Santa Claus is the Reason for All the Bad Incentive Programs

I made an offhand comment on my post last week introducing the December episode of Influence Insiders blogtalkradio show.  I mentioned that Santa Claus managed the world's largest incentive program.  At first I thought it was just a throwaway line but the more I thought about it the more I realized that the structure of Christmas may just be the real cause for all of the poorly designed programs.

Before you call Bah Humbug on me let's deconstruct a timeless classic song that describes the "Christmas Reward" program.  

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town

First of all the positioning of the program is all wrong.  Santa is focusing solely on bad behaviors.  There is little focus on the positive behaviors we really want to reinforce.  In other words, the program is really about doing NOTHING.  The best bet for participants (children) is to take no risks, take no initiative.  You are almost guaranteed to get some reward if you just keep your head below the log and stay out of sight.

He's making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who's naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!

Wow.  Talk about micro-managing.  Santa is watching every single thing you do.  How many of us perform well under these conditions?  Ever try to type with someone looking over your shoulder?  It's tough.  The best typist goes from a 90 words-a-minute whiz to a monkey with two hooks for hands under scrutiny.  Talk about pressure.  It's a wonder we don't have more kids OD-ing on Prilosec.

And think about it... this verse says he's ACTIVELY looking for problems - he's spying on you.  How'd you feel when you found out your company logs your emails and reviews them from time to time.

And what about the goals of the program "Be good for goodness sake!"  How soft can you get.  What does that mean?  How do you measure "good?"  Unless the criteria can be quantified you can't reward it.  Not only that - how many individual behaviors can be classified as "good?"  Too many for any participant to keep track of.  It's almost a given that every participant in the program will fail.  What kind of design is that?

O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town    

And just in case you forgot... another verse at the end to really cement the fact that you are under the gun.  Not to mention, the repetition of "Santa Claus is coming to town" sounds eerily like the clarion call that goes out every time the CEO/Sr. VP visits the office.  Boy - don't forget his/her favorite bagel spread or you'll be washing all the Jags and BMWs in the heated executive garage.
 

So Here's The Point

Christmas may well be our earliest experience with an incentive program.  And it's a terrible structure.  It focuses on negatives, it micromanages your behavior, has too many goals and leaves no room for innovation.

And probably the worst part is that it isn't fair.  Even those kids that behaved badly still get presents.  I know my own experience was that no matter how badly I screwed up each year I still got something under the tree.  How does that help reinforce the "good" versus "bad" criteria?

If most of our leaders had similar experiences as me then it's no wonder the incentive programs designed to today aren't fair, rely on too many metrics and have poor criteria design.  

Blame Santa - 'cuz I know it's not my fault.

Comments

[Steve Boese]

Classic - and thanks for ruining Christmas! Seriously good stuff, very apt comparisons for sure.

[Paul Hebert]

My pleasure Steve! I'm sure I'll find something to post that will make my heart grow three sizes before Christmas day!

[Jason Seiden]

Not to put too fine a point on it, right?

Well played.

[Paul Hebert]

Thanks Jason - could't find a way to work "hotties" into it though. That was genius. I'm sure you got your share of spam on that one!

[Fran Melmed]

no worries, paul. i'll put the hotty in it (lol). fabulous post -- had me giggling and ah-hummming my way through it. now to go collect all my kids' presents. don't want to give them the wrong message.

f

[Crystal Peterson]

Darn it, we were just singing this last night! :-)
Great post, Paul, and so true. Need to focus on rewarding the positive and to stop actively looking for the negative.
Now I have to go find a new song.....

[Debbie]

Incentive program- Ha!

Bravo!