Movies will have us believe that the only way to get ahead in business is to be a cutthroat narcissist who is prepared to step on anyone to get what they want. These people often end up as managers and figures of power who rule through fear and establishing an environment of constant threat of firing or worse. This represents a stereotype that was born in a bygone era and today’s executives and managers are far more aware that what is needed for success is a strong vision and staff who want to be there and do their best. It still falls under motivational techniques, it’s just a lot less medieval these days.
Promote the self, not the scheme
Long term motivation doesn’t stem from being able to dangle the right carrots in front of staff. This can work exceedingly well in the short term, but people will tire of chasing something if there isn’t more to it. True, long term engagement comes from establishing an atmosphere of trust and ownership amongst staff and ensuring they receive recognition for their efforts. Add performance management into this leadership model and staff should have a strong, happy platform to work from and engage properly with incentives when they are available.
Know your audience
The type of rewards offered will make or break an incentive scheme. Knowing what motivates your employees will help you choose rewards that will provide the best drive for them, for some it will be purely financial, others will seek status whereas others will look for things that simply show increased recognition. One of the best type of reward for the broadest category of people is often experiences or event days.
Recognition is often worth far more than money
There will always be exceptions to this rule, but for the widest majority of people, recognition of their hard work and achievements will bring far more in the way of loyalty and drive than simple money. Obviously almost everybody likes money, but the recognition that a well earned reward can bring will be worth far more to most. As previously alluded to, an event day planned for you by a destination event management company can offer a fantastic reward to those that have earned it. The cumulation of a lot of hard work and smashed targets should be something grand and this is a brilliant one. There is no one experience that will be for everybody, but the company that helps you to organise it will be able to work with you and your team to find something that suits everyone as well as possible.
Should you wish to use an event day as a reward, it is highly advisable to use the services of a company like Funktionality to ensure things run smoothly. Of course, it is perfectly possible to arrange these events in house, but it requires a lot of time and planning whereas an event planning company will be able to handle the entire experience end to end for you.
