incentives

In most organisations we engage with, the first thing that is considered whenever a behaviour change is required is an incentive scheme.  If we need better customer experience ratings, let's incentivise the front-line staff; if we need people to share knowledge, let's link that behaviour to their KPA's; and so on, and so on.

One of the problems we most often encounter in businesses is the unintended consequences caused by incentives and performance measures. This TED talk by Dan Pink makes a compelling case against using extrinsic motivators as incentives.

Dan is an entertaining speaker who really knows how to use narrative to get his point across. Enjoy!

If there is one piece of information I wish more decision makers knew about, it is this one.  It's called Goodheart's Law, and it states:

"The moment a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a measure"

So simple, but yet so profound.  I can think of many failed initiatives that could've been avoided if whoever decided on measurement criteria knew this.