Owner: Incentive Intelligence URL:http://incentive-intelligence.typepad.com/ Join Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:15:17 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Thinking differently about incentive, performance improvement and marketing services. Site statistics:Click here
Does Organization Structure Hurt Innovation? 2008-03-07 04:00:00 I recently posted on whether you can motivate people to be innovative. I believe you can only provide an environment where innovation can take hold and reward those that take the leap and the risk to connect to and appreciate different points of view. Unfortunately, many companies are not structured in a way that allows for innovation. Gary Hamel's newest book - "The Future of Management" - takes a stab at how the organization of... Read more:Organization
, Structure
, Innovation
Mechanistic Motivation 2008-03-06 04:00:00 Grant McCracken offered a great post on February 29th on his blog "This Blog Sits at the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics." In the post Grant discusses a recent "argument" about whether Malcom Gladwell's "influencers" from his "Tipping Point" book really influence markets or whether, as Duncan Watts states, that all members in a network are just as likely to transmit information and therefore the impact of "influencers" is much less than Gladwell indicated. Some...
Power & Influence 2008-03-05 04:01:00 A key in any incentive, reward and recognition program is the need to communicate to the audience they can achieve a goal - they are powerful and have control over the outcomes. When designed correctly incentive programs put the onus for success squarely on the participants shoulders. We have to communicate to the participant they CAN do this! Influencing your participants is a form of power. This article on Ed Batista's blog talks about power...
I don't have a category for this one...Ugh! 2008-03-04 04:27:00 Andy Wibbels had a recent post titled Motivational Coach Waterboards Employee. I had to read it. And I couldn't believe what I read. In a nutshell... A supervisor at a motivational coaching business in Provo is accused of waterboarding an employee in front of his sales team to demonstrate that they should work as hard on sales as the employee had worked to breathe. "In a lawsuit filed last month, former Prosper, Inc. salesman Chad...
Shameless Self-Promotion 2008-03-03 04:00:00 Thought I'd let you in on a little secret... I've got a side gig. I am authoring a monthly column on the Incentive Magazine website. I think they will be spinning off the Incentive section of Manage Smarter as a separate online entity in April and your's truly is going to be authoring a monthly column. Hopefully, it will be beneficial (or at least comment-worthy) to the incentive world. A preview column is up now... Read more:Shameless
Incentive Manifesto 9.5 Theses 2008-03-12 07:54:30 Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses and started the Protestant Reformation. Levine, Locke, Searls & Weinberger wrote The Cluetrain Manifesto
and they had their 95 Theses. I’m too lazy to think of 95 of anything so I offer the Incentive
Manifesto – a 10% effort and therefore only 9.5 Theses. There are more, but I’m not willing to do the other 85.5 today. Maybe I’ll build on it – or better yet – you can...
Awards? 2008-03-10 04:00:00 One of the things I rail against in the "incentive" industry is the over-reliance on a single tool to influence behavior - specifically awards (merchandise, travel and/or prepaid cards.) I believe (and have seen through research and first-hand experience) that your target audience can be aligned with and without awards. This article on Business Week highlights how Ritz Carlton aligns and influences the behavior of their front-line employees that landed them in the top spot... Read more:Awards
Face it ... you don't matter anymore. 2008-03-14 04:00:00 What "we" say - meaning managers, supervisors, executives, etc. within an organization isn't as relevant anymore. When worrying about employee retention and recruitment don't worry about what you think - worry about what they think. Many a company has asked me to develop an employee retention "program" but the truth is their own employees are their retention program - as well as their recruiting program. It couldn't have been said any better than in this... Read more:matter
Big Picture Versus Little Pieces 2008-03-19 07:21:27 If you've followed this blog for any time now you know I highlight the work of Dr. Robert Cialdini quite a bit. What you may not know is he also runs a consulting organization that focuses on using the techniques of influence to achieve ethical goals. Part of that effort includes an email newsletter. My most recent update from his group highlighted something that has application in the design and communication of incentive and reward... Read more:Picture
Make An Emotional Connection 2008-03-26 04:14:00 Today almost everything is measurable. And that ability has driven a almost maniacal focus on numbers, return, percentages, etc. Everything has a number attached to it. Run an incentive program and without a doubt the goals are numbers, the rewards are numerical (points, dollars, credits.) But numbers do funny things. Numbers turn on a portion of our brain that evaluates and makes judgments about value and relationships. Offer 10 points per sale and the first... Read more:Emotional
Leveraging the Blogosphere! 2008-03-25 12:13:33 Conversations - the new marketing (or just the old marketing enabled by internet tubes?) You may remember that Joseph Jaffe used the power of the blogosphere to help market his book - "Join the Conversation" - and I helped with that endeveor by writing my review here. He called it "UNM2PNM" - Using New Marketing To Prove New Marketing. Another experiment was being conducted concurrently with Mr. Jaffe's efforts. Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan leveraged... Read more:Blogosphere
Odd Outcomes 2008-03-24 04:00:00 I spend a good bit of time in rental cars when traveling for business. One of the great things I get to experience is satellite radio. Specifically, the comedy channels. A few weeks back I was in the car for about an hour and was listening to one of the comedy channels and heard a story from a comedian that was probably the funniest "clean" joke I've heard in a long time - and with... Read more:Outcomes
A Little Redirect? 2008-04-02 07:09:29 Just a note to say I have a post on the Fistful of Talent Blog today. Be sure to subscribe when you get there and don't forget to say "Hi!" to my colleagues who contribute by visiting their home sites. All authors are listed on the left side. Update: Didn't know this was going up today but I also have a post on Incentive Magazine - hop over and see why too much choice in... Read more:Redirect
A day at the zoo... 2008-04-01 05:47:01 Do you ever wonder why you just can't seem to get your boss or co-worker to help you or at least contribute to the cause? Why is it you always seem to be the one to pick up the slack around the office? Or why do your kids or spouse continue to do things you repeatedly tell them not to - or don't do things you repeatedly tell them to do? Well - according to...
Decades into 6 Words 2008-03-31 04:00:00 Rowan Manahan from the Emerald Isle and the H2O behind Fortify Your Oasis, has tagged me to continue a meme floating through the blogosphere. This one is to comprise a memoir of only 6 words. It would have been much easier to do had I been asked for 600. But constraints are great tools to use when looking for vital thoughts (there's another post in that thought about vital behaviors and results - stay tuned.)... Read more:Decades
, Words
I see right through you... 2008-04-04 04:08:00 It used to be a derogatory remark to say someone was transparent. It was an insult. However, today, if your employees say it - take it as a compliment. One of the surest ways to influence the behavior within your company is to be honest, open and transparent. While the requirement of corporate transparency has been hung around the neck of Millennials and Gen Xers - I believe it should be attached to any employee....
Energized Incompetence 2008-04-03 04:00:00 I heard this statement many, many years ago as I was learning the ropes in the incentive world. During training on how to develop an effective incentive program the point was made that the audience needs to have the capability to do the thing you're motivating. If they can't do what you're providing an incentive for then you end up with "energized incompetence." Rolls off the tongue doesn't it. Too bad it is one of...
Don't Send Mixed Messages 2008-04-07 04:00:00 Recently I posted on making the "emotional" connection to awards through experience. That post focused mostly on how we communicate the award and earning process. But that is only one element of the "influence equation." I firmly believe that the goal, the communication method and the reward, are all part of a continuum of influence and each of the elements much match up in order to get the most out of the initiative. Furthering this... Read more:Mixed
Influence and Incentives - More than a toaster 2008-04-10 05:35:03 You may have noticed at the bottom of the left sidebar in My Library section a few new books in my mix of bedside reading. I haven't read them all yet - but they are queued up and ready to go. One I finished a few weeks back is of particular note: "Influencer - The Power To Change Anything." This book, is good from the point of view that it lays out a nice framework... Read more:Incentives
The Loss Of Strategic Focus 2008-04-14 08:53:14 Sometimes you run across a posting or an article that makes you sit back in your chair and say, "whoa," (run best Keanu Reeves impression.) That happened when I read this post on the Trust Matters blog (a blog from Trusted Advisors) by Charles Green. That post linked to another post on his blog here. To quote from the first post: The business world of today is heavily driven by two trends—fragmentation of processes, and... Read more:Strategic
, Focus
Knee Jerk Reactions and Conventional Wisdom 2008-04-16 06:19:58 Reward and recognition programs have become somewhat reflexive in business. Similar to a Doctor hitting your knee with his/her little rubber hammer and looking for the involuntary response from the patellar tendon - businesses install and conduct incentive and reward programs without really thinking through the impact they will, should and could have. Designing programs in this way leads to poor performance and lost money. A perfect example is this article on PsyBlog - Do... Read more:Reactions
, Conventional
, Wisdom
Blog Memes...Breaking Away 2008-04-17 04:07:00 I have been tagged by Ann Bares of Compensation Force with a new blog meme. I love Ann's blog and if you have any input on compensation within your organization it is a resource you should be aware of. For those of you new to the concept a blog "meme" is sort of like a chain letter for bloggers. Typically, they ask a question, ask for your answer and then ask you to "tag" or... Read more:Memes
, Breaking
Challenge the World - Challenge Your Employees 2008-04-21 12:14:51 I've posted before (here, here) on the X-Prize and it's progeny. The X Prize and it's ilk offer huge sums of money to solve a specific problem. From Netflix to Amazon and Sir Richard Branson - the idea of offering a prize - or an incentive - for innovations is catching on. This article on Fast Company even goes as far as to call it a "new business model." "We think prizes are a potential... Read more:Challenge
, World
Me, You, Us - Team-based Rewards and Recognition 2008-04-29 05:51:13 So much as been made of the changing workforce - from the retirement of Boomers to the narcissistic tendencies of Generation Y and all the challenges of motivating and rewarding a more diverse group of workers. These are facts and they will impact how you design and conduct programs and initiatives to guide behavior within your company and your distribution channel. However, one area that hasn't received as much press - and probably has greater... Read more:Rewards
, Recognition
Some Praise for an Unexpected Email 2008-04-30 04:50:09 Sometimes I just love being a blogger. I love the fact that I can connect with someone I wouldn't normally connect with and see that that what I've been communicating has resonated with an audience member. Case in point. My "office" is in Dayton, OH, but I normally work remotely from South Carolina. I know - heck of a commute but just spend one February in Ohio and one in South Carolina and you'll nod... Read more:Praise
, Unexpected
, Email
Really, it's not you it's me... 2008-05-02 04:00:00 One of the things that is consistently tossed around in the incentive and performance improvement industry is the fact that the "new kids" that make up the participant base don't get it. I'm hearing that the programs being run don't work on them - they want instant, they want choice, they want freedom. What's wrong with an online catalog? Why do they need real-time standings updates - and on their phone?! How can we communicate...
Not Enough RAM 2008-05-05 04:00:00 Many (too many) times I have used the excuse when I forget a task that with all that's going on in the business world today that I "don't have enough available RAM (random access memory for those technically challenged.)" There are so many things that seem to be front and center in the ongoing activity of consulting and writing and thinking (oh my) that something is bound to slip through. Unfortunately, you can't just plug... Read more:Enough
Double Your Pleasure 2008-05-07 07:20:06 Today is a "2-fer" for Incentive Intelligence. Two posts on two separate sites. First: My monthly column on Incentive Magazine is up - "The Difference Between Incentives and Recognition." Not just the spelling my friend - there are core differences that impact success. And two... a post on Fistful of Talent (FOT.) You may have noticed the badge on the left side of this blog highlighting FOT. Sponsored by the IPQC and a featured blog...
Energized Ignorance 2008-05-12 07:07:42 I apologize for the sporadic posts lately. I have a bit more than usual on my plate and some things just get pushed down the list. Unfortunately, this site is one of the things that has to suffer. I posted a few days back about "Energized Incompetence" and hopefully communicated that not only do you need to ensure people have a reason to change behavior but that they also have the skills
Failure is now an option... 2008-05-20 04:00:00 Would you like an incentive plan that rewarded you 50 points or credits even if you missed your goal or objective by 50%? Would you like to be paid a minimum commission regardless of how low your actual performance was? Sure. Who wouldn't. Well, the folks that did hit their goal for one might have a problem with it. But no one would set up a system of scoring where the minimum is a set... Read more:option
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