move up the ladder and begin to manage people. If you are skeptical about behavioral science and want to learn more, I think that this book does a great job of making a clear cut argument for changing your mind.

[A Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for a book club. I am 100% bought-in to the concept of positive reinforcement increasing desired behavior (in this case - work performance). But, I didn’t need to be bought into this concept. It’s science. It’s like saying I’m bought-in to gravity. (Sure am. Haven’t floated away lately, at least.) I’d imagine that it’s similarly minded people who find their way to this book written by a BCBA and this is why I am perplexed why most of the book is spent explaining positive reinforcement and very little of it is spent giving actual examples of what that might look like when applied. The examples given are so general and while I appreciated learning what doesn’t work...I’m still very confused about what DOES work. I couldn’t picture a scenario of applying this to my current job without literally standing in my teachers’/therapists’ classroom and treatment space.

It is a very approachable read and delivered in a way that anyone can understand the points Daniels makes. I just feel like I’m going to need to say if he wrote a version of how to apply this to the field of education with regard to supervising teachers and therapists in order to fully know how to apply it in my work.

[Jyotsna Batra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Building a performance culture is never easy, be it in your team or your family (or just for yourself). This book explains on all 4 forms of reinforcement (positive, negative, punishment and extinction) and provides practical ways of using it. I absolutely loved the deep understanding of reinforcement which this book offered. It has never been clearer in my mind. And after gaining this understanding, you realize how these reinforcements have shaped you in your own life and start seeing it all around in interactions with other people. It is such an insightful book that it becomes a journey. At times it may seem like common sense, but I think this is the most exciting part about it. Reinforcement is so common sense that we ought to be doing it right all the time, but that's not how it is and we lose track of how we are impacting other people through it and vice versa. That's why I think it is a 'fundamental' read for everyone.

[Razvan Rogoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book on performance management. It’s mostly written for managers, but it has universal application.

The central idea is simple. If you want to get more of a behavior, then reward it with positive feedback. Negative feedback or no feedback at all won’t generate positive results.

The rest of the book goes into managerial models on how to do this at the team and organizational level.

It’s something we all know at an intuitive level but few people do. This book will help you become a better boss, parent, significant other, friend and human being. Plus, you can use it to reinforce your own behavior and build effective habits.

5/5

[Lee Tyner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over Baked

I am a fan of Aubrey’s Oops! book and decided to read this. Although it definitely has good information it’s about 30% too long with unnecessary chapters and mightily redundant at times. Last, as a proofing note he should replace the overuse of “Because” with “Since” when opening a sentence or other declarative that isn’t answering a question.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Management Book

This is my favorite management book I have read. It encompasses other books with science to give the context of why certain things work. Using the techniques in this book are not necessarily easy but they are effective. I love the methodology and know it can work! Transformational.

[Robert Crow · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fundamentally important book for learning about using positive practices, based on behavioral science, to improve learning and doing; particularly in work settings. A must read - and apply the lessons from it - for leaders in all settings.

[Valeria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very easy read and a great introduction to Performance Management and Organizational Behavior Management. Dr Daniels peppers the book with action items and real-life examples of the use of the science of behavior to enhance performance and quality of life in the workplace.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only half way through. Probably will end up being one of if nit the best performance management books I’ve read. And I’ve read a bunch, from self-published titles to the big guys (they are all published by guys). Will update when I’ve finished.

[Daniel Guglielmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for a Supervision and Record Keeping class in my masters ABA program.
To be completely honest, many times you'd think these books are regurgitations of each other but this book is great and I'd recommend to all supervisors looking for a new stream of thinking.

[John Gonski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book to read if you are a leader of people or have any desire to be. Clearly there is an abundance of helpful tips and methods to introduce into your managerial style that will improve effectiveness but also a better person. Who wouldn’t want to bring out the best in others?

[Alexander Gil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on management, with psychological studies that back up incentive and human behaviour.

The common knowledge vs scientific knowledge is great.

Discretionary effort, shaping, and many raindrops, make an ocean were my big takeaways.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

For ORGB625 for Drexel

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is still a classic. It reminded me of my desire to get back to the basics of performance management.

[Kimball · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I will update my review and shelves later.*

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really Good!

Really good and well written. Many managers need to read and take note from the information found in this book..