Organizational Psychology: The Power of Reinforcement

One of my favorite courses as business student was Organizational Psychology. That favor stemmed from having such an awesome professor who made a mundane subject rather inspiring.

Organizational psychology is a scientific study of the behaviors and attitudes of people within a working environment. And if you're working to become an epic entrepreneur, you'll definitely want to understand a few things about organization psychology.

Reinforcement is perhaps the most powerful and influential aspect of psychology. Receiving feedback from your boss can alter your level of productivity, as well as your mood and mindset. For this reason, you'll want to leverage the power of reinforcement with righteous intentions.

As an epic entrepreneur, how exactly do you do that?

Providing quality reinforcement, whether positive or negative, requires a strong sense of empathy. That is, you must somewhat understand your recipient's perspective and feelings (or the ability to put yourself in their shoes.)

This is particularly important when giving negative reinforcement - or feedback focused on on stopping an individual from behaving in such a way.

How to Give Quality Reinforcement

Below I share with you just a few tips on how to give quality reinforcement in the workplace.

• Know the exact purpose of your reinforcement and what the projected outcome will be. Meaningless reinforcement is definitely not righteous, and ain't no body got time for that.
• Offer incentives or rewards for performance. Regardless of how big or small, an incentive can be a highly effective form of positive reinforcement.
• Practice empathy by listening more and speaking less. An epic entrepreneur knows his audience by asking questions, engaging with people, and learning about them. As a result, purposeful reinforcement can be delivered

With respect to the last point, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

        "It does not take many words to the speak the truth." - Native American, Chief Joseph


About the Author: This article was contributed by Tyler Tafelsky, a marketing manager, Yogi, triathlete  and overall righteous dude. To learn more about Tyler, connect with him on Twitter or Google+.