“People work for money, but go the extra mile for praise & rewards.”
Dale Carnegie
If you have ever watched the sitcom The Office, you are familiar with The Dundies. These are awards given to employees of the fictional paper company Dunder-Miffilin. Now, if you are aware of the Dundies you are probably also aware that most of these awards would not be HR approved.
However, there is a concept with the Dundies that is important to focus on and that is recognition. Employees crave recognition and praise.
During a recent staff meeting at the clinic where I work our manager held a HR appropriate version of the Dundies, complete with plastic trophies. There were fun categories like office parent, java junkie, confetti award etc. In full humble-brag mode I was the recipient of the Playground Award. I’ll let you guess what this is for.
This ceremony during a staff meeting was fun and did a lot to build camaraderie among the team. People were still laughing and talking about the awards many shifts after the staff meeting.
Compensation Culture
If the only driver an organization has to encourage a team to explore new things or do additional tasks is extra compensation then something is broken.
That something is a culture of engagement.
Your teams should want to see the system succeed.
Your employees should see themselves as part of that success
Most importantly your employees should be recognized for the role they play in any success they are involved in.
Recognition is the currency of growth & change.
Building New Things
I am in a new role, with a small team. We are building something new in our system and there is an excitement to what we are doing.
We are asking people to serve on committees, volunteer their time, and so far everyone is doing it without hesitation. No one has asked if there will be additional compensation or if this will count toward their incentive plan.
Why?
I would like to think it is because they see the direction we are heading and are excited about this. They want to make these positions successful, because it in turn helps them be successful.
What if you could have the same energy and desire across an organization?
What if every employee saw their role as central to the success of the company?
This would represent a force multiplier for any organization.
The Money Will Come
Zig Ziglar said, “If you do more than you’re paid for, you will eventually be paid for more than you do.”
The magic about the domino effect of a successful team is that everyone wins.
If the organization is successful, the financial constraints lessen and then there may ultimately be some financial reward.
But does that matter?
If you have an engaged team, doing what they love, getting recognized for the hard work they do, the money is secondary.
Think back on your professional career, what are your proudest achievements?
Is it seeing that quarterly bonus show up in your bank account?
Is it seeing that 2% raise reflected in your paycheck?
Or is it something you did that made a difference, whether that be for an individual, group, community or a system?
The monetary rewards are always short lived.
It is our job as leaders to excite our team about a vision and a direction.
Recognize them for their great work
The rest will fall in place.