Before we progress too much into this article, first we should discuss the meaning of “inner work life” – it is the emotions, motivations, and perceptions that constitute a person’s reaction to the events of the work day. Not only does this affect the overall person’s well being, it can ultimately affect the bottom line of your organization.  When people have a positive “inner work life,” they are more creative, engaged, productive, committed – and the list goes on and on.

One of the top job tasks as Senior Executives is enabling employee engagement throughout your forces and monitoring progress toward your defined strategy.  As a senior leader, typically you don’t have a lot of opportunities to affect the positive inner work life, but you would be surprised on how the smallest action such as what you do or say can make a huge impact to those on your team. 

These mistakes or traps, described by McKinsey Quarterly, fall into four categories.  These traps were derived from over 850 daily electronic diaries from upper or top-level managers. 

1. Trap 1 – Mediocrity Signals – Like all organizations, you desire greatness – using your mission statements to relay your message.  But are you sending mixed messages?  Are you sending messages that your organization is mediocre? Does your workforce think they work for a mediocre company?
2. Trap 2 – Strategic ‘Attention Deficit Disorder’ – Many top leaders are beginning to research new initiatives and strategies and then dropping those ideas before they can see if they are truly working.
3. Trap 3 – Corporate Keystone Kops – This trap was named after the Keystone Kops – the fictional policeman who wasted a lot of time, running around in circles and not accomplishing anything. When coordination and support are not visible at a company, people start to lack self confidence.  This makes it really hard to have a sense of purpose throughout your organization.
4. Trap 4 – Misbegotten ‘Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals’ – These larger than life goals can be so extreme they are seen as unattainable, causing much dismay throughout your organization.

As a top leader, how can you avoid these traps? For starters, you can ask yourself these questions:

1. When you communicate with employees, do you provide strategic clarity that’s consistent with your company’s capabilities and a clear understanding of where it can add the most value?
2. Can you keep sight of the individual employee’s perspective? 
3. Do you have any early-warning signs that indicate when your view from the top isn’t reality to what is on the ground?

This article states the importance of senior executives and how they can provide a sense of purpose and progress.  You are the front line to identify and communicate the higher purpose of what people can do within your organization.  Do this correctly, and you will create an environment that enables engagement and productivity.  What can you do within your organization to avoid the traps?  We would love to hear your thoughts.     

Let’s be honest, all of us are motivated by money, but it is only a short-term motivator and will not provide the long-term lift organizations are hoping for. You might ask yourself, if money is not a good motivator, then what is? According to the 2009 McKinsey global survey of executives, managers, and employees (from a range of job sectors), some nonfinancial motivators are more effective than extra cash in creating and increasing employee engagement. The participants in the survey stated three non-cash motivators that are more effective than cash motivators. Those non-cash motivators are:

1. Praise from immediate managers
2. Leadership attention
3. Chance to lead projects or tasks

Recognition comes in all shapes and sizes – from a simple thank you to a recipient’s choice of merchandise. But what is most important is the power it generates to inspire employees to perform above and beyond which ultimately accelerates the bottom line. 

And there couldn’t be a better time. We have large organizations that are implementing enterprise-wide recognition systems to reduce cost and promote innovation while reducing administrative burden from existing recognition tools.  Instituting a recognition system within your organization can be your gauge to supporting effective outcomes.  It also provides constant feedback, stimulates collaboration, drives engagement, increases productivity – the list goes on and on.  What is your organization doing to recognize others?

360 Communities offers more 50 services including healthy family programs, child care resources, and prevention of domestic violence.   The shelters they provide are safe-havens to large numbers of women and children who are victims of domestic violence.

Organizations everywhere are trying to make a difference. Actually, many Americans (a whopping 83%) agree that companies should accomplish their business goals while also trying to improve society and/or the environment.  This data was gathered from an online survey polling over 1,000 individuals this past October and November (http://blogs.forbes.com/csr/).

Consumers know that businesses exist to make a profit. But increasingly, consumers say they care about the social and environmental impact of a business’s operation – so much, participants of the survey stated they would change their purchasing decision. Almost 40%  said they would change their buying decisions if the organization was giving no or very little money to charity.

It is so wonderful to be able to help others this holiday season.  I would like to personally thank my staff for taking the time to come together as a team. We learned how our 4 hours of effort (and fun) can brighten someone’s Christmas day. What is your organization doing to support social responsible initiatives? I would love to hear about it.

According to the Internet World Stats, there are over 660 million Facebook users. Can you think of an easier way to get a message out to your people? Social media offers a quick and easy way for peer-to-peer recognition and recognition of those who demonstrate company values and desired key behaviors.  This allows leaders within an organization to recognize above-and-beyond behaviors in a timely and fun way.  

Not only can social media be used to recognize others, it is a great vehicle to communicate the reward opportunities and remind them of company goals and key strategies – this will build excitement and engagement around your expectations. Others will view the recognition and why it was earned and that behavior will be replicated and repeated. 

According to the IMA Recognition Council Trends Survey, many organizations are already making some head-way with over 85% using social media to promote and market their products and services.  Using social media for rewards and recognition programs is definitely on the rise with 36% using social media during an incentive and recognition program – this would include communicating the opportunity and recognizing others. 

Social networking has encouraged new ways to communicate and share information which I believe in turn can improve your performance and the performance of others.  Is your organization using social media to share recognition experiences?

As a recipient of this prestigious award, it gives me the opportunity to again recognize and thank each one of my staff for the outstanding and innovative energy they put into every one of our clients’ projects and our own company. They are the ones that make Anderson Performance Improvement what it is.  Thank you TEAM!

Just a little background, HRO Today is the only publication dedicated to covering the outsourced HR services market, including both comprehensive and end-to-end services.

Results for the Baker’s Dozen are based upon a customer satisfaction survey completed by executives who are current buyers of rewards and recognition services. The Baker’s Dozen recipients were rated on the breadth of their service, the size of the programs they manage, and the quality of service provided – rankings and weightings are determined statistically, and all feedback is from customers. HRO Today received feedback from more than 230 verified customers. The resulting rankings are a trusted way to identify the best provider to meet an organization’s current rewards and recognition needs.

My staff and our tools make rewards and recognition programs simple, yet powerful by using one platform that can do it all. If you want to run a program for sales, peer-to-peer recognition or tackle a little of everything, our flexible online tool along with our talented staff can do it.  Take a look at the full story – I’d love to hear your feedback!

Each year, the IMA recognizes outstanding incentive and recognition programs used as business tools. IMA honors organizations and their partners who effectively design and implement incentive programs to motivate their employees. The Circle of Excellence Award is based on a broad range of criteria including scope of the program, creativity, and most importantly, results.

The IMA presented the 2011 Circle of Excellence Awards on October 5, 2011 at The Motivation Show inChicago- recognizing the four best-in-class companies for creative and successful programs, as well as the marketing incentive partners that worked with them on the campaigns. Click here to view the YouTube video.

The Travel Tags program was designed to give employees at all levels of the company the opportunity to recognize each other for their contributions using various vehicles (On-the-Spot Cards, E-cards, etc). The Travel Tags program is an exceptional example of how a recognition program can be used as an effective business tool to meet specific corporate objectives.

The results for the Travel Tags Rewards program after one year were amazing!

• Over 88% of employees participated in the program
• After the inception of the program, Travel Tags experienced over a 70% decrease in safety incidences
• Over 99% of orders shipped on-time

Never under estimate the power of a properly implemented recognition program!

Take a look at your organization’s reward mix – are they offering a recognition program?  Remind them recognition programs can create a positive environment that impacts your bottom line. It is the fuel that inspires and energizes others to work smarter and harder, supports behavior change, catapults training initiatives, and increases productivity!

For example, many members of Gen X and Gen Y are flooding our workforces.  Because of their passion to help others, they are requesting to include socially responsible items within their incentive rewards mix.  According to a current poll by Incentive Research Foundation (IFR), more than 70% of respondents request socially responsible related awards.

Some points-based sales incentive programs also allow participants to redeem points for charitable donations.  Many Gen X or Gen Y redeemers tend to use their points for items that benefit someone or something.  Such an example is Helping Hands (link) rewards – these special gifts are manufactured by a variety of social enterprises whose sole mission is helping disadvantaged men and women learn new skills, become self-sufficient, and improve their lives.

Other trends on the horizon are using smart phones specifically to redeem rewards. This new application will enable the user to find something in a retail store, scan the barcode, and display the amount of points needed for that particular item.  This gives the participant a chance to “see” the item and, with enough points, can just click ‘buy now’ and their order is complete!

The biggest and most effective trend in sales incentives is linking an incentive with changes in behavior.  The best sales incentives programs incorporate a behavior change – many salespeople know what they need to do (sell more!), but don’t know how to get there.  For example, targeting some of your top prospects is a key behavior in the sales cycle.  This trend can have a positive effect on your entire sales force, not just your top performers! 

More and more incentive programs are also going global.  This only makes sense – if those global branches are important to the organization’s financial standing, why not motivate them to perform better as well.

What’s new with your organization’s sales incentives? I would love to hear your new ideas and trends!

WorldatWork is a not-for-profit organization providing education, conferences, and research focused on global human resources issues including compensation, benefits, work-life and integrated total rewards to attract, motivate, and retain a talented workforce.

Overall, WorldatWork has found that recognition programs continue to be a big part of the total rewards toolkit. More than 86% of the organization’s surveys have a recognition program in place; “Years of Service” program being the more prevalent with “Recognition to Encourage a Specific Behavior” being the biggest gainer on the list. More and more companies are seeing the importance of behavior-based rewards and recognition!

According to the WorldatWork data, the following is the top five recognition goals of an organization: 

1. Recognize Years of Service
2. Create a positive work environment
3. Motivate high performance
4. Create a culture of recognition
5. Increase morale

WorldatWork also discovered that recognition is perceived to have positive effects on many key strategies such as increased engagement and retention, recruiting, and relationship to turnover. Now is the perfect time to create a culture of recognition! 

For the full report of Trends in Recognition, click here.  Does your company host a recognition program? If so, what is your organization’s goal?

No matter what your company is trying to sell, a pair of jeans or the core technology for nuclear technology, the sales process does not vary – targeting, planning, messaging, collaborating, and negotiating.  The length and depth of each step may vary by industry, but the sales cycle steps do not. To make a sale, a sales force is “highly encouraged” by management to complete each step, but are they doing each step “right”?

To create a sales incentive program focused on behaviors, it is important to identify types of behavior that are measurable and ultimately lead to sales success.  Possible measurable behaviors are:

• Complete a specified number of account plans
• Create a list of companies you would like to target
• Identify the economic buyer / influencer within target account
• Complete a certain number of sales calls
• Attend customer feedback meetings

In 2010, less than half of all salespeople hit or exceeded their sales quotas.  You might find this data alarming! Implementing a behavior-based sales incentive and recognition program can increase this percentage and lead to greater closing rates and higher margins.  

For example, a large telecommunications organization was suffering from a deficient sales funnel. The objective of the program was to increase the accounts in the sales funnel and ultimately increase sales.  Each participant was rewarded for targeting ten accounts with a mix of products/solutions and closing sales to those targeted accounts.  The program resulted in a 500% ROI!

Sales incentive programs almost always are viewed as having worked well if they create impressive and permanent improvement in sales volume that endures well after the programs have ended. Rewarding your sales staff on sales behaviors will produce those lasting effects! Is your organization including behavior-based sales incentives in their total rewards package?

Through concentrated practice, representatives learn what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. Your team is also more confident in delivering your brand message with ease.  Studies show those who practice consistently will be able to deliver brand messages better than those who don’t. Implementing a culture of practice within your organization can also increase your sales 51% in 90 days!

Technology (voice recognition) exists today that enables employees to practice key messages.  It saves managers time and will yield significant results.  The culture of practice has helped companies:

• Increase Sales
• Decrease recruitment and training costs
• Reduce field management time and expense
• Shorten learning curves
• Reinforce long-term brand development

A recent study from ClemsonUniversityfound reps only deliver 10-20% of the intended message and 80% of the message is what they think is important and/or something they made up. 

Other studies show the importance of concentrated practice:

• Before instituting a culture of practice, only 13% of your workforce were saying the right things
• After consistent practice, 100% of your workforce hits all of the talking points

To be even more successful, many organizations are adapting the culture of practice and tying it to rewards and recognition. For example, those who are practicing for the desired minutes every week (as little as 20 minutes), would be recognized and rewarded for consistency of practice and increased sales.  This is also a great coaching tool for your managers – training effectiveness is enhanced and helps managers efficiently monitor and accelerate the implementation of new initiatives. 

Take a look at your organization’s value statement. Is your workforce consistently communicating this with confidence and passion? Would you benefit from instituting a culture of practice?