Survey

Discretionary Effort

Discretionary effort can best be described as the extra level of performance people (could) give when they want to do something as opposed to when they feel like they have to something. People often refer to this as the difference between commitment (doing it because we want to) and compliance (doing it because we have to…or else!).

Behaviorally speaking, discretionary performance will occur only when (the desired) behavior is positively reinforced. Positive reinforcement can come from sources internal to the person (we call that intrinsic motivation) as well as from the environment surrounding him or her. If people do only enough to avoid experiencing negative consequences, discretionary performance will not occur.

As leaders, we must ask ourselves, are we creating a work environment where employees “want to” give extra effort? Are we positively reinforcing those behaviors when we see them? If the answer to those questions is “yes,” there is a high probability that we encouraging discretionary effort in the workplace. (Braksick, 2000)

Braksick, L, Unlock Behavior, Unleash Profits, McGraw-Hill, 2000