5 Lessons in Employee Motivation and Why the NFL Pro Bowl Falls Short
Do your rewards provide the proper employee motivation?
Recognition, incentives, and other rewards are supposed to drive employee motivation. When they work as planned, they provide opportunities for organizations to honor outstanding performance and achievements while reminding everyone what the company values. But if left unchecked, reward programs can also miss the mark, costing the company money and wasted effort while failing to motivate as intended.
The annual NFL Pro Bowl provides a good example of a recognition and rewards program that means well but could benefit from being reevaluated and modified – or scrapped altogether – in order to be effective. This annual “all star” game is intended to acknowledge and reward superior play, but has been criticized by players, fans, and the media for years, which begs the question: Is it working?
Following are basic elements of recognition and reward programs as seen from the perspective of the Pro Bowl and recommendations for businesses:
1. Rewarding performance. Players who are the best in their positions are selected to the Pro Bowl team. Many are so consistently good that they are named to the team year after year.
The good news is that the NFL has such a recognition program. All businesses, regardless of the size, should implement at least a basic recognition program that acknowledges the effort of your best employees. There are also awards for years of dedicated service as well as for sales, customer service marks, innovation, and other accomplishments.
Hopefully everyone meets the basic threshold requirements of their job, but companies would be wise to publicly thank and applaud their highest performers for the extra discretionary effort and results they achieve. This also acts as a retention tool to let these important people know that they’re appreciated and not taken for granted. Otherwise, when they’re no longer feeling the love, they might take their talents elsewhere.
2. Encouraging behavior. One of the intriguing aspects of the NFL is how quickly the game can change. This can be due to a particular player unexpectedly having a “lights out” performance in a game or throughout the season. Conversely, a team’s season can be doomed as a result of an injury (2011 Indianapolis Colts, anyone?) or decreasing levels of performance from veteran players.
Make sure that your rewards support and reflect your business goals and strategy. For example, if you’ve organized your sales team by geography but base your awards on their performance by industry, then the program is out of sync with the behavior you expect.
3. Pool of potential candidates. One of the criticisms of the Pro Bowl is that, for many positions, it seems like the same people are selected each year, leaving the rest of the league in the shadows.
While effective employee motivation programs recognize and reward top performers, they also promote the performance, achievement, and behavior that your company values to all employees. Just because someone is on top today doesn’t mean it’s permanent. If your top performers leave or change roles, who will take their spot? Companies can still get a lot from their #2 and bench players and would be wise to keep them motivated. Think of it as succession planning-based rewards.
4. Time of year. Until recently the Pro Bowl always took place the week following the Super Bowl. Thinking that many football fans viewed the Super Bowl as the end of the season and didn’t pay enough attention to the Pro Bowl, the NFL wisely decided to move the game to the weekend before the Super Bowl, which was typically an off week with no games. The downside is that anyone from the Super Bowl teams cannot play, but the revised schedule does make sense and give people slightly more incentive to watch.
When do you measure the results of your incentive programs? Do you provide monthly, quarterly, or other period updates on performance? When do you recognize the honorees? Is it combined with other events such as a holiday gathering or annual conference? While it might be practical to combine it with other events or activities, be sure that you’re giving it the attention that it deserves. Would it be more effective if there was a standalone event for recognition awards rather than sharing the spotlight with other activities?
5. Location and presentation. The Pro Bowl has been held in Hawaii for 30 years. Other than those who already live there, who wouldn’t want a trip to Hawaii? Most NFL players earn enough that they can go whenever they’d like, and some earn enough to buy their own island!
At a time when so many people continue to struggle financially, it seems out of touch for the NFL to hold such a lavish and extravagant event. The Super Bowl raises the bar each year on extravagant, but at least it rotates cities within the continental US). Why can’t the Pro Bowl be held in the same city?
Many years ago my father received a corporate award for distinguished service. The ceremony was held at a posh hotel, and the company spared no expense, including airfare and limo service for his parents and children to attend. This underscored the importance of the occasion and allowed my father to shine not only before his peers, but also his family.
Do you hold your ceremonies in a conference room, office cafeteria, or five-star hotel? Is it a destination event, or something you announce on a conference call? Make sure the venue and presentation are befitting the occasion, but also make sure it’s prudent so as to appear to be spending money on this while cutting back elsewhere.
- Do you offer recognition, rewards, and incentives that have little or no impact on employee motivation?
- Are your efforts and dollars wasted on perks of little or no value?
- Are your rewards demotivating or out of date?
- Are they in sync with your objectives and values?
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