An Experiment in Trust and Social Creation

I've railed many, many times that when it comes to incentive, recognition and reward programs, the award is the tail and the design is the dog.  

But it seems that folks really want to wag the dog rather than the tail.  

Maybe 'cuz it's easier and faster.  Maybe 'cuz it's sexier.  I don't know but most people make a bee-line for the awards before even considering the need, the objective, the timing, heck - before anything.

That my friends is a mistake.  A big one.

First of all awards are pretty much what you make them.  Each award option has a different appeal.  Each award option has different financial arrangements.  Each award targets something different in people and in what the sponsoring company wants to achieve.

Awards don't drive design.  Design drives awards.

Some Transparency Please

But, since awards seem to be the drawing card I thought I'd just address it outright.  So, just for grins, I created a document listing the major award options on Google Docs - and opened it to anyone with this link (or click on the image to the right) to edit and contribute.  I put some thoughts down on what I saw as the basics and the costs/value and pros/cons for the various options.

I know there are a bagillion different variations on these award options but I'm hoping to keep it somewhat simple so that it's usable.

Feel free to jump over, read the document - add your thoughts - make this "our" document - not mine or theirs.  

Understand however, I will be editing so don't make this your personal bully-pulpit for a specific award.  Make sure it's honest and transparent.  I'm doing this for the buyer - not the seller.

If you have an issue with anything I delete or change - feel free to shoot me an email (contact info here) and we can discuss off the grid so to speak.

Let's see if we can create a document that actually helps people.  Thanks in advance for your help.

Comments

[Gene Goetting]

Great post, the business world has too high degree of focus on extrinsic motivators and not enough of a focus on intrinsic motivators. I hope anyone set in their career will get the personal gratification they deserve and employers realize their employees are people.

[Paul Hebert]

Thanks Gene for the comments. Just so you know - I created an entire site around social creation of this stuff. Called Transparent Incentives it can be found here: http://sites.google.com/site/transparentincentives/