Incentive Manifesto 9.5 Theses

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 help by adding your comments.  Hope to get to 95 some day.

1. People are not the same as you. Thou shalt not design an incentive in your likeness – chances are your audience isn’t as turned on by getting a signed CD of Taylor Hicks' first album after he won American Idol as you are.


2. Your program rules should be transparent.  Thou shalt not design a program with hidden agendas, rules, winners, losers, earners, non-earners, special awards and “we’ll give it to her because she worked really hard even though she didn’t hit the goal” backdoors.  Program design should be simple, easy and moral.


3. Recognition is different than Incentive. Thou shalt not reward only a small portion of your audience and call it an incentive.  When only 10% can earn an award – 90% will do their darnedest to make your life miserable.  If you only have enough money to reward 10% - revisit the problem – and your solution.


4. Incentive programs should be explainable in 25 words or less.  Thou shalt not use an entire legal pad of paper to explain how someone can earn an award.  Long rules with multiple qualifiers and more information on how something doesn’t count toward the award does more to stifle motivation and desire than doing nothing at all.


5. Hard measurement is required. Thou shalt not run a program with soft measurements and opinion as the only qualifier for awards.  These are called popularity contests – not incentives or recognition.  Save it for high school prom night.


6. Communication is more important than awards. Thou shalt not run an incentive and recognition program without communicating early, often and accurately what is going on, who are hitting goals, who are earning awards, how it is succeeding.  People are curious and communicating how people are doing in a program has more motivational impact than one individual getting an iPod with Taylor Hicks’ first CD after winning American Idol preloaded on it.


7. Ask people to set goals. Thou shalt not run an incentive program without asking your audience to tell you what they expect to get out of the program.  Without personal goals (not the number you assign – but what they can realize/experience – if they hit that number) the program is still yours not theirs.  When a participant sets a personal goal the program becomes theirs and they can now visualize the success.  They can visualize themselves at the Taylor Hicks concert – or using the new BBQ on their deck with friends.  Make it personal.


8. Focus on behaviors. Thou shalt not run an incentive program that focuses solely on results.  Results are the “result” of doing a lot of individual things right.  Reward the little things and the big things take care of themselves.  Ask yourself (better yet, ask the participants) what they can do individually to help you achieve the result you want.  That is what you should reward.  Rewarding results creates a Machiavellian environment – the ends will justify the means and you don’t want that.


9. Budget according to impact.  Thou shalt not short change the program.  If the goals are big, if the changes in behavior are big, if the effort is big – the awards should reflect the impact.  Don’t offer a key chain for turning around a company – and by contrast – don’t offer a weekend with Taylor Hicks for simply filling out expense reports correctly.  Balance baby, balance.

    9.5  Always follow up after a program.  Thou shalt not run a program without getting both measurable and opinion data from the audience.  You must know if it worked – and if the audience was involved.  That can only be done by comparing results expected and results achieved.  But don’t make the mistake of only looking at the numbers.  What did the audience “feel” about the program?  Did they feel manipulated (bad thing) or did they feel it was reflective of their effort and that they understood the need and direction of the program? 

There you have it – the 9.5 Theses. 

I can honestly tell you if you do all of these things you will have a much, much better experience with your program than if you don’t.

Now – what about the other 85.5 – anyone care to add?

Comments

[Frank Roche]

Brilliant!