Comments on: Rewarding Employees: Motivation vs. Imitation

By: Staff Door » Blog Archive » Weekly Reading List (2009/12)

Staff Door » Blog Archive » Weekly Reading List (2009/12) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:43:34 +0000

[...] and their link to motivation: -Your Thoughts: Candidates, Salary, and Disclosure (Laurie) -Rewarding Employees: Motivation vs. Imitation (Chris [...]

By: Chris Ferdinandi

Chris Ferdinandi — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:50:31 +0000

@Mary – that’s a great point. I’ve found, too, that often those folks often have great, innovative ideas that no one listens to. Once, in a manufacturing environment, I saw a group of employees suggest that the organization make the packaging for a product just a few millimeters larger. The employees were able to box the product far more quickly, drastically improving productivity.

The organization was fortunate that those employees spoke up. Far too often, employers don’t put in place the venues for employees to share these kinds of ideas.

But back to your point, yes, I think an organization should deliberately work to create a culture that celebrates the success of both innovators AND imitators.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:17:59 +0000

I think you’re right – for some groups of employees, imitation is more important than innovation. Too often, however, these employees may get overlooked when what they do is just as vital to the organization…It seems like what you’re saying here is that organizations need to implement a culture that celebrates employees for performing well (further motivating them to do so) – whether they be the innovators or the imitators.

By: Chris Ferdinandi

Chris Ferdinandi — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:36:49 +0000

Paul, you wrote: “putting the “innovation” thing on the performance appraisal communicates things someone “has to do” – putting it in a company recognition and reward program communicates things someone “should do.””

EXACTLY! What I was trying to get at in my article today is that for a manufacturing team, they HAVE to consistently reproduce and duplicate processes with a high-degree of accuracy. It would be nice if they could also develop some innovative ways to improve those processes, but it’s not something they have to do.

Innovation vs. Imitation.

By: Paul Hebert

Paul Hebert — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:29:50 +0000

One thing to consider… putting the “innovation” thing on the performance appraisal communicates things someone “has to do” – putting it in a company recognition and reward program communicates things someone “should do.” The difference is transactional norms versus social norms. Social norms have been proven to more powerful. Dan Arieley in his book – Predictably Irrational has a great chapter on this issue. Too often companies try to use transaction strategies to get performance when a social one would be better.

By: Chris Ferdinandi

Chris Ferdinandi — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:24:42 +0000

@Paul – Thanks for your comment, and good point about establishing it as a value and then removing it after a few years. It just depends on the organization, I suppose.

By: Paul Hebert

Paul Hebert — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:10:23 +0000

Your point of putting innovation on the performance appraisal is a good one. However, it is my experience – especially in slow-moving companies – putting it on the appraisal – for a short period of time (say 2-3 years) establishes it as a company “value” – rewarding it on an ongoing basis as part of a total company recognition and reward strategy then allows you to ingrain that behavior so that you can remove it from the appraisal process.

The key here is that what gets rewarded get’s done.