How Early Scores Help Guarantee Worker Success
Written by Jerry Roberts. Follow me on Twitter.
Attitude, Leadership, Management, Motivation, Success

You’ve heard the line, “Nothing succeeds like success.” Whether you’re breaking in a frontline worker or a new supervisor, it’s important to make sure that they get a couple of early victories in order to build confidence.
In this article we explore…
How Early Scores Help Guarantee Worker Success
From infancy, encouragement and confidence building is drummed into us. When you attempted your first step I’ll bet somebody was in your face, making silly sounds and using highly animated gestures — arms fully extended — imploring you to stumble over to them. We’re all familiar with this scene.
The baby has a wide-eyed look and is making the supreme effort to stay uprigtht, and then falls on his heavily padded hind quarters. We enthusiastically pick him up and get him to try again. Because we’re excited he picks up on that and finally succeeds with his first few steps. Then, we reward him with praise, hugs, kisses, and he learns a big lesson in what makes us happy.
We then move on to some other activity and pick up on walking again later. But what if we handle it differently?
What if , after our baby gets that first step in, we move clear across the room and ask him to take 20 steps on his next try?
It’s not going to happen. He might try, but will fall short of the goal and perhaps then crawl over to you. Why does the baby make the choice to crawl at this point? Why will he make a big effort when the goal is close to his grasp, and fall back to his comfort zone when he feels he’s not capable of doing the job?
I’m not qualified to discuss infant psychology, but I think this metaphor of the baby’s first step accurately captures what occurs with new hires, even if they have some experience.
Avoid deep water at the beginning unless…
Some managers have the attitude that it’s best to figure out what a person can do right off the bat, so they hand them a difficult assignment. One of my first bosses was like that. Big Ed would laugh and say, “Okay, let’s see if he can swim!” He did this with me, and I sank.
I was a cocky 19 year-old who thought I could handle pretty much anything. Big Ed needed to get me focused and failure did that. In this type of situation I think what he did was a good strategy, though he did take a chance that I would mentally tank on him and never reach my potential.
However, under all other circumstances, I would avoid the swim test.
How to start the process
Here’s a short list of things that will help you help your worker to gain those early successes:
- Know their general capabilities
- Learn about their interests
- Don’t overburden them and limit risk
- Make sure they visualize success
- No project should be perceived as insignificant
Know their general capabilities. I’m always amazed to discover that a manager has never read the basic info that HR compiles during the interview process and even after someone is hired. It should be embarrassing to say, “I never knew she could do that,” then find out that the details were in the worker’s personal file.
Learn about their interests. People are usually pretty good at the things they care about most. At least they’re more enthusiastic and that’s important. If a project or task is exciting because of that interest, that’s a huge step toward a positive outcome.
Note: This issue of interests also comes into play when you want to reward someone for a job well done. Know what each person likes and then personalize the reward. If it’s pizza find out what kind they salivate over and from which vendor. Maybe it’s concert tickets for the next person, or a game for XBox or Wii.
Don’t overburden them and limit risk. The Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons both made the NFL playoffs this year with rookie quarterbacks; Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, respectively. While coaches made optimal use of their skills, they didn’t ask either to do more than was reasonable for a first year player.
Both completed over 60 percent of their passes for the year and worked within the scope of a conservative offensive structure. They were told to avoid risk and each threw for more touchdowns than interceptions — a major reason why each team won 11 games and qualified for the postseason.
Make sure they visualize success (see What Assembling a Christmas Gift Can Teach Us About Helping Workers Succeed). Each worker should have a clear picture of what will greet them at the finish line.
No project should be perceived as insignificant. In my workshops I use the analogy of the people who collect our trash. We don’t think much about them until they don’t show up. Then their job is very significant. Regardless of the size of a job it has value and that should be stressed from the beginning. When we think something isn’t important we may tend to give it less attention and a lukewarm effort, and that’s when problems happen. As actors often say, there are no small parts, just small actors.
When the results come in
Upon completion of the job, the managers does three things:
- Celebrate
- Tell the worker why she was successful and how you feel about that
- Hand out the next assignment
The celebration part is easy. If you did your homework you already know what the worker likes. If it’s food, the whole team parties. Even if it’s not, I’d make eating fun food a part of it the first time. Let the team know that the impromptu munchies are courtesy of their new member’s good efforts.
It’s important to do a post mortem on the project so it’s clear to the worker what went right, as well as what could have been improved. Don’t make this a monologue, it should be interactive. Very important: don’t just tell her that the job was a success, also tell make it clear that you’re personally happy with the work, her decision making, and attention to detail (whatever the praise calls for).
In most cases the worker will remember your personal pleasure about her success more than anything else. It’s that meaningful and gets the relationship off to a strong start.
Finally, the next assignment should be a little more challenging than the first. As Robert Browning wrote: “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”
Did I miss anything. What could you add?

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One Comment
Farrhad A
Great post Jerry, loved reading it
Also, am seeing your code to see how I can help you with the field.
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