The Don'ts List
Don't confuse reinforcement with bribery
There is a big difference between rewarding someone for doing a behavior and rewarding them for promising to do something. The latter is bribery (which parents are prone to do -"I'll let you watch tv if you promise to do your homework after this show"), and the only behavior it reinforces or increases is making promises. If you work with a volunteer that requires particular coaxing to do anything, watch yourself to make sure you are not bribing him or her.
Don't make praise sandwiches
How many times have you said or heard "I really liked what you did, but..." While people might do this to "soften the blow," mixing praise with punishment is never a good idea. It creates a cringe factor, because volunteers will start expecting bad news whenever they hear good. Also, it weakens the effect of both the reinforcer and the criticism. It's fine to mix the good with the bad during a performance appraisal-in fact, you will usually have to-but don't confuse six month reviews and the like with opportunities for reinforcement.
Don't start competitions
In every group there are going to be a range of abilities and motivation. Do not punish the less capable people by making rewards available only to the "best" person. It creates a hostile atmosphere instead of fostering collaboration. If you want a fun competition to increase productivity, measure individual volunteers against their previous performance ("Let's see if you can improve on last week's achievements" instead of "Whoever does the most this week wins").
Don't take things lightly
Deliver what you say you will. If reinforcement does not follow a behavior, then that action is much less likely to be repeated. On the other hand, when you do use a reinforcement, mean it. A "Volunteer of the Month" type program that has nothing to do with performance will not be reinforcing. In fact, it may give people the impression that the organization does not care what type of job they do.
Don't stop once you get results
This is a mistake most supervisors commit: once they see that the volunteer is reacting favorably to the reinforcement (i.e., by increasing the particular behavior), they stop reinforcing. You can reinforce less often (this process in called thinning), but do not stop reinforcing all together, or you run the risk of extinguishing, or stopping, the volunteer's desirably behavior.
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