Managing Stress for Success

Motivational Speaker Carole Spiers
helps you make your incentives more inventive

If anyone doubts the continuing importance of employee incentives, they should note the number of thriving consultancies with titles like 'personnel reward providers', 'employee engagement leaders' or 'strategic recognition solutions'.

Incentives are a major test of motivational psychology, where logic and reason are only one half of the picture. The successful motivator must be able to read the other half - those dimly-seen motives and desires hidden in the irrational right-brain. For example, the usual demand for more money, especially by someone quite well-paid, is often a code for some other dissatisfaction that they either won’t recognise or don’t feel like talking about.

Bluntly, your salary influences the quality of your life off-duty, but not on-duty. It is your state of well-being throughout the working day that motivators should turn their attention to.

Difference between reward and recognition

Reward is the more straightforward notion - a bonus proportionate to an official score-rate. Recognition is sometimes defined as an acknowledgement for having 'gone the extra mile' - perhaps volunteering to help out during an emergency. But there should also be recognition of the same constructive attitude in the carrying-out of everyday tasks, in fact any tendency to perform beyond the minimum requirement.

Recognising this attitude by awarding points within a structured scheme geared to corporate values, with the results made public, will soon show up in the improved retention of key managers.

And how to cash-in these points?

One company had the brainwave of giving the monthly winner a reserved parking-space at the coveted front-gate location, where even the directors weren't allowed to park.

A more standard incentive is a branded corporate credit-card offering discounts at quality stores. Suddenly you're wearing suits and shoes you thought were beyond your reach, reminding you that your efforts were genuinely appreciated. Meanwhile, the company has got itself a happier and better-dressed employee into the bargain.

Employee incentives - summary

• Many top marketing consultancies are dedicated to incentives only
• A good incentive scheme can motivate better than money alone
• A selective retail discount scheme can yield lasting satisfactions

Another key insight from Carole Spiers, International Leading Authority on Corporate Stress,
Motivational Speaker and BBC Broadcaster.