Dangling Carrots

From time-to-time we assist client organizations in designing and implementing pay for performance incentive programs. Generally, it is upon discovering problems with "Rewards" when we conduct an assessment as described in the lead article.

Whenever I undertake a project of this nature I team-up with Dr. James Lakso who is an expert in such matters. Jim's day job is as Provost at Juniata College.

Recently, Jim referred me to an excellent resource: People, Pay & Performance by Flannery et. al., Free Press, 1996.

A central tenet of this work is the importance of aligning pay incentive strategies with the unique needs of the organization: if you will, its culture. Put another way, an effective incentive program for one organization can fail miserably with another.

We help clients gain a comprehensive understanding of rewards. We look at both extrinsic (salary, cash bonuses, "set of steak knives") and intrinsic rewards. The latter are less tangible, but often more powerful. They include personal and professional growth, belonging, recognition and satisfaction from a job well done. To motivate people you need to do more than dangle carrots.