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executive
management
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Boost
Results With Effective
Incentives
by Peter Meyer for Solutions Magazine
Mark called me last month with one of the
hard questions. "How can I get better
rewards for less? I know from your
workshops that I can get more results from
rewards. What do I do?" We have less money
for rewards. We want the rewards to lead
directly to more performance. Is there a
better answer you can give?
In this article, we will look at five
levels of reward and show you a working
model. It is a model that focuses
employees on the work to be done instead
of on the financial value of the reward.
You could use the model to do what Mark
did and set up a hierarchy of rewards, or
just to give out a single reward.
The Principle
Mark is a second level manager. Nine
tenths of his people have been in the job
less than a year. Most of them have one
career manager but report to at least two
different people for their day to day
work. In structuring his reward program,
we used all of these as advantages.
Mark changed the normal emphasis on money
as a reward to an empha sis on motivators.
Specifically, we re-created Maslow's
hierarchy of human needs in words that his
managers would use day to day. This
hierarchy defines the order in which he
gives rewards. Level five rewards are the
most meaningful to both the employee and
to the company.
We
decided that it was important to tie
rewards prospectively to work. In other
words, instead of rewarding in a way that
relies on recognition to work, we are
rewarding with tools that get more work
done.
Levels One and Two - Basic
Requirements
Level one of Mark's hierarchy of needs is
to provide basic physical living
requirements like food and shelter. Level
two is to provide stability and security
for the employee and his or her family.
These are issues in Mark's department. The
intensity of work causes his people to
miss time at home and with their families.
Although money and dinners are common
rewards in most organizations, Mark
quickly determined that these reward at no
higher than level two. To Mark, this
barely meets minimum requirements.
Level Three - Being With Peers
Level three of this hierarchy is to be
with people. It recognizes that people are
motivated to join, just to be with others.
With his people reporting to other
departments for day to day direction and
help, he is able to take advantage of this
for his reward structure.
Mark wants his managers to focus rewards
on the future job to be done. So they are
structuring interaction with more and more
field people to be a reward, not a duty.
Entry level for Mark's employees includes
little field interaction. As the employee
grows in the job, the manager increases
the interaction.
Both the employee and the company gain
from this. The employee identifies more
and more fully with that group. This
improves their feelings about the work, at
the same time it is a reward that will
improve results for the company.
Level Four - Peer Recognition
Level four, peer recognition, is a
powerful motivator. Most managers look
here for rewards.
Early on Mark and his managers improved
their definition of peers. Peers are not
just other people at the same level.
Managers are also peers, but never more
than peers.
Mark is carefully planning recognition.
Now, when an employee does an outstanding
job, he or she is recognized in front
of the peers who got the most benefit.
If the peers are salespeople in Boston,
the employee flies to Boston and the
highest manager available recognizes the
employee in front of that employee's
customer.
To go with the recognition, Mark's team
will hand out something visible. He wants
it to show up and stay visible, so he is
planning to use an inexpensive engraved
small brass cube. Small because there is
only so much room in a cubicle. Brass
because it is very visible. Any employee
can win one, and they can win as many as
they want. A desk with six cubes would
imply an employee collecting great peer
recognition.
The advantage comes from recognition among
as many peers as possible, and in such a
way that work benefits as well. When his
or her customers applaud the results, the
employee wants to work harder for
them.
The Fifth Level - More Success Through
Self Recognition
Maslow refers to self-actualization, but
Mark tends to think in terms of the
benefits that accrue when an employee
recognizes him or herself.
Self recognition is a
wonderful reward. Nothing stays with an
employee longer than how he or she feels
about him or herself. This reward
needn't cost much, and needn't take much
time from the manager. It does take a
valuable executive skill - the ability to
ask a question you know the answer to, and
let someone else answer it.
For example: At peer recognition
events the presenter does more than
applaud. The presenter also asks the
employee how they actually did the task
that earned the reward. When the employee
responds, they are recognizing their own
actions. It is a form of self reward. An
extra bonus is that their peers are
learning at the same time.
This is something you can try yourself the
next time you thank someone. Ask them, in
front of you or in front of a group, what
they did to make that event occur. Watch
the employee glow.
The next step is to connect the reward to
the work. For example, when the self
recognition occurs, and there are several
new tasks coming up. Mark will let the
employee bid on one of them. The way to
get the opportunity to choose the next
project is to attain peer and self
recognition from the current one.
There is no reason that you cannot allow
the employee to bid on a tool or a project
or a customer (internal or external
instead of a task). Do you have any new
tools coming to the lab? Why not give it
to a person who will excel with it. It
helps him or her. It helps the
company.
What you open to bid for this depends on
two things. One is what you need to keep
the company moving forward. The second is
what the employee will see as a way to get
more self recognition. When you do both,
the reward becomes prospective at the same
time it recognizes the past.
Eventually your best employees start to
work more and more for themselves. They do
it for a reward program that adds little
cost to your budget, and delivers more
enthusiasm and skill to the work at
hand.
Mark's managers use this as their
hierarchy of needs. They choose rewards
based on how far up the pyramid they go. A
reward, such as cash or dinner out, may
only get two levels off the bottom.
Another reward, involving self respect,
may get to the top.
This article is similar to the one that
appeared in Solutions Magazine. It is copr
1995 by the Meyer Group, all rights
reserved.
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