Good Behaviour, Bad Behaviour

I have had some conversations this week around good vs bad behaviour in the workplace. Outside of commonly agreed bad behaviour or illegal/unethical behaviour, determining “bad behaviour” can be quite subjective – determined by formal and informal workplace culture. When a manager asks me to work with a staff member to make sure that they “behave well” in the workplace, I know that all of us are in for a challenge!

At the deepest level, “behaving well” is intrinsically motivated rather than extrinsically motivated. External motivation is based on what you do rather than who you are. For example, people highly motivated by recognition, strong or capable leadership and management, stability in their career, are externally motivated. People that are more internally motivated