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Thinking Beyond the Carrot and the Stick

In It Together

By David Basler

INCENTIVES ARE CHANGING—THERE’S NO ARGUING IT. The average employee isn’t happy with money and productivity, and morale isn’t as easy as leading with a carrot on a stick. The goal of incentives hasn’t changed—we’re all looking for better success. But the means in getting to that success is shifting as we redefine what constitutes a valuable incentive for our employees, businesses and clients.

In recent books, such as Management Rewired by Charles Jacobs and in The 2020 Workplace by Jeanne Meister and Karie Willyerd, the message is the same: The way we manage must change or we forfeit success. Parts of that change are the incentives we offer our employees, and as meeting professionals we have an equally high duty to help our clients understand this new continuum.

In a recent TED Conference speech, Daniel Pink describes the future of successful incentives as “intrinsic motivation” or “the desire to do things because they matter, because we like it, because they’re interesting, because they’re part of something important.”

He argues that the new norm is to not entice with a sweeter carrot, and I couldn’t agree more. People want to be rewarded, sure, but the value in today’s rewards is less money-money-money and more value in other forms.

Pink says incentives must support our “urge to direct our own lives,” help us “get better and better at something that matters” and fulfill our “yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.”

He uses the example of Google and its “20 Percent Time” plan in which employees are given the opportunity to spend 20 percent of their work time on anything they want. Contrary to what you’re thinking, Google employees spend that time thinking of creative ways to improve what they do, and they are happier and more productive because of it, which directly translates into Google’s success.

Pink makes a strong argument for redefining incentives that translates to all industries, and much of what he presented in his TED speech is being successfully integrated into business models at some of the world’s largest, most successful and innovative companies.

As you’ll see in our cover story, “Re-Inventing Incentives,” there are companies in our industry already following this mantra—giving clients and employees more than just the luxury trip or bonus paycheck. They’re getting creative and listening to what is important to the people they reward.

The answer for our industry is to figure out ways to help businesses (our clients) meet their incentive goals. Easier said than done? Maybe. But it starts by simply reviewing how we define incentives and taking the lead on making incentives more valuable for everyone involved. That’s the definition of finding success in the shift. One+

DAVID R. BASLER is editor in chief of One+. He can be reached at dbasler@mpiweb.org. Follow him at www.twitter.com/onepluseditor.