Encouraging positive change has multifaceted business benefits
In business, figurative sticks and stones may break no bones, but a few kind words can make a big difference. Profit is the lifeblood of business, and influencing employee behaviour is central to profitability. But not all profitable behaviour change is positive. Some practices may yield short-term results but harm people or the organisation in the long run. Choosing positive behaviour change is not only an ethical stance – it’s usually the stronger performance choice.
At its core, positive behaviour change improves both people’s lives and business results. It boosts wellbeing at individual, organisational and even societal levels. A workplace that is pleasant and meaningful leads to healthier relationships, greater collaboration and more satisfied employees. This positivity spills over into family and community life. Professionally, it reduces absenteeism and staff turnover, raises quality and grows profitability. That growth enables more hiring, better benefits and a virtuous cycle of attracting strong talent.
Negative behaviour change is that which harms business results, people’s lives, or both. It can manifest as:
- Misaligned actions, such as competition or tension between colleagues, where collaboration is needed.
- Short-term wins at long-term expense, such as a superstar hire who disrupts culture.
- Reduced motivation through lost autonomy or lack of rewards.
- Unethical conduct from excessive competition or pressure.
- Erosion of positive behaviours – micro-management replacing trust.
- Undermining company purpose and values.
On the human side, it could involve punishing workers, forcing long hours or fostering fear. Importantly, some of these practices may still boost output. Fear can drive speed; longer hours can increase production. Whether such practices are genuinely negative is also subjective. In highly competitive environments, some employees may view extreme demands as motivating, not punishing.
Nullify the negative
So, if ‘negative’ practices sometimes work, why not use them? There are two main reasons. An environment that encourages positive behaviour change is simply more humanistic and more akin to what most people want to see in the world. At the beginning of this millennium, famed psychologists Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote about positive psychology in America, but what they said is equally applicable at an organisational level (substituting ‘America’ with ‘business’):
“Entering a new millennium, [business] can continue to increase its material wealth while ignoring the human needs of its people… Psychology should be able to help document… what work settings support the greatest satisfaction among workers… and how people’s lives can be most worth living… The field of positive psychology at the subjective level is about valued subjective experiences: wellbeing, contentment and satisfaction (in the past); hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present).”
Getting the most out of people is not the same as getting the best out of them. Overworked or disrespected staff may produce more for a while, but quality drops and turnover rises. Disengaged employees won’t contribute any discretionary effort, and they will not go above and beyond what is expected of them.
In contrast, simple acts of recognition go a long way. In a study called Getting More Work for Nothing? students “were offered a congratulatory card honouring the best performance. The award was purely symbolic to ensure that any behavioural effect is driven by non-material benefits. Our results show that the award increases performance by about 12% on average.”
Then there are other risks mentioned earlier, such as the undermining of company values, reduction of team cohesion and alignment and the negative impact on motivation. When the desired behaviours are negative, these risks are multiplied.
In short, positive behaviour change isn’t just ‘nice’. It’s more effective and sustainable.
Make sure to motivate
In the context of the argument for positive behaviour change, it’s surprising that employee engagement in the US fell to its lowest level in a decade in 2024, with only 31% of employees engaged. Which begs the question: how do companies engage their employees so as to positively change their behaviour?
The simple act of recognising people for the behaviours you want to see in your company is not just easy, it also goes a long way – perhaps even further than financial rewards. One study, which gave employees either monetary rewards (either privately or publicly) or social rewards, found that “in both the short and long term, public rewards outperformed private rewards and social rewards outperformed monetary rewards”.
This is not to dismiss financial rewards – they can be effective and add substantial layers of motivation and engagement. It is rather to highlight how effective it can be to say a simple ‘well done’ in front of everyone (whether that’s in a team meeting or on a recognition platform).
This makes sense in the context of the 4-Drive Theory of Motivation, which suggests that there are four main drives that motivate employees. They are:
- The drive to acquire – from money to skills to status.
- The drive to bond – to form relationships with colleagues, to feel a sense of belonging.
- The drive to comprehend – to satisfy curiosity, to discover and understand.
- The drive to defend – to feel safe and secure, to protect what is held dear.
As the Incentive Research Foundation has observed, “In a single instance of giving an employee a reward or recognition, the organisation allows an employee to acquire status… to bond with their team or the person giving the recognition, to more deeply comprehend what is important to the organisation and to defend the deeply held belief that he or she is good at what they do and has chosen the right organisation for employment.”
In other words, satisfying any one of the four drives is positive. But satisfying all four – such as through recognition or rewards – has a powerfully compounding effect.
The human moral of the story is that positive behaviour change is better for individuals and reflects a kinder, more humane worldview. But the business conclusion is that it usually yields better results, and that is hard to argue against.
Text | Preeya Daya
Photography | Dragana Gordic
Dr Preeya Daya is Academic Director of the Achievement Awards Group.
For more information, go to awards.co.za.
