On Monday I shared a Bnet video that gave excellent tips and insight for recognition done right. In a recent article, Bnet’s Kevin Gray highlighted HP’s failure with incentive pay, an equally excellent example of recognition done wrong.
In the early 1990s, HP added a bonus system, with was “highly experimental” for the HP culture of the time. The plan tied 10-20% of worker pay to team performance. The results?
As I’ve said before, that’s a key problem of incentives -- you are pre-directing effort in a way that eliminates the need for creativity and can actually discourage innovation and the desire to give additional discretionary effort - often with unintended consequences. Incentives are all about the prize – the reward.
Recognition is all about the praise – the after-the-fact acknowledgment and appreciation of exceptional effort. Strategic recognition goes a step further to tie this appreciation to a company value or strategic objective, ensuring employees are demonstrating those values in line with your company mission and goals.