Last week I heard a story about an elementary student who found a loaded gun in his school bag. The young man notified his teacher and the school provided positive reinforcement of the behavior by publicly rewarding him for doing so.
Magnify Positive Outliers
Publicly applauding positive social behavior reinforces it, gives it a platform, and is the best way for an organization to get the behavior it desires (in the classroom, or in the office).
Everyone in your organization is keenly aware of what you choose to focus on, be it rewarding positively deviant behavior, or a hyper-focus on what you view as the wrong behavior.
Effective leaders know that they can either spend their time stamping out the fires of poor behavior, or take a faster more rewarding route to cultural change by finding unique and creative ways to spread the word about what people are doing right.
