COMMON PITFALLS TO AWARD PROGRAMS

1
COMMON PITFALLS TO AWARD PROGRAMS

• Jody Urquhart
• Idoinspire.com

2
COMMON PITFALLS

• There are some major pitfalls to generic award
  programs
• 1. The reward is handed down from management and
• reinforces imbalances in power.
• 2. It can be patronizing to receive a small award
  for a
• large accomplishment.
• 3. The accomplishment is often a team effort. It
  fosters
• resentment when just one person gets the
  reward.

3

• 4. They cause competition.
• 5. The reward usually occurs annually or
  semi-annually,
• thereby greatly postponing recognition for
  superior
• daily performance.
• 6. Salary raises are nice, but seldom motivate
  people to
• consistently achieve on the job.
• 7. Top performers are often the same people every
  month.
• A formal award system may become a program
  that
• neglects secondary achievements. How is this
  helping
• the rest of your staff? You may be causing
  resentment.

4

• 8. The most common flaw of award programs is that
  they often reward people for doing work they were
  supposed to do anyway.
• Why are formal award systems so popular then? The
• main advantage to formal awards is that they are
  easy to
• administer. All you need to do is calculate how
  close (or
• how far) people get to their goal, find the top
  achievers
• and acknowledge them with your standard reward.
  This
• advantage is also the major disadvantage.

5

• Formal awards are a mass acknowledgment
  program. They
• can be very impersonal and dont take into
  account the
• strengths, accomplishments, or efforts of
  individuals. They
• dont take into account employees say. Formal
  award systems
• recognize one narrow aspect of the job (such as
  increased
• revenue, sales or productivity) and those few
  employees who
• are good at achieving that goal. By contrast,
  informal
• recognition programs focus on Spontaneous and
  personal
• appreciation of employee efforts.

6
The Art Of Appreciating Others

• 1. Specific Talk very specifically about what
  you saw the
• person do. General motivational clichés like
  good team player will have a lukewarm effect.
• 2. Immediate Obviously praising someone for
  something she did nearly a year ago is a waste of
  time because the best acknowledgment is
  immediate. Catch someone in the act of doing
  well and compliment the behavior on the spot.

7

• 3. Personal Use the persons name and talk about
  the
• qualities they bring to the team.
• 4. Spontaneous Never script compliments it
  helps to
• practice them regularly so you can be
  spontaneous.
• Acknowledgment doesnt have to come from a
  manager. Train
• and encourage all employees to recognize each
  other. Train
• in the four steps above and have employees
  role-play to
• acknowledge one another. Create a culture of
  appreciation
• (see below) where employees regularly recognize
  each others
• contributions.

8
Thank You

• http//www.idoinspire.com