Reward What You Want Repeated

I don’t recall who taught it to me, but I’ve been living by “reward what you want repeated” for years now. As often as I can I reward a behavior I see one of my staff exhibiting that I would like them to keep doing. Here’s just one example. Each time my staff find a way to save money, I give them 20% of the total savings to keep for themselves. I don’t care if it’s $10 or $10,000, they get 20% of whatever they save the church. And let me tell you, my staff finds ways to save our church money! Why? First, because they love our church and love doing their job with excellence. But secondly, because they have incentive to do so!

Some might call this using worldly ways for spiritual work, but I couldn’t disagree more with those who feel this way. In Matthew 25:21-23 the master said to the two servants who got a 100% return on their investment “Well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” I want to focus on that last part “Come and share your master’s happiness”. What’s that mean anyways? Today we’d call that a performance based BONUS!

Two of the servants did a great job, so the master rewards what he wants repeated. The first reward was the reward of affirmation (well done good and faithful servant). The second reward was the reward of promotion (you have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things). The third reward was the reward of celebration (come and share your master’s happiness).

So we see that the “reward what you want repeated” principle has scriptural roots. So the next time you see something you want your staff to keep doing and other staff to start doing, reward what you want repeated! You will save much more than you give out in rewards if you’ll adopt a similar practice.