While getting employees to deliver great performance is important, it’s also important to reinforce the value of that performance. Of course, pizza parties, ice cream, and an extra hour for lunch are nice perks, but they don’t necessarily offer a continuous reminder of your expectations. So how can you create an environment that continuously reinforces the value of doing a great job?

By emphasizing to employees how their performance impacts (negatively or positively) other offices within your organization; the customers in those offices; or the customers outside those offices. This is not as difficult as it sounds. You have to talk to employees about work and they have to talk to you as well. So you have many opportunities to discuss the impact of performance.

However, this does require some consistency and commitment on your part, as well as some sincerity. In other words, if you are going to tell employees that their performance really matters, you have to “believe” it yourself and you have to regularly highlight that value.

Review the following 10 strategies. Some are contingent upon others. For example, strategy 2 and 3 are contingent upon strategy 1 “Give employees a copy of the organizational chart where you work.” This means that in order to talk about “performance impact” employees need to know the offices they serve. Other strategies are stand–alone.

1. Give employees a copy of the organizational chart where you work. Or place an organizational chart in a place visible to all employees. Your goal is to have a tool to highlight how employee tasks directly impacts the mission, goals, projects, etc. in other offices.

2. Develop a “who we serve” list, which contains your internal and external customers. Have employees help you develop this list by using methods like a group meeting, email, or a public bulletin board. Your goal is to have a tool to highlight how employee tasks directly impact customers.

3. When you assign tasks, always identify how those tasks directly impact other offices or customers.

4. When employees complete tasks, always identify how those tasks directly impacted other offices or customers.

5. When you discuss workload problems, always identify how the resolution of those problems will directly impact other offices or customers.

6. Begin or End each staff meeting with a positive result within your immediate office or somewhere else in the company. Link this positive result to three or four specific employee behaviors.

7. Begin or End each staff meeting with a positive customer experience within your immediate office or somewhere else in the company. Link this positive experience to three or four specific employee behaviors.

8. Have a weekly 5-minute “what’s good about what we do” discussion. Seek volunteer comments about the positive impact of your services or products. Link these “good” things to three or four specific employee behaviors.

9. At the end of each month, have a 15-minute “what we accomplished” meeting. Seek volunteer comments about the achievements. Link these achievements to three or four specific employee behaviors.

10. After the completion of major projects, have a “what we learned” discussion. Seek volunteer comments about the learning. Link these things to three or four specific employee behaviors.

Bottom line, to reinforce performance you have to find some way to create frequent reminders about your expectations. Some of these strategies may work for you and some may not. Select a few and try them. You might be pleasantly surprised. Oh! And don’t forget the pizza and ice cream.