When speaking about his employees, Henry Ford said, "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is a success." Every leader visualizes a well-functioning team to be performing at the highest levels. Making that visualization a reality takes hard work.

Specifically, it takes effective communication. Communication is the foundation of trust. Trust, in its simplest form, is confidence in our relationships. How do we build confidence in our relationships? By communicating our expectations and providing feedback.

Psychologists say that all human behavior is directed toward the fulfillment of specific personal needs. How behavior, and its resulting consequence, are reinforced determine whether, and for how long, the behavior will be repeated.

Four types of reinforcement are common. The first and most powerful is positive feedback. For example, a manager thanks us for working into our lunch period to handle a customer service issue. This expression of appreciation makes us feel good and encourages us to take extra initiative in the future.

Second, there is negative reinforcement. We will take initiative to avoid the negative consequences of not doing something we know we should be doing. For example, as much as we hate getting up early in the morning to report to work by 7 a.m., we know, if we are late, we will be yelled at (negative feedback). Since we don't like being yelled at, the behavior of getting to work on time is reinforced by the negative consequences of not being on time.

Punishment is the third type of reinforcement. If we report to work late and our pay is docked, we've been punished. If we need the money, this punishment is likely to be effective in encouraging us to stop being late. As you can see, negative reinforcement and punishment are closely related, but they are effective at motivating only the minimum level of acceptable performance.

The fourth type of reinforcement is extinction or, simply, failure to reinforce. If our behavior goes unnoticed or unreinforced, we may just stop doing it.

For example, sometimes we work a few minutes into our lunch period to complete an important task that affects the timeliness of customer service, while our coworkers leave precisely by the clock. Yet, our manager fails to acknowledge this extra effort. At some point, we will conclude that timely customer service is not really that important, despite the lip service given it by management, and we will start going to lunch with the others. In other words, if not reinforced, the desired behavior just dies off over time.

Positive reinforcement is the most powerful motivator and, based on my personal observations, extinction is the most common negative motivator. That's right. Our failure, as managers, to reinforce the behavior we want repeated or increased is the most common cause of poor or mediocre performance. Seldom are our products, technology, tools, or equipment to blame.

What do you suppose happens if you positively reinforce the behavior you want and ignore certain behavior that you want stopped? In other words, use extinction, rather than negative feedback, to discourage the bad behavior in conjunction with positive feedback to encourage good behavior.

Whenever we have to dwell on the negative, it is de-motivational and consumes time and energy. So, whenever possible, use the good feelings associated with positive feedback to encourage more good behavior and let extinction eliminate the undesirable behavior.

Behavior change is difficult. Yet getting people to do different things is the only way you can improve the results of your organization.

A manager is classically defined as "one who achieves results through the efforts of others." Therefore, shouldn't a manager's highest priority and largest expenditure of time be devoted to communicating wit and motivating his/her people? My observations are that most managers spend considerably more time dealing with performance problems, usually related to a very small percentage of their work force, than they spend communicating with and motivating their high achievers. If this applies to you, take a close look at who is consuming your time and why.

If it is your poorest performers, you have at least one of five problems: 1) bad hire or promotion; 2) insufficient training; 3) inadequate environment such as insufficient tools, equipment, material, work space, etc.; 4) poor attitude; or 5) inadequate motivation. Remember that 1, 2 and 3 are management responsibilities and may be the cause of 4 and 5. So, always inspect for "fit" with job success requirements, sufficient training, and adequate environment before you address attitude and/or motivation.

These principles of feedback are essential for creating a top-performing organization. Positive and negative reinforcement as well as punishment and extinction all have a place. Think deeply about your use of feedback and whether it is helping or hindering your success.

Lucy A. Ivins, a certified success planner, trains organizations to achieve a higher degree of success. She writes from her residence in Pahrump.