How often do you give feedback to your team? Do you aim to catch people doing things right or wrong?
There are lots of ways of rewarding your team and one of the most popular is to provide food. It is well known that communing together and eating together is a great way to build relationships and to break down barriers with people. In fact, it is so well documented it's a wonder we don't do it more often.
The downside to providing a weekly breakfast, of course, is that it begins to become expected and viewed as an entitlement rather than a benefit that is gifted. One way around this is to link the weekly breakfast to the attainment of weekly goals.
However, I have found a far more powerful way of engaging people is to give them the breakfast Ken Blanchard calls the food of champions. This food of champions is feedback.
The speed of feedback often reflects the speed of success. Organisations that have good feedback loops create a culture that is responsive, engaging, innovative and are often viewed in an admirable light. This is because they achieve extraordinary results, benefiting from the wonders of synergy - where a team is able to produce far more by working together as a cohesive unit striving towards a common goal.