Best way to motivate?
Paul in Cannon Beach
4,703 Posts
I have been mulling this over in my mind and wanted to see what you all thought.
Ok, here goes:
Discipline - should be consistent and almost always private.
Reward - should be inconsistent and sometimes public, sometimes private.
Ok, here is my reasoning. One of the most POWERFUL motivators is "random gratification". That is when you never know when you will get the big reward. Some of the most addictive sports are based on this theory (golf, fishing, surfing). Your efforts are not consistently rewarded causing you to work even harder for that elusive moment of gratification.
Consistent reward becomes expected reward. Expected reward loses its impact and becomes an entitlement.
Reward that is public is great. But I also see some value in private, discrete reward that says "good job" and also makes it clear that not all rewards get publicly touted.
Thoughts?
Paul
Ok, here goes:
Discipline - should be consistent and almost always private.
Reward - should be inconsistent and sometimes public, sometimes private.
Ok, here is my reasoning. One of the most POWERFUL motivators is "random gratification". That is when you never know when you will get the big reward. Some of the most addictive sports are based on this theory (golf, fishing, surfing). Your efforts are not consistently rewarded causing you to work even harder for that elusive moment of gratification.
Consistent reward becomes expected reward. Expected reward loses its impact and becomes an entitlement.
Reward that is public is great. But I also see some value in private, discrete reward that says "good job" and also makes it clear that not all rewards get publicly touted.
Thoughts?
Paul
Comments
Our company periodically sends employees on "road trips" for service calls or technical support (such as monitoring elections using our electronic voting machines in various places like Florida - but that is another story).
We sent 6 employees to an election in Florida last September and the director wanted to reward them for their efforts with a spot bonus. I agreed, but said to keep it private. My reasoning was these people were hand-picked, well-fed, and entertained on this trip. Other employees could have been upset thinking they had a wonderful Florida vacation on the company dime and were rewarded on top of it. It wasn't really a wonderful vacation. So, they received their bonuses and a private thankyou from their managers.
Of course, for me, I value the green stuff. Hehehehe.
Cinderella
Anne in Ohio
We were bought out 5 years ago. The old company did not give bonuses, pay increases were very subjective (no pay scale, no job titles), no car small rewards. Our new company has an employee of the month program, we give out car wash tickets, we give away nice clothing from the company store, gift certificates to the local mall, etc. Sometimes it seems the more we do, the "some" people complain. But, fortunately there are many employees who are very appreciative of what we do - that makes it all worthwhile.
Does anyone agree that INCONSISTENT motivation and reward may be superior to conistent and expected reward? Is anyone actually putting that into practice?
Sometimes I see the downside of reward and motivation programs is that you get to the point where you are basically rewarding someone for simply doing their job.
A random or inconsistent reward program would possibly address that. I am not saying that you don't say "thanks" to employees who work hard. I am just saying maybe you don't have an established program of rewards but rather look for special moments to celebrate achievement.
Paul
A true given "thank you, and it was a pleasure to have this special time with you, and the next trip I have "I will be seeking you out to help us achieve the objectives of the mission, your talents and skills made the trip worth while". By the way, "I have asked the company to recognize your efforts on our behalf". Let me know when they give you that Pink HUMMV"!
As an HR, wrap your arms around the ability to say "thank You" and push the ability to throw money at the project to the side! PORK
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman
Sonny: Sometimes when an incident is highly public, I believe its necessary to make some public acknowledgment that something was done to address it. I am not saying get into specifics or violate privacy.
Example: Say an employee lost their temper and very publicly cussed out the supervisor. Say it was the hot water cooler topic for several days. Its my opinion that instead of leaving employees in the dark, some type of tactful acknowledgement of the incident and the fact that it is being dealt with (not specific) is appropriate.
Paul