Incentive Intelligence

Gamification of Incentives and Recognition

I had a conversation with a reward and recognition professional the other day.  They asked me “what do you think of gamification in the recognition world?”  The implied addition to that sentence was, “versus the incentive world.”

My response... “Not good for recognition.  Good for incentive.”

He said – “y’know – that might make a good post.” 

Aaaaaannnnnnnd here we are.

What is Gamification

You’d have to be one of the actors in the GEICO commercials to not have heard about gamification.  Gamification is the new black.  Gamification will cure hiccups.  Gamification is the new “it” girl. 

And like any idea – it can be used for good – or evil.  Here’s a link to a pretty robust article on the gamification craze. 

From the post...

Gamification is:

The use of gameplay mechanics for non-game applications. The term also suggests the process of using game thinking to solve problems and engage audiences. 

And it is expected to be big...

A recent Gartner report from April of this year suggests as much. Analysts predict that by 2015, more than 50% of organizations will gamify their innovation processes.

“By 2014, a gamified service for consumer goods marketing and customer retention will become as important as Facebook, eBay or Amazon, and more than 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application,” the Gartner report concludes.

Why Incentives And Not Recognition?

If you don’t really believe or understand the difference between incentive programs and recognition programs stop reading now.  The rest of this post will just confuse you and make you mad. 

Or check out some posts on this subject here, here, here, and here, then come back.

 

Incentives+Gamification = Good

Game mechanics – Points, Badgets, Levels, Leaderboards, and Challengaes – apply many of the influence techniques and social psychology things we talk about here on the site, consistency, commitment, scarcity, social proof.  They all play a role in influencing someone’s behavior and can turbo-charge an incentive program.

Now – time to split hairs – but it’s important. 

You can recognize achievements in an incentive program (that’s good) and levels and badges are those events.  They are recognition of specific achievements. 

But... they are not “recognition programs.”  They are recognition events within an incentive.  (Read that again -important concept time.)

 

RecognitionPrograms +Gamification = Bad

Recognition programs – ones that are driven from corporate culture and long-term business and personal values - do NOT lend themselves to overt gamification.

Here’s why...

First of all – they are already “gamified” – but in a more refined manner.

Think about it.  Recognition programs provide levels of achievement.  Recognition is already about assigning someone to a category whether that be “innovator” or “top sales” or “top service rep.”  Recognition programs rest on some of the elements of the gamification foundation.

But... and this is a big but (I cannot lie,) to add a level of “gamification” to an already “gamified” platform is like – well, adding peanut butter to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  It is just too much.  It changes the sandwich from something good and gooey to something just gooey.  Adding gamification on top of a high-level recognition program just makes it less good and more gooey.  

Gamification = manipulation. 

If you “gamify” a recognition program – start layering in things that take away from the core values you dilute the real intent.  The real intent of a strategic recognition program is to reinforce a culture – reinforce core beliefs and tenets.  Gamification, in the word itself, communicates that the system can be manipulated.

In addition, gamification is about short-term – it’s about the “next step” – not the big picture.

Strategic corporate recognition programs reward bigger issues than a simple behavior.  Recognition programs – the strategic kind – not the little employee of the month parking space kind – require a more dignified approach (IMHO).

Can you use gamification in an overall recognition strategy?

Sure. 

Will it communicate that you don’t take recognition seriously and you think it is a game to be played versus a business approach to be lived?  Yep. 

Will people be engaged?  Yes. 

Engaged in scamming the system to get the badges, levels, etc., not to be recognized for their connection to the mission and values of the company.

Gamification takes the focus off the outcome and places it squarely on the game.  Recognition should focus squarely on the outcome and take the focus off the game.

So... if your incentive supplier wants to add gaming elements to your incentive program say “Tell me more.”

If they want to add gamification to your strategic recognition program, well, as they say in “The Holy Grail” – RUN AWAAAAAAAY....

(Video below from "The Holy Grail" - some may say NSF, but I think it's okay.  Email and RSS subscribers may need to visit the post on the website here.)

 

 

 

Related articles

• Maritz Says Game Dynamics Will Revolutionize Employee Recognition (prweb.com)
• Combining Recognition Awards & Games in the Workplace (awardemployees.com)
• Major Difference between Incentives or Recognition Programs (awardemployees.com)

Just Because I'm a Giver... The Incentive & Reward Compendium

A somewhat new service is available in beta called "Scoop.it." 

Scoop.it allows you to create a "newspaper" of sorts from things you find interesting on the web.  I'm experimenting with the service and of course I thought of you, gentle reader.

I asked myself - "what would help my readers in their day-to-day life and business."  And I answered - "a grouping of articles that someone else took the time to read and evaluate so that they can see what's hot and what's not in the incentive industry with little or no effort on their part."

That, is what Scoop.it facilitates.  And that is what I'm offering to you.  So, for the first (and possibly the last - but probably not) time I give you the...

The I2I Incentive and Reward Compendium

I subscribe to over 350 different blogs, sites, what-have-yous on a variety of subjects from science and pyschology to how to build steam-punk watches.  In addition, I monitor my twitter stream where I'm following 2,000+ people.  I also get a lot via email.  I have a lot of info coming in.  

It's from all those input streams that I find ideas for posts on this blog, posts on the FistfulofTalent blog and posts for clients and friends.  It's how I keep up with the industry and business in general.  

And now you can have a subset of that firehouse, vetted and consolidated for your reading pleasure.  

It's simply called the I2I Incentive and Reward Industry Compendium.

Want to Be Included?

Many of the feeds I get are from incentive and reward companies.  Some of their blogs have some interesting stuff you should be aware of.  In fact - if you want to be sure you're at least included in the first pass shoot me a note and let me know where your site is and I'll take a look and add it to my reader list.

CAVEAT:  If you have your feed set up to only show a "summary" or an excerpt so that I have to click through to the site - forget it.  Don't bother sending me the site info.  Feeds that only show a summary are simply padding their web page stats trading clicks for readers.  I don't click through.  I ignore the content ... period.  No exceptions.  A feed reader is for me to get info WITHOUT clicking out to your site.  So don't suggest your site if it only offers a summary feed.  (btw - none of your readers appeciate it either - it's a pain in the ass and it shows that the site is about you not them - they will remember that.  Just sayin'.)

Hope you find it interesting and helpful.  Let me know what you think in the comments.  Continue or cut?  Your call.

 

Use Your Smart Phone to Build Your Award Catalog

I only ask for 5% of revenues when this idea is built.  And it will be.  By me or someone else ‘cuz it’s brilliant, infinitely doable, cool, and did I say brilliant?

But like all great ideas I can’t take full credit.  If it weren’t for @chrisferdinandi and his blog "Go Make Things" I wouldn’t have thought of this the other day.

Chris uncovered an application using QRCodes, built by Tesco Korea (big global grocery company) that is simply brilliant as well.  (I’m using brilliant a lot lately – makes me sound British, no?)  From his blog...

"Tesco recreated an entire grocery store with signage in Korean subways. The layout and items were identical to those in their actual stores. Each item was labeled with a QR code. People waiting for their train could simply scan the QR codes to add items to their list, and have them delivered while they ride the train."

Also on his site is a video of how it works.  It is, have I said, brilliant?

What’s in Your Catalog

So I’m thinking... one of things every incentive company deals with is developing a catalog for award point redemption.  In the past it was paper-based and supported by a big staff of buyers and designers and printers.  Back in the day we'd actually have catalog wars – “mine is bigger than yours” fights and delays in launching to see if we could get a copy of the competitor's catalog and make ours bigger and badder.  We spent a lot of money on those things ($1 Million plus.)  Then the internet came along and everything went online.  Then Amazon.com got in (and then back out quickly) which changed our idea of what “lots of items” meant and now if an incentive company can’t say they have “millions” of items – well – they are just pikers aren't they?

But what if---- what if you could build your own individual and personal catalog simply by using the barcode scanner on your smart phone? 

You can use both QRCodes and Barcodes - there already are apps that scan the barcode and then tell you the price of the item at different stores so this is not a stretch.

Think about it.  Shopping in Kohls and you like that shirt?  Whip out our smart phone – punch the “My Catalog” app and up pops your barcode reader software, takes a picture of the item/bar code and uploads it to your personal online catalog.  As you earn points in your program (and this could be employee, channel or consumer) your app reminds you of what is in your catalog at various point levels and as you hit those levels it asks if you want to order it.  If you say yes... then automagically (I’ll admit I don’t have this all worked out – but hey – I never said it was VC ready) behind the scenes the item is ordered and shipped to your house/work/mistresses' condo. 

So... whadda ya think?  Should I start looking for retirement homes in France?

I know we think autonomy, mastery and purpose are great – but what’s really great is setting goals (internal AND external) and working toward them and receiving the reward WE WANT when we hit those goals.

I think it is brilliant (I know, again.)  But I think chip bag clips are the smartest thing I’ve seen in a while too...

PS... just to be trendy - we could also put a social sharing app in this that let's other people in the program see what you have made public in your catalog so they could add it to their catalog or share info on the item if they already have it (kind of a +1 for awards).  Okay, now maybe it's 10% of revenues. 

Hit me in the comments on via email and let me know when to expect the checks.

 

Recognition As Social Lubricant – Connecting Silos in Your Company

Recognition is the new black.

I say that for a few reasons.

1. Survey after survey after survey show that employees want and desire recognition (I’d say validation but why pick nits) – and most companies are doing a poor job at it
2. Recognition is THE thing that affects retention, engagement and motivation (again – being lazy and not linking out – just google it – the data is there)
3. When facebook does it, it must be true.  I used to say, “if it’s on google it must be true – but I think facebook has become the new bellweather for truthiness – and they are instituting feature after feature that allow individuals to like, connect and recognize what others on facebook are doing.
4. When Ze Frank creates a social service called Star.me then recognition has either arrived or jumped the shark (sort of a Schrödinger’s Cat paradox me thinks.)

Star.Me

Star.me is a new startup by Ze Frank – an internet celebrity from a few years back (some would say still but for me not so much.)  He climbed the internet celebrity ladder with his blog “The Show with Ze Frank” – which I used to connect to regularly.  He is a “performance artist.”  He has no training or experience in the recognition and reward space and yet he is leading a new start up called Star.me – which is all about recognition.  Go figure.

Star.me is a new social network driven by the giving and receiving of “stars.”  Prompted by the stars he remembers teachers giving out in his childhood Ze Frank believe we all need more stars.  And his new startup is a way to give and get them.  Star.me is in private beta (I don’t have credentials yet – and is built as a social network leveraging just about all the “gamification” (jeez to I hate that term) elements available to keep you engaged with the site.

The site isn’t for companies – it’s designed for the general public.  Below is a video embed from Techcrunch where Ze Frank talks about his new start up.  (Email and RSS subscribers may have to click through to the post to see video.)

More comments after the video.

My first impression of the interview, other than the hair fail, is that Ze Frank had no clue why recognition is good – just that it is, that it is needed and he wanted to find a way to monetize it and collect some Benjamin’s.  He was pretty vague about the value of recognition and why people want stars other than some memory of getting them in school. 

But...buried in the interview was this key (and I think hugely important comment)

“Recognition lubricates social interaction.”

Silos and Crossing Them

Silos are ubiquitous in most companies.  Silos are also kryptonite to innovation and collaboration.  When companies have big, established silos, most employees won’t reach out and connect across silos for fear of reprisals and retribution.  Unfortunately, crossing silos is like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters - you don't do it.

But recognition may be the one thing that makes crossing silos acceptable.

Like Ze Frank said – recognition is the lubricant for social interaction.  Making sure your employees have ways and methods of connecting and recognizing each other within and between organizational silos lubricates the interactions that must happen in order for innovation, engagement, and collaboration to occur.  It is very difficult to refuse a meeting or a conversation with someone who just recognized your work or highlighted how great you are in the company program or on the company intranet.  You can’t refuse a meeting if the person requesting it just gave you a big thumbs up in the Peer-2-Peer recognition program. 

Cross the streams – provide the lubricant needed for social interaction in your company and watch as silos melt away – and overall company performance increases.

 

 

Vendor Recognition – Enlisting Additional Business Intelligence

What if you knew what the next big thing will be for your industry?  What if you could almost predict where your new market will be?  Wouldn’t it be great if you could figure out, before your competition, what your current customers (and a few non-customers) would be looking for 6 months, a year or 2 years from now?  Yeah.  That would be valuable information.

Early Warning Signals

One thing I’ve watched happen in the many different industries (including the incentive industry more than once) is that we get caught flatfooted on many changes (big and small.)  We spend so much time worrying about how we’ll make money this week, this month, this quarter – we forget to pay attention to how we will make money in 5 years or 3 years or even 2 years. 

But I know one way to help mediate this issue.

Recognize your vendors.  Yup.  Your vendors.

Outside the Wall

Employee recognition has fast become the initiative of the week.  My google alerts are constantly pinging with a new blog post or article about recognizing employees to reduce turnover, increase recruiting effectiveness, cure the common cold.  Employee recognition is now standard.  And, if you’ve paid any attention at all here on this site you know we are firmly in the “pro recognition” camp.

But many companies still ignore a critical reference point for business success.  Vendor relationships.

The Evil That Provides Insight

Vendors should be considered part of your recognition ecosystem and should be evaluated and recognized regularly. 

“But, vendors aren’t real people.  They are there for us to beat up for price concession and take advantage of when the bar bill comes around.  Why should we spend anytime recognizing them?  They’re just a necessary evil – they’re just, well, vendors.”

Vendors Are People Too – and Smart Ones

Here’s why your vendors should be part of your recognition strategy...

1. Many processes, products, sub-assemblies and services are being outsourced today.  Companies are focusing on their “core competencies” and leaving the non-value add stuff to someone else (read “vendor”.)  I’m sure you’ve got more vendors today than ever before.  Your vendor performance is as critical to your success as your employees are.  In fact – many vendors spend more time in you offices than your employees do.  Keeping them focused on your goals and objectives is too important to leave to chance.
2. Vendors work with other companies.  They see what you don’t.  They see what many others are doing.  They are an early warning system for new applications and ideas.  They are working on a variety of opportunities that are probably adjacent to what you do and can provide interesting information on what is going on the space you occupy.
3. Vendors are people too.  They will help those that help them.  Treat them like crap – they probably won’t tell you a competitor is considering a new process or procedure that could shave millions off the cost of their service.  Why should they?  You’ve been taking advantage of them and treating them like a stray dog.  They will simply let you continue to make mistakes, charge you for them and wield the specter of “out of scope” when the changes hit.
4. You spent time and money doing the due diligence to find the smartest, best vendors (or for those enlighten companies – partners) to help you be successful.  Why spend that energy to get the best and brightest working for you and then treat them like crap?  Doesn’t make sense for employees –doesn’t make sense for vendors either.
5. It’s the right thing to do.  It’s just plain good manners my friend.

I’ve probably not spent as much time on vendor recognition and reward as I should.  In fact one the largest engagements we did this year was all around how to best recognize vendors to drive future business.

Vendors Are Really Employees With W-9s Instead of W-2s

Vendors are a more important part of your business success than ever before and should be an active and important part of your recognition strategy.  They will appreciate it – and when they appreciate you – they help you.  Running an effective and visible vendor recognition and reward program will pay dividends for years to come.

So – next time when you meet with vendors for lunch or drinks – at least pick up the freakin’ tab. 

It’s the right thing to do.

 

 

Related articles

• Don't Launch Your Recognition Program If Leadership Sucks (i2i-align.com)

Where Do You Fit on the Engagement Adoption Curve?

In 1962 Everett Rogers came out with a book called Diffusion of Innovations.  In that book he outlined the process he thought governed how new ideas are adopted by a population – specifically consumers.  He also categorized people based on their “adoption” timing.  Geoffrey Moore built on this concept and applied it to businesses in his books Crossing the Chasm and Dealing with Darwin (and others - highly recommend them all!) 

Rogers outlined five different adoption categories as follows: 

Innovators	Innovators are the first individuals to adopt an innovation,  take risks, are the youngest, have the highest social class, are very social, have closest contact to scientific sources and interaction with other innovators.
Early Adopters	This is the second fastest category of individuals who adopt an innovation and they have the ighest degree of opinion leadership among the other adopter categories, typically younger in age, have advanced education, and are more socially forward than late adopters. They also are more picky with their choice of adoption than the early adopters.
Early Majority	Individuals in this category adopt an innovation after a varying degree of time. This time of adoption is significantly longer than the innovators and early adopters.  They are waiting to see what the early adopters are doing.
Late Majority	Individuals in this category will adopt an innovation after the average member of the society. These individuals approach an innovation with a high degree of skepticism and after the majority of society has adopted the innovation.
Laggards	The last to adopt an innovation, show little to no opinion leadership, have an aversion to change-agent. Laggards typically tend to be focused on “tradition.”

For whatever reason, this idea popped into my head the other day and I started thinking about reward and recognition strategies and how we engage our employees (and channel partners for that matter.)  I realized that companies also fall into an “adoption” curve when it comes to engaging and rewarding/recognizing their employees.  Unfortunately, it’s a skewed curve – and that can be a problem not only for the employee – but for the company as well.

Technology Adoption Curve

The curve Rogers designed included what he thought was the percentage of the population that fell into each category.  He used a “normal distribution and the curve looks like this:

I looked at that curve and asked myself – what strategies and techniques currently being used by companies to engage and drive employee performance would fall into each of the categories?  In other words - which of the techniques being applied are innovative and which are old and tired.  The chart below shows what I quickly came up with (feel free to argue/add to this list in the comments.)

But when I looked at the curve it just didn’t look right.  When I think about the companies I talk to and the conversations I have with industry folks - companies are not following a normal distribution when it comes to adoption of engagement ideas. 

In fact, based on my decidedly unscientific take on the industry, I would suggest that the curve for adoption skews heavily into the late stage adoption groups like the curve below.  The red boxes show the percentage of companies I believe are in each of the categories.  Again – argue/comment below – love to get your feedback.

Why?

Now the big question – why do you think the curve skews so far to late adoption?  My take:

Too much to lose if they are wrong. 

In consumer worlds, trying a bad idea rarely breaks the bank, but in the business world a company that invests a lot in untried and new ideas runs the risk of going out of business.  Espeically in the HR world where either you can’t (or won’t) do some sort of pilot testing to see if the new idea has merit.

No Focus on Employees

Part of me thinks that too many companies just don’t get the idea that people are the new competitive advantage.  They still think great marketing, great products, opaque pricing and asymmetric information is the path to success.  Unfortunately, they forget there is no great product, great marketing, great conversations without people.  And technology has eliminated the whole asymmetric info thing... just google it.

They Aren’t Desperate Yet

Desperation makes people do amazing, scary, unbelievable things (can you say 127 Days?.)  While I don’t think any of the ideas that are “new” are scary – they are amazing – but many companies won’t change ANYTHING until they absolutely have too... and then it will be too late IMHO.

Find Yourself on the Curve

Check out the curve – check out the definitions.  Are you a laggard, early adopter, or a late majority?  Then go ask someone else.  They will tell you the truth. 

Remember – 90% of the people surveyed think they are above average – so does your company – so do you.  But I’m suggesting being average is being behind. 

Look at the left side of the graph – those are the things you should be talking about – not whether you should give Mary Employee of the Month because she hit the time-clock 19 out of 20 days on time.

Comments, ideas, thoughts? 

 

Does Focusing on Great Corporate Culture Cause Unethical Behavior?

Many, if not all companies want their employees to be “pro-organization.”  We want our employees to look out for the success of the company (and avoid things that cause failure.)  Entire industries have sprung up to drive engagement, cultural fit, and to help create an almost zealous focus on success of the organization.  Balancing work-life issues, creating better working environments where we can bring our kids and have them a few floors away in company-sponsored day-care are all ways in which companies strive to get employees to “feel” for the company in a positive way.  These efforts drive retention, recruitment, positive word of mouth – and ultimately – success for the company.

And they also can increase unethical behavior.

Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior (UPB)

UPB is something I’d not thought of before but I think it will be a bigger issue in many companies as they continue their quest for engaged employees.  The definition  of UPB is: 

unethical behavior that benefits the corporation.  

Think of cooking numbers to boost analyst projections and stock values or withholding information about the hazards of a pharmaceutical product.  

The website Futurity.org highlighted a recent study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology that examined the relationship between UPB and an employee’s degree of organizational identification.  The question they wanted to answer was – are employees more likely to engage in UPB if they identify more with the organization?  

And the answer is yes – if there is a something called positive reciprocity in the mix.  

Meaning, if I, as an employee identify strongly with an organization (think zappos - #hrhappyhour folks must take a drink now) AND if something has been done for them (think daycare, sabbaticals, awards and recognition) they are more likely to behave unethically to benefit the organization.

Engagement And The Force

Like any engagement strategy (heck, any strategy) – there is a good side and a dark side (cue Darth Vader music) – and the more a company does for their employees in order to drive engagement – the more I’d be worried about a few rogue managers, wittingly or unwittingly, creating situations where an employee feels compelled to do something they wouldn’t normally do.  And, like any behavior – it can start small - fudging an invoice to a client, spinning a product flaw as a benefit - and ultimately become a habit.

Take this little word of advice - the more you do to drive engagement in your organization – the more I would train my managers on this little bit of information.

Something to think about on Friday the 13th.  

I know, just when you thought you had this engagement thing all figured out.

 

Related articles

• Ethics Isn't an Incentive Objective (i2i-align.com)

Combining Corporate Cultures – Your Recognition Strategy Needs Some SNA

Mergers and acquisitions are common.  But they can be risky.  Therefore, a lot of effort and work goes into looking at financial data and systems/technology issues as well as branding and marketing synergies.  What isn’t obvious – or at least talked about – is the need for understanding the social networks at play in the companies being considered by the buyers/sellers.  At least it hasn’t been obvious in the stuff I see in my reader and in my ongoing searches.

Example – 1+1+1= 1

A little while ago, we received a call from a company that was soon to be going through a “merger.”  The parent company owned three companies they were combining into one big entity.  Each of the companies had their own culture and “way of doing things.”  The person who contacted me wanted to talk through how to structure a recognition strategy so that they could begin reinforcing the “new” culture of the organization.  Smart move on his part.  I applaud him for thinking about it before the merger and not after the merger - when the problems would have been bigger and more difficult to address.

Each of the three companies had their own recognition program in place.  Each had their strengths and weaknesses.  Each was tied to the individual company mission/values.  In their own right – each company had done a good job.  The client wanted to know how to combine the three programs.

Our Recommendation... Step One - Social Network Analysis

We recommended – before any program design work was started - they do a social network analysis of the employees to find out who is connected to whom.  We wanted to identify who in the three companies where both connected internally and externally.  We wanted to know who our potential allies and foes would be when the program was finally designed.  We wanted to know who had real social influence – not just “org chart” influence.

I say “we recommended” because Josh Letourneau (follow him on twitter @jletourneau) from Knight & Bishop and I collaborated on the proposal (mostly so I could take advantage of his smarts – I really got the best part of that pairing!)  Josh does great stuff in the SNA world and we thought we could combine his skills identifying the players with our skills designing the program with the players.

Josh and I explained that if we could identify these “internal and external connectors” we could leverage their influence in the design of the program, evangelizing the new program structure and connecting within and across the three merging organizations and increase adoption of the program.  These “connected” folks are critical.  They are the ones that others will look to for opinion.  And if they are connected both within and across organizations – they can have maximum impact.  There are always those folks in a company whose opinion drives other’s opinions.  These are the folks you want to know about.

Step Two – Enlist the Connectors as Co-Designers

Our goal was two-fold – first, use the connectors as our ad hoc “design team” so that we could get their buy-in on the program design/strategy.  We all know that no one thinks their own baby is ugly.  Having this group be part of the design process ensures the final program will be something they will speak positively about with other employees.  They won’t go out and say “hey, jump into this program – I designed it and it’s terrible.”  Not happening.  They will sell this positively because it is theirs.

Second – having people who connect within and across company org charts gives us a big leg up on the overall adoption of the new cultural norms.  They are our “virus carriers” so to speak.  If we had only picked people that connected within an organization the new culture virus might not spread to the other companies involved.  However, by picking those folks who are both connecting within and between – we get the best of both worlds and we can expect the positive work-of-mouth to be big.

Don’t Play the Game Until After you Pick Your Players

So the moral of this little story – If you’re trying to create a single company culture that is the result of a merger of cultures – find your trusted connectors first and enlist them in the design.  Don’t design and then deploy without involving your best line of offense.

By-The-Way – this is a good strategy for any major change in any initiative at your company.  Enlist the people who influence others but don’t necessarily show up as influencers on your org charts.  Truth is, many of those you would expect to be positive influencers are really negative sources of influence. 

Plenty of companies have that mean, crabby, socially-crippled Sr. VP of Ops that when he/she says something everyone laughs and assumes it must be wrong.  Don't want them "selling" the program.

Find the real influencers before trying to influence.  Just sayin...

 

Recognition – You Can Be My +1

Short post today ... watching the Colbert Report the other day and he mentioned, “you can be my +1” when talking with a guest.  That linked somehow in my head to recognition awards that involve travel or some sort of party/event/celebration.

What if...

You gave each of the award earners for any recognition award the ability to invite a +1?

What if you had an award ceremony where you highlight the achievements of those receiving recognition and they then had to invite and then talk about how their +1 helped them get the recognition?  What if you allow those that earn your top performer travel award to invite a +1 - someone who was instrumental in helping them earn the award.  No one is an island.  We all rely on others to get our jobs done - and top performers are no different.  I'm also guessing Management might just be a little surprised on who their top performers pick as their +1.

Think about the goodwill.  Think about the value of extending the recognition outside the confines of the “committee” (I always think Communist Russia when I think of the "committee.")

And this could be used in almost any recognition structure – take Peer-2-Peer programs for example:  If you get recognized by a peer you have to add a +1 to your notification or you don’t get the reward/recognition.  Or if you have a departmental program – whomever gets the award has to nominate and recognize their +1.

If you think about it – the idea of a +1 for invitations to events is all about picking someone you would want to share that event with.  Why wouldn’t that same idea hold for recognition?

I think you should try this.

I think, on a scale of 1-10, it's an 11 (‘cuz that's one more.)

 

Related articles

• Service Anniversaries Revisited (i2i-align.com)
• A little Social Recognition Goes a Long Way (davisad.blogspot.com)
• Active Communications VS Passive Communications in Reward and Recognition Programs (i2i-align.com)

Your Facebook Friends are Now In YOUR Reward Program

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Technology – specifically the social space – is always, read that again – always changing.  It’s tough to keep up, with let alone actually leverage.  Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, a new idea, application, approach, comes along and makes what you just spent 10 weeks on so “2008” or just lame.

Here’s a new one for you reward and recognition fans... SolidPunch.

SolidPunch Is YOUR Reward Platform

SolidPunch (name choice aside) sounds interesting.  It is an app, currently in private beta, provided by PunchTab (iphone only right now – sorry Android folks) that connects with your Facebook friends and allows you to “punch” their ticket when they do something nice for you – just like those old-timey punch cards at the car wash or fast food restaurants.  Pulling from the TechCrunch article where I found out about it...

"Did a friend buy you lunch? You can give them a punch. Similar to the way your Subway Club Card works, your friends earn punches. When they accumulate, 6 punches you can send them a reward or coupon from the PunchTab catalog for free (PunchTab makes money when a friend uses the coupon to buy an item).

PunchTab’s website allows publishers to give reward points to users who check in to your site or blog every day. Visitors, which authenticate via Facebook Connect, can earn points for Facebook comments, WordPress comments and Facebook likes. Once a publisher rewards a users, the visitor can redeem the reward through the PunchTab rewards catalog. The startup says the integration is simple, only requiring a publisher to add a few lines of code."

So in effect, through this little app – and only with those folks that connect with me on Facebook – I can run an incentive and reward program.  Nice.  

Prediction – while today it’s Facebook specific – I’d expect to see the concept roll to twitter, Linkedin, discus (social network app for commenting on blogs – for those of you in Rio Linda) or “insert social network here.”  

The idea is the same regardless of network – and I’m sure with the technology today it’s a simple matter of connecting.

Where Would I Use this?

Couple of things I can think of off the top of my head...

Consumer brands – no brainer...

• Like our Facebook page – get a punch
• Refer a friend on Facebook – get a punch
• Mention us in a status update on Facebook – get a punch
• Get 10 Punches get a badge for your Facebook profile.
• Check in with Facebook at a retail location – get a punch

(BTW – the brand gets the data so just imagine what that might provide in terms of market intelligence.)

Today SolidPunch is Facebook only so the B2B applications are maybe a little less obvious (although some B2B brands have a good Facebook following – I just haven’t seen the real killer app for B2B and Facebook – maybe this is it?)

• Comment on a blog post – get a punchRetweet our tweet on our blog post (and have it go to your Facebook update) – get a punch.
• Go to our webinar – get a punch.
• Attend our conference – get a punch
• Stop my our booth at a trade show – get a punch

What is interesting to me is that this really allows anyone with a big Facebook following the ability to run a reward program – and shape behavior through the various activities that lead to behaviors.  

What’s your take on this?  Will it take off?  Is it just another interesting idea that won’t go anywhere?

I personally think there is something here – but not sure what it is just yet.  Needs more fermenting time.