"When the system, not the person, drives the behaviour"

I once praised a developer for updating our internal wiki with some useful information.
It was unusual for the team, so I made a big deal of it by highlighting it in front of everyone.

Not long after, during reviews, I discovered that “document a specific process on the wiki” was one of their goals for the year.
With review season looming, they’d rushed in the change to tick the box.

It left me wondering, was I celebrating initiative, or just compliance?

Here’s the thing: both are true. The update was valuable and it revealed how goals can shape behavior in unexpected ways.

That’s the real lesson: when you see a new behavior, don’t just celebrate it. Ask yourself, what system produced it, and will that system encourage it again once review season is over?

Until next time,
Dermot
The Messy Middle.

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