In my first entry on employee rewards, I emphasized the importance of knowing the recipient well enough to reward them with something that is meaningful to them.

But there is more to effective reward programs than providing a meaningful award. Let's take a step back and explore answers to the questions: What is the purpose of a reward program? How can we innovate to make reward programs more effective?

Rewards reinforce desired behavior so they are repeated.

For instance, If Arthur creates exemplary C++ code that satisfies the organization's desired tradeoffs for quality, speed and economy; rewarding Arthur reinforces his behavior and sends a clear signal to the other people in the organization about what is desired.

Reward (reinforce) immediately after the accomplishment of the desired behavior.

For instance, rewarding Arthur for his exemplary code nine months after it creation, during the company Christmas party, poorly communicates management's desire. It has neither a chance of reinforcing Arthur's behavior or sending a clear signal to the rest of the organization about what is desired.

Reward all the team members for the accomplishments of a team.

A team is different than a group of individuals. See my entry What Type of Team are You Managing?

All the members of a team deserve a reward for their accomplishments as team rather than rewarding individual team members for their special accomplishments.

For instance, a reward for a team in the Seattle area, where I live, might be a one-half day trip to the Boeing Air & Space Museum complete with a special speaker who compares a period in the history of airline technology similar with what your company is trying to accomplish.

If you reward team members for their individual accomplishments, you are reinforcing that individual's behavior and sending a clear message to the other team members about the behavior you desire. This strategy can backfire.

Individual awards may trigger team members who covet rewards to consider their teammates as competition. Don't underestimate the power of rewards to produce unintended consequences.

I prefer rewarding the entire team, but I recognize there are situation where rewarding a member of a team for their accomplishment has merit. The example of Arthur that I mentioned earlier is a case in point.

Use your imagination for rewards. Test your ideas with members of your team to confirm they like the idea. Ask them for ideas.

Ask yourself the following question when you are considering rewarding someone:

• What is a meaningful award for the team or individual?
  
• What desired behavior am I reinforcing?
• What am I communicating to the other members of the team or group?
• What are potential unintended consequences?

Tell me about rewards you have received that you liked. Tell me about rewards you would like to receive. Tell me about any team awards you have enjoyed.

Click here to read my final installment on rewards.

©2007 Steven M Smith 

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form

Title
Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Email
Website
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
	Add Comment